Repair the fence when the damage is limited to one area and the remaining posts stand firm. Replace it when the repair price comes close to half of a new fence, or when posts are going soft up and down the line.
A simple way to decide
- Repair: one bad spot, solid posts elsewhere, rails and boards still hard when you press a screwdriver into them.
- Replace a section: several posts in a row are gone, but the fence on either side is straight.
- Replace it all: posts wobble or crumble at the ground along the whole line, termites have been through the rails, or the repair quote is near half the price of new.
My fence is about 15 years old, a few posts are rotted and it leans. Posts or whole fence?
Push on each post before choosing. If three or four are soft in a long run, change those and keep the fence. If most give under your hand, the fence is finished at the ground and new posts here and there only delay the bill. Fifteen years is a fair age for wood in New Orleans, where heat, rain and termites all work on the same spot.
The repair quote is $1,400 and a new fence is $5,200. Which makes sense?
Take the repair, provided the posts being kept are sound. $1,400 is about a quarter of $5,200, well below the halfway mark. What you want to avoid is paying again next summer. Have the contractor probe every post that stays and report how many are solid.
Half my pickets are rotting and the gate will not close. Fix it section by section?
You can, as long as posts and rails are good. Pickets decay from the bottom up where they sit in wet grass, mulch or standing water. Deal with the gate first, since a gate that will not shut means the hinge post has moved. After that, replace pickets a stretch at a time.
How long does a wood fence last in New Orleans?
We cannot give one figure. It depends on the wood, how the posts were set and whether the fence is kept sealed and clear of the soil. Heat, heavy rain and termites make this a harder place for wood than most of the country. Posts fail first. Boards that never touch the ground and get sealed last much longer.
The real price for your yard comes from a free on-site estimate. Call (504) 584-7028 or text us a photo of the fence line.