Hello,

After this winter I started to notice many of the pickets on our wooden fence are starting to warp. We just moved in last Feb, so I have no idea how old the fence is. It seem to be somewhat new, no rotting, no rust on hardware, and it just seemed to be in good condition when we moved in.

I don't know that much about fencing so I was wondering if there was any way to maintain or repair these warped pickets. Perhaps the previous owner just installed the cheapest fence when they put this house on the market, I have no idea.

It seems like almost every panel has a picket or two warping, I imagine its only going to get worse.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Here are a few pics:





Thanks,
Mike

 

No, nothing can be done. It's due to pooly dried lumber.

 

And poor quality lumber. The top stringer is too far below the top end of the picket, leaving too much of the picket unsupported.

 

Bummer Yea I figured the seller just put up the cheapest fence possible. Its all good though its at the bottom of my list of things falling apart in my house.

Thanks guys

 

I don't have any special knowledge of fencing but it seems to me you could put another 2x4 near the top and screw the pickets into that. I don't think it would even have to be secured to post

 

Yeah thats what i did, I had to take a whole gate apart and replace the cross members and some of the 6' X 4" pickets using components as weathered as the originals. After the x members, I had to replace some pickets that were not reusable. Some of the replacements were warped front to back like in the photo and some had warped along the the sides of the picket, they wouldnt fit in the slot because with the arc it was too wide. Used x members salvaged from a spare panel and where the pickets were warped front to back, an additional x member fixed that. My 180 lbs convinced the picket in question to lay flat against the added x member. I screwed it SECURELY to the added x member.

For the ones warped from side to side, (the neighboring pickets were also screwed SECURELY to their x members). I forced them into the slots (no gaps and wide gaps between the neighboring pickets) and used shims to correct the warp then screwed them SECURELY to the x members then removed the shims (with a couple I left the shim in and just knocked off what wasnt flush with the pickets (unnoticeable). The fence had been made 1.5" spiral shank nails. I reused those for looks so each picket had 2 nails and a substantial counter synced exterior screw.

 

I noticed that after just one week my new fence pickets above the top rail were warping. I all cases the pickets that warped had the end grain "cup" facing towards the nail head and away from the rail. All pickets that had the grain facing the other way have not warped. Anyone else ever notice this phenomenon?