Twenty minutes, once a year, with a screwdriver. That’s the whole job, and doing it properly catches things a year or two before they show up, which is the difference between fixing a post and replacing a run.
This page is the procedure. If you’ve already spotted something and want to know what it means, the diagnosis side covers that instead. Or skip both and call (512) 746-0980, or have us walk it for free.
When to do it
After weather, not on a date: a hard storm, a wet spell, or a long dry stretch can move the ground, and that’s when the fence’ll tell you most. If you only do it once, do it then.
The other useful moment’s a season ahead of when you’d want work done. Finding a problem in the month you need it finished is how people end up taking the first quote they’re given instead of the right one.
What to bring
A flathead screwdriver, your phone, and nothing else. The screwdriver’s for testing wood at the ground line and the phone’s for photographs, which matter more than notes because you’ll want to compare next year.
Wear something you don’t mind kneeling in. Most of what matters on a fence happens in the bottom six inches, and you won’t assess that standing up.
Walk it in one direction
Start at a corner and go the same way round every time. It sounds fussy, and it isn’t. Consistency’s what lets you compare one year to the next, and it’ll stop you skipping the run behind the shed nobody looks at.
Do the whole boundary, including any stretch shared with a neighbor and any section you can only reach from their side. A fence fails at its weakest run, and that’s rarely the one facing the house.
Posts first
Push hard on every post you can reach, at shoulder height. Not a nudge. Note which ones move independently of the panel beside them, and count them, because that count’s the single most useful number the inspection’ll give you.
Then take the screwdriver to four or five of them, about an inch above the soil, on the side that stays shaded or wet. You’re testing whether it sinks in. Do it even on posts that passed the push test, because the ground line goes before the movement shows.
Sight along the line from one end while you’re at it. Posts out of plumb read much more clearly from a shallow angle than from straight on, and a run that’s drifting is easier to see than to feel.
Then the line itself
Push on a few panels between posts. You’re checking that rails still hold the pickets and that nothing flexes more than its neighbors. A section that gives noticeably more than the rest has usually got a rail problem behind it.
Look at the top line. It should run level, or step evenly on a slope, and a dip between two posts means something under it’s sagged. On an ironwork run, check the finish where a mower or trimmer reaches; on a mesh boundary, push the fabric to see whether it’s still taut.
Photograph anything that’s changed since last year. On its own, a cupped board or a rusted rail end means very little. What’s useful is the direction it’s going.
Gates get their own pass
Open and close every gate fully, not halfway. Watch whether it catches the ground at any point in the swing, whether the latch lines up without lifting, and whether the gap down the closing edge stays even top to bottom.
Then push on both gate posts specifically, because they carry a load no other post does and they move first. What you find here is the earliest warning you’ll get, and sorting a gate out is far cheaper at this stage than after the opening goes out of square.
Finish with the ground
Walk the base and look for where water sits. Standing water after rain, a soggy patch, or a sprinkler head aimed at the boards will each shorten that section’s life well before anything else does.
Clear vegetation off the fence while you’re there, or at least note where it’s built up. Shrubs against boards hold moisture, climbers get into joints, and grass at the base’ll keep the ground line permanently damp. The upkeep that actually matters is in this paragraph, and sealing the wood does the rest.
One thing to note rather than act on: whether the fence still sits where you think the boundary runs. It isn’t really part of an annual check, but if anything looks off, confirming the line matters most before a replacement rather than after.
Turn it into a decision
You’ll want to finish with three numbers: how many posts moved, how many failed the screwdriver, and how many gates need attention. Write them down. An inspection that produced no output was a yard walk-around.
Zero or one on the first two numbers means you’re fine, and a note in the calendar for next year is the whole action. A handful means specific repairs are worth pricing now, while they’re still specific. A third of the run or more means the conversation has changed, and it’s worth reading what the fix costs before you decide to leave.
Keep last year’s photographs. The rate of change tells you more than any single inspection, and it shows whether you’ve got years or a season.
If the numbers came out worse than you hoped, call (512) 746-0980 or send us what you found with a couple of photographs. We’ll tell you honestly whether it’s a repair, and what to ask whoever quotes you applies to us as much as to anyone.
FAQs
Posts first, then the line, then gates, then the ground. Push every post you can reach, test four or five at the ground line with a screwdriver, check panels for flex, open and close every gate fully, and look for where water sits. Finish with three numbers: posts that moved, posts that failed the screwdriver test, and gates needing attention.
Once a year is plenty, and the best time is after weather rather than on a fixed date. A storm, a wet spell, or a long dry stretch all move the ground, and the fence tells you most in the days afterward. A season ahead of when you’d want work done is the other useful moment.
A flathead screwdriver and your phone. The screwdriver tests wood at the ground line, and the photographs matter more than notes because the useful information is what’s changed since last year.
Because the ground line goes before the movement shows, a post can hold firm when you push it, even though the inch of wood at soil level has already softened; that inch is the part carrying the fence.
Walk whatever you can reach, including any run you can only see from their side. A fence fails at its weakest section, and that’s rarely the one facing your house. Ask rather than assume, but do try to see it.
One or two on a fence where everything else holds is a straightforward repair and worth doing now, while it’s still one or two. It’s when the count reaches a third of the run that the arithmetic changes and the conversation becomes different.
Yes, and photographs beat notes. A single inspection tells you the state of the fence; two tell you the rate of change, which actually predicts whether you have years or a season.
