Replacing an old timber fence

The test: push on it

Push the fence firmly at post height. If the posts hold and only the palings flex, the structure is sound and you are looking at repair work.

If the posts move in the ground, the fence has lost the thing that holds it up. Palings and rails can be replaced. Posts that have rotted at ground level or lost their footing mean the fence is at the end of its life.

Repair is usually the answer when

These are fixable without rebuilding:

• One or a few broken or split palings
• A single rail that has come loose from a post
• Localised storm or impact damage in one bay
• A gate that has dropped and needs re-hanging or new hardware
• A fence that is structurally fine but looks tired, where painting is the answer

Replacement is usually the answer when

These point to a rebuild:

• Posts that rock, lean or have rotted at ground level
• Rails that have dropped, split or pulled away across multiple bays
• Widespread paling failure rather than isolated damage
• A fence that has been patched repeatedly and no longer holds a line
• Damage across several bays after a storm

Do not paint a fence that needs replacing

It is the most common false economy in fencing. Paint does nothing for a rotted post, and money spent coating a fence that fails a year later is money spent twice.

If you are unsure which situation you are in, ask before you paint. We will tell you honestly if replacing it is the better spend, because a painted failing fence is not a good outcome for anyone.

What removal actually involves

Taking the palings and rails off is the quick part. The footings decide how long a removal takes.

Old fences were footed inconsistently. Some footings lift straight out, some have to be broken out, and some sit exactly where a new post needs to go, which means they come out whether it is convenient or not.

Everything then has to get back out to the street, which is why access matters so much on a replacement job.

Replacement is the time to change style

The posts are the expensive part to get in the ground, and they are going in either way. So the marginal cost of changing style at replacement is much lower than changing your mind later.

If privacy has become the priority since the last fence went up, this is the moment to move from single paling to lapped or lap & cap. If the timber matters to you, this is the moment to consider hardwood.

Shared boundaries and neighbours

A boundary fence usually sits between two properties, so a replacement often involves two owners.

Who contributes to the cost, which side the palings face, and what height and style go up are matters for the property owners to agree between themselves. We do not mediate that, and we will not tell you what you are entitled to, because that is not our area.

What helps in practice is a written quote you can hand to your neighbour, so both of you are working from the same information rather than two different recollections of a conversation.

Matching an existing run

If you are replacing one section of a longer boundary and the rest stays, bring that up early. Matching an existing fence means matching its height, its style and its top line, and it is much easier to plan for than to correct.

A photo of the section that is staying, taken from one end looking along it, tells us most of what we need.