Allen Fence Home › Repair or Replace
Repair or Replace a Fence in Allen? Start at the Posts
Boards are cheap and easy to change. Posts decide how long the fence will stand. This page walks through the check a contractor makes before quoting either job.
The Short Version
Repair when the posts are sound and the damage is in the boards, the rails or one gate.
Replace when posts are failing along the run, when the fence has already been patched more than once, or when you are paying for a third of a new fence to save the rest of an old one.
In Allen the age of the house tells you most of it. About 56 of every 100 homes here were built from 1990 through 2009. If nobody has replaced the fence, it is between 17 and 36 years old in 2026. A fence in the younger half of that range is often worth repairing. One in the older half has usually reached the point where the posts are the problem.
Housing shares: American Community Survey 2019-2023, via Point2Homes and DataUSA.
A Five-Minute Check You Can Do From the Yard
1. Push each post
Stand at a post and push the top of the fence away from you with one hand. A good post barely moves. A rotted wooden post rocks at ground level, and a loose metal post moves with its concrete. Count how many move, and note whether they are together or spread out.
2. Look at the bottom six inches
Pickets rot where they touch soil, mulch or a sprinkler’s spray. If the boards are dark and soft along the bottom but firm above, the pickets are near the end and the rails may still be fine.
3. Sight down the top
A fence that waves in and out along its length has posts moving in different directions. That points to the ground under them, and in Allen that ground is Blackland Prairie clay, which opens deep cracks in dry weather and closes again when it rains.
4. Check what the posts are made of
Round or square galvanized steel posts can usually carry a second set of rails and pickets. Wooden posts cannot be counted on for that, and the city’s guideline calls for metal posts on all fencing.
5. Open and close every gate
A gate that drags is the earliest sign that its hinge post has shifted.
Clay description: Handbook of Texas and Texas Almanac entries for Collin County, which describe the county’s deep clay soils and the cracks they form when dry. Post rule: City of Allen, Residential Fence Guideline, dated June 2026, read October 5, 2026.
What Usually Follows From the Check
| What you found | Likely job | Page |
|---|---|---|
| One to three loose posts, boards fine | Replace those posts, keep the rest | Leaning posts |
| Soft bottoms, split rails, posts solid | New pickets and rails on the old posts | Rails and pickets |
| A section flat on the ground after wind | Emergency closure, then post and panel repair | Storm damage |
| Wooden posts loose along the whole run | Replacement on metal posts | Replacement |
| Fence straight but gray and dry | Clean and stain | Staining |
| Only the gate is wrong | Rehang, rebuild or re-post the gate | Gates |
Before any replacement on a shared line: talk to the neighbor on the other side. Texas law does not make them pay, and it does not let you assume the fence is yours alone. How shared fences work in Texas.
Asking a Contractor for Both Prices
A fair quote for an aging fence has two numbers on it: the repair, and the replacement of that same stretch. Divide each by the years the contractor expects it to last and compare. The site cannot tell you those years; nobody has published a service life for fences in Allen that we could source, and it depends on the posts, the wood grade and whether the fence gets stained.
Ask each contractor the same things:
- Which posts are being replaced, and with what material and depth.
- Whether new rails are being attached with brackets to metal posts.
- What the warranty covers and for how long, in writing.
- Whether a city permit applies and who pulls it.
- Whether old material is hauled away.
Questions About Repairing Versus Replacing
How many bad posts is too many to repair?
No rule sets a number, and this site found no published threshold. As a rough yardstick of its own: once about a third of the posts in a stretch are loose or rotted, ask for a price to replace that whole stretch as well as a price to swap posts one at a time, and compare the two.
Can new pickets go on old posts?
Yes, if the posts are solid and plumb. New boards on failing posts is the repair people regret, because the fence leans again and takes the new wood with it.
If I only replace one side of the yard, does it have to match?
The city guideline this site read sets height and post rules, not appearance. A homeowner association may require a matching style or stain color, so check with yours before choosing.
Will a repair pass if the old fence has wooden posts?
The city’s guideline says all fencing requires metal posts. Whether a small repair to an existing wooden-post fence has to bring it up to that standard is a question for Building and Permitting at 214.509.4130. This site could not find the answer in writing.
Want Both Numbers on One Quote?
Say so when you call or write. A fence contractor can price the repair and the replacement side by side.
Call (469) 421-7299 Send the Details