Fence & Deck Repair
Fence and deck repair is the residential trade that fixes gate hardware, replaces individual fence and deck boards with matched lumber, braces or sisters leaning posts, and patches small wood-rot areas with structural epoxy — gate hardware from $109, fence boards from $149, deck boards from $179 with a joist check included. The back gate has not latched on its own since the wind storm in January — the kids leave it open, the dog gets out. Two deck boards flex every time someone steps on them in the same spot on the way to the grill. A fence post leans ten degrees after a moderate rain. Handis tackles the small problems before they double in size next season.
Service
How Fence & Deck Repair Works
Five sequential steps from the on-arrival assessment through the workmanship guarantee — the actual sequence we follow on every Handis fence and deck visit.
On-Arrival Assessment & Joist Probe
We probe deck joists with an awl through the board gap, check ledger and joist hangers, inspect fence posts for base rot, and tell you which scope fits this trade and which routes to a deck or fence contractor. The diagnostic happens before any board comes off.
Lumber Matching to Existing Run
We source the closest match in wood species (western red cedar, eastern white cedar, redwood, pressure-treated pine), dimension, and grain. New cedar reads lighter than weathered cedar for 12 to 18 months — UV exposure blends it; staining the new section as an add-on speeds the blend.
Board, Hardware or Post Repair
Damaged boards come out and the new lumber goes in with stainless or hot-dipped galvanized exterior fasteners — never interior-grade hardware that rusts through in one wet season. Gate latches and hinges get relocated to fresh wood; rotted posts get sistered with a through-bolted pressure-treated post before we dig out concrete footings.
Wood Rot Patch with Borate & Epoxy
Small rot areas on fence rails, deck stair stringers, or post caps are chiseled out, treated with a borate wood preservative against fungal regrowth, filled with structural epoxy (PC-Woody or Bondo Wood Filler), sanded smooth, and primed for paint or stain. Rot larger than a fist routes to full replacement.
Walkthrough & 30-Day Guarantee
We walk the repair with the homeowner, point out anything else on the fence or deck that looks like a future failure, and document the work for the 30-day workmanship guarantee. Weather damage and normal wood movement are not workmanship issues and fall outside the guarantee.
Fence & Deck Repair Pricing
Final pricing depends on the number of boards, post condition, lumber species, and whether the framing under a deck needs inspection or repair. Request a free estimate for an accurate quote.
Send us photos of the gate, the boards, or the leaning post — we will quote the repair.
Why Handis for Fence & Deck Repair
Most fence and deck calls we get are for the second or third small thing in a row — a gate that did not latch right last summer, three soft boards near the steps that the homeowner has been stepping around for six months, a post that started leaning after the last rain. Each item alone is a 45-minute job; together they are an afternoon. Left alone, one soft board becomes three, the leaning post pulls the panel down with it, and the small-repair window closes. We fix the small stuff before it turns into the structural rebuild — and we tell you honestly on the booking call when the structural rebuild is already what you need.
Estimate
Describe the fence or deck issue — number of boards, gate hardware, post condition, signs of rot, lumber species if you know it — and we will quote the repair.
Customer Reviews
Recent fence and deck repair reviews from verified customers.
The back gate would not latch anymore — the kids kept leaving it open and the dog kept getting out. The tech showed me that the hinge screws had backed out of soft wood at the post, relocated the hinges to fresh wood about an inch up, replaced the latch with a stainless one, and adjusted the gate alignment. Closes and locks on its own weight now. Maybe 30 minutes total.
Four deck boards near the grill were soft and bouncy. The tech pulled them out, checked the joists underneath with a moisture meter and an awl, said the framing was still solid (which saved us a lot of money), and installed pressure-treated replacements. He noted the new boards would read lighter for about a year until UV blended them. About two hours.
Wind storm blew a tree branch through two fence boards and bent the top rail. The tech matched the wood (vertical-grain cedar; he told me on the call the closest match in stock would not be exact and he was right but it is barely noticeable), replaced both boards, straightened the rail. He also tightened a couple of nearby boards I had not noticed were loose.
One fence post was leaning about ten degrees after a moderate rain. Tech said the base had rotted from years of damp ground contact and proposed sistering a new pressure-treated post alongside with through-bolts instead of digging out the concrete footing. Saved us a couple of hours of labor. It has held through two windstorms since.
Soft rot on three feet of the deck stair stringer where it meets the lower step. Tech said it was small enough for an epoxy patch instead of replacing the whole stringer, chiseled out the soft wood, treated with borate, filled with structural epoxy, sanded, and primed. He told me a full stringer replacement would have been outside this trade. Solid since.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about residential fence and deck repair.