Small Repairs Can Save Your Fence

If you have noticed a bit of wear and tear on your wooden fencing panels or posts, it doesn’t necessarily mean you need a complete new fence. Repairs can often be made to the affected areas, saving you the hassle and expense of ripping out and replacing the whole fence.

In south Essex, from Romford and Brentwood to Orsett, fences are being repaired on our advice. Inspect your panels, gravel boards, posts and arris rails to see what needs to be done.

            

Panels and Gravel Boards Can Be Replaced

If just one panel has deteriorated, buy a new one to replace it. If you can’t get the right length and have to buy one that is too long, Essex fencing expert would advise you to nail new batons on either side, marking the length required, and then saw off the protruding end. You should treat the raw edges with a preservative before you attach your new panel to the old brackets with new galvanised screws. If a standard size panel is a little on the short side for your space, you may need to add a length of wood between the panel and the post at one end.

It may be just the wooden gravel boards that need replacing. If that is the case we suggest you use pressure treated timber to prolong the life of your new ones. You may not need to fully remove a fencing panel while you fix a new gravel board beneath it, but make sure the panel is supported by props while you do it.

Posts and Arris Rails Can Be Repaired

Along with the gravel boards, the posts are the parts of your fences that inevitably have the most contact with the soil. Over the years moisture seeps into the wood and rot starts to set in. But you can give posts a new lease of life with repair spurs. Dig out around the post, remove the rotten section, paint on preservative to the remaining post and attach the spur to it before filling in the new hole with hardcore topped with concrete.

Another element of your fencing that may need some care is an arris rail. These sometimes break when they age or rot at the ends. You can easily repair them with metal arris brackets that you attach with screws through the pre-drilled holes.

                         

Carrying out these small fencing repairs will leave you with fences as good as new for several more years.