The most common question I get from Deal, Walmer and Kingsdown homeowners: is this fence worth repairing, or should I bite the bullet and replace it? The answer is almost always in the posts, not the panels - and it is almost always more clear-cut than the homeowner thinks.
The post-condition test
Walk the full boundary. At each post, push the post at chest height, hard. A healthy post does not move. A post that moves a few centimetres is on the failure clock. A post that moves further than that is already failed and only held up by the flanking panels.
Now count. If one or two posts in a 15m to 20m run are failing, you are in repair territory. If four or more posts are failing across the same run, you are past repair and into the concrete-post-retrofit or full-replacement conversation. Repairing five posts on a twelve-post run is 70 per cent of the cost of a full concrete-post retrofit and buys you a fraction of the forward-life.
The panel-condition test
Panels themselves are secondary. A panel with a split board or a lifted batten is a straightforward swap. What matters is whether the panels have suffered because the posts have moved - a panel warped because a post next to it has tilted 15 degrees is a symptom, not a cause, and swapping the panel without fixing the post is money into the ground.
The coastal micro-climate factor
Deal is not one climate. Kingsdown clifftop is the harshest - a panel run there ages roughly twice as fast as an inland Sholden run. Beach Street and the seafront strip are next. Mill Hill, Sholden and Great Mongeham inland are close to standard Kent aging. This matters because a repair-versus-replace call depends on how long you need the fence to last, and that depends on where you are.
The decision, in one paragraph
If one or two posts are failing in a run and the panels are sound, repair. If three or more posts are failing and you are inland, concrete-post retrofit. If three or more posts are failing and you are on Kingsdown clifftop or the Deal seafront, full replacement in concrete-post-and-gravel-board with upgraded coastal spec. If the panels are shot but the posts are sound, panel swap only. All the interesting judgment is in the post condition.
Related
Spotting post rot at the ground line · Concrete post upgrade versus timber
Quote from photos
Send a couple of photos and a postcode to WhatsApp on 07763 100 477 or use the quote form. Fixed price on straightforward runs.