Spring storms arrive fast in the DMV — straight-line winds, saturated ground, and the occasional tree limb where it should not be. Before you touch anything, walk the fence in daylight and inspect it in this order: posts, panels, gates, hardware. Fifteen minutes and a phone camera cover most of it. Here is the checklist we use on every storm-damage visit.
What should you check on posts after a storm?
Posts carry the whole fence, so start there. Push each post at shoulder height. Movement at ground level means the footing shifted or the post cracked below grade. Saturated spring soil heaves easily; a post that leaned during the storm often keeps leaning as the soil dries.
Look, then photograph everything — every leaning post, every fallen section — before moving debris. Those photos matter later, whether the fence gets repaired or replaced.
What do you check on panels and pickets?
Run your eyes down each rail line. Wind damage shows up as cracked boards, missing pickets, and rails pulled loose from post faces. Chain link shows bent top rail and mesh pulled from the frame. Vinyl panels crack rather than splinter, and a hairline crack today spreads next winter.
Count the damaged sections as a share of the whole line. If it approaches a quarter of the fence, or several posts moved, replacement starts to beat repair. Our fence repair crew prices both paths on-site so you can decide with numbers.
How do you inspect gates and hardware after wind?
Open and close every gate. Wind racks gate frames out of square, so watch how the latch meets the strike. Check hinges for pulled screws, and on double gates, confirm the drop rod still drops. Most gate problems after a storm are adjustments, not replacements — if you catch them early. Watch the gate posts too. A gate that suddenly sticks after a storm is often telling you its post moved, not that the hinges failed.
What should you do about downed sections right away?
Secure the area before you fix anything. A section lying flat still has nails, splinters, and sharp hardware in it, so keep kids and pets off it. Do not pull a heavy limb out of a fence if it is lodged — that is a two-person job with saws, and yanking it free can turn a bent rail into a broken post.
If anything electrical is involved — a line down across the fence, a fence touching a service wire — stay away and call the utility first. Fences conduct, and wet spring ground makes that worse. Once the area is safe, the photographs and the section count from the checklist turn into a repair plan.
Homeowners often ask whether to patch a damaged run temporarily. Sometimes yes: bracing a leaning section or tying a loose gate keeps a dog in and the yard closed while the real repair is scheduled. Temporary does not mean finished — it means safe until the crew arrives.
Do you need an insurance claim for fence damage?
That depends on your policy and the cause, and your insurer makes that call — we are fence contractors, not advisors on coverage. What helps either way is documentation: dated photos from several angles, a note of what caused the damage, and a written scope of the work needed. When homeowners ask, we provide exactly that scope and quote, so a claim has real numbers in it. Keep the damaged material until the claim closes if your insurer asks for evidence; photographs usually settle it, but the old panels cost nothing to stack in a corner for a few weeks.
Victor Aviles described our follow-through in a review posted on Google: after "a little issue with the installation," he wrote, Ray "sent his people back to rectify" it, and he was "very pleased with the service."
When should you call a fence contractor?
Call when posts lean, when a section has dropped, or when a gate will not latch. Those are safety and security issues, not cosmetic ones. If damage covers roughly a quarter of the line or more, ask us about fence replacement in the same visit.
Storm damage does not wait, and neither should the fence. Request a free estimate or call (888) 820-6099, and we will stabilize, repair, or rebuild the line before the next front comes through.