Every spring storm season, the calls come in: “My fence is leaning — do I need a whole new one?” Sometimes yes. Often, no. Here’s the same honest checklist our crew runs through on-site, so you know what you’re looking at before anyone quotes you anything.
Start at the posts — they decide everything
A wood fence is only as good as its posts. Pickets and rails are cheap to swap; posts are the structure.
- Posts solid, panels damaged? Repair. Blown-off pickets, a cracked rail, one flattened section — straightforward fixes.
- Posts rotted at the ground line or wobbling in their concrete? That section needs new posts. A fence pushed over by wind usually failed at the posts, not the pickets.
Grab a post and push. If it moves at the base, the ground connection is gone.
The 30% rule
Our rule of thumb: if more than about a third of the fence needs structural work (posts, not pickets), replacement usually wins. Past that point, you’re rebuilding the fence piecemeal at repair prices — and the untouched sections are the same age, waiting their turn.
Check for rot and insect damage
Poke the wood at the bottom of pickets and posts with a screwdriver. Soft, spongy wood, or wood that flakes away, is rot — and rot spreads. Scattered rot in a fence past 12–15 years old is usually the beginning of the end. Isolated rot in a younger fence is a repair.
Age matters
A typical untreated pine fence in North Texas lasts roughly 10–15 years; cedar longer, especially if it’s been stained and sealed. If your fence is deep into that window and leaning, money spent on repairs is often rent, not investment.
Gray and ugly isn’t the same as dead
A fence that’s structurally sound but weathered gray may just need staining and sealing — it revives the color and adds years of life for far less than replacement. This is the happiest diagnosis we get to give.
What we’ll tell you on-site
365 Lawn Service does fence repair, full installation, staining, and gates across Garland, Rowlett, Rockwall, Forney, and all of east DFW — so we have no reason to push you toward either option. If a $300 repair gets you five more years, that’s what we’ll say. If you’d be paying us twice, we’ll say that too.