Wall Fence Repair
My Uncles wall fence had served him well for many years but recently he had noticed that there was some rot starting to appear. On closer inspection it was found that the the rot was quite a bit more extensive than previously thought. Two of the supporting posts were rotten, about half the support spars had some form of rot and about 60% of the palings had an area of rot. Sadly most of the problem was down to the screws and nails that had been used to build and repair the fence in the past. The nails and screws had started to corrode which has the unfortunate side effect of causing the wood around them to rot. So sadly most of the palings were in good condition apart from the area around the mounting screws/nails. It was sad to have to dispose of otherwise perfectly good pieces of wood because the areas around the mounting holes were badly rotted. The moral of the story is to use heavily galvanised nails not bright zinc plated, or specially coated or stainless steel screws.
When we inspected the fence much of it appeared to be in good condition however the paint was hiding rot in and around the mounting screws on many of the palings.
Here the lower section near the gate had to be completely replaced although much of it looked to be sound.
The inclined section to the right was salvageable and only individual palings had to be replaced.
The longest horizontal section of fence was beyond repair and all the wood had to be disposed of.
The palings on this section were of two lengths. Care was taken to cut the replacements so that the wood did not come into contact with the ground and sufficient clearance was left so that any soil or leaf matter that got stuck at the bottom of the fence could be easily cleared.
The second inclined length had to be completely replaced including the support post.
Fortunately a an old post was cut down and recycled to create the new one.
The post and palings will be painted once the wood has dried out and the weather improves.
The top section of fence just visible at the bottom right of this photograph was almost completely salvaged apart from two palings at the far end. These were simply cut off as the fence had originally been built about 300mm longer than it really needed to be and was concealed by a hedge.
However the support post had rotted in the ground and had to be replaced with a new one, again made from a piece left over from another project.
Although more of the fence had to be replaced than originally expected approximately 40% was salvaged and reused. The fence should have many years of use left in it yet and the original character has been maintained which was important to my uncle.