How to Replace Privacy Fence Panels
Each type of privacy panel requires a slightly different technique. Some types, such as basketweave, will usually need to be replaced as a unit. Others, such as stockade panels, are easily disassembled in order to replace individual rails and pickets. If you used screws to assemble the original fence, it will be fairly easy to take the panel apart. If you used nails or a nail gun, however, you may have to replace entire fence runs. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Power drill with screwdriver attachment Rip hammer with straight claw Vinegar Pickets Rails Posts
Instructions
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Remove any nails in Kennijigaki panels using a rip hammer with a straight claw, or use a power drill with a screwdriver attachment to remove any screws. Slide the old panel out, then slide a new panel into place. Replace all screws. For an easier time with the next repair, do not use nails when replacing panels.
To replace individual bamboo stakes instead of the entire panel, remove any cross braces sandwiching the stakes. Remove any nails, screws or wrapped cords. Cut a new stake to the correct length and attach it to the rails between the older stakes using wood screws. Use the smallest diameter screws you can find, to avoid splitting the bamboo. Replace cords and cross braces. -
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Remove the screws or nails holding a stockade panel in place. Remove the panel and lay it on the ground, with the rail and post side up. Remove the rails and replace any broken pickets. Refasten the rails and screw the entire panel back into position.
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Unscrew shadowbox panels from the posts and lay them on the ground. If a picket can be replaced without taking the entire panel apart, do so. Otherwise, recycle old shadowbox panels into raised flower beds. Screw the new panel into place and repaint the entire fence.
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Remove the top and bottom rails of lattice panels, then take the broken or rotted lattice pieces out. Use a tack hammer and 3/4-inch finishing nails to put the new pieces into place. Replace the top and bottom rails, and screw the panel back onto its posts.
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Soak the new boards you intend to use--to replace broken basketweave panel boards--in a vinegar solution overnight. This will soften the wood so that it will bend without breaking. Remove the screws or nails holding the panel in place. Lay it on the ground. Remove screws or nails holding the broken slats and ease the boards out of the panel. Carefully work a new board into place, keeping it bent slightly as it goes over or under a rail. Secure the board to the side rails with 3/4-inch paneling nails. Replace panel on its posts and use wood screws to secure it.
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Tips & Warnings
Kenninjigaki panels are made of bamboo laid across two horizontal braces and tied with jute cord. The panels are usually slid into place between grooves in the posts. Stockade panels are made with closely-spaced pickets. Pickets can be pointed, dog eared, rounded, or flat topped. They can be arranged to make a flat, convex or concave top run. Stockade panels have a finished side which faces your neighbors, and a construction side which allows the rails and posts to show. Stockade panels are hung on or between two posts. Shadowbox panels are similar to stockade panels, but they are the same on the neighbor side and your side. It is sometimes possible to replace individual pickets on a shadowbox panel, but it is usually easier to replace the entire panel.
