How to repair a timber fence?

Newbie75

Please advice wooden fence repair,nails have come out with gaps,how and what sort of nails,tools .Thanks

JacobZ

Thank you for your question about repairing a timber fence.

I'd suggest grabbing a claw hammer, a chisel and some Paslode 50 x 2.8mm Flat Head Galvanised Nails.

Where the palings have pulled away from the rail, put the chisel in behind the nail, ensuring the tip of the nail is touching the chisel. Then tap the timber beside the nail. This will force the timber back towards the fence rail, while the nail will be forced out through the paling. Once the nail head is exposed, use the claw on your hammer to remove the old nail.

When all the old nails have been removed, simply drive a new nail at a slight angle into the existing hole to fix the paling back into place. Angling the nail slightly, will ensure the nail goes into new timber and the connection is strong.

Once all the nails have been driven into place, if you want to sink the nails past the face of the paling like the others have been, you can use a nail punch in conjunction with your hammer. This step is not 100% necessary, but you might like to follow the same aesthetic as the other palings.

Let me know what you think and if you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob

Newbie75

Appreciate your help Jacob,I will follow the advice.Thank you.

JacobZ

No worries @Newbie75.

Let me know if you run into any issues, happy to help further if required.

Jacob

Newbie75

Hi Jacob

I have tried the above advice,the nails are bit stubborn and rusted and nail head deep in the timber and timber might crack if hammered harder, any plus advice please,Thank you.

EricL

Hello @Newbie75

If the old nails are stuck, I suggest nailing across and lower to the existing nailing point. To help you force the panels together, I suggest using Craftright 300mm 2 Piece Quick Action Clamp. Once you have the timber in position you can then start nailing the palings together.

Let me call on our experienced members Dave-1 and @Nailbag for their recommendations.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

Nailbag

Hi @Newbie75

The nail heads look to be painted over which is making the task more difficult. If you have a drill, use a small 2mm drill bit and make holes tightly around the outline of the nail heads which should release the pressure. Then use your hammer to tap around them firmly which should hope let you access the heads to pull the nails out.

The boards appear to be weathered bent so if @JacobZ suggestion to drive nails in on an angle doesn’t work you might need to replace the nail holes with flat head galvanised screws to pull them back in and hold firmly.

Nailbag

Noyade

How are you getting on with this @Newbie75 ?

Looking closer - is it a combination of screws and nail-gun nails - with limited penetration and very narrow areas to attach?

And some of those areas have splintered.

Plus it looks looks to be most of the top fence.

I had a similar issue with a side fence and gate. Nails had been used and all the areas of nailing had splintered.

I took it all down.

I reused palings which were in an acceptable condition, purchased some more and then ripped in half some of the unacceptable palings - down to 50 mm.

This time they were screwed - not nailed - but with only a 15 mm gap. I covered this gap with the ripped palings and long screws down the centre.

That was 15 years ago.

The security prongs are optional.

Probably not the way you want to go - but thought I'd just share a similar experience.

Cheers!

Newbie75

Appreciate your advice,I will try these points and hopefully it's fixed.Yes narrow gaps on the top make it harder.Thanks for details.

Newbie75

Thanks for detailed advice,info helps with narrowing down to a possible fix.