Fence Repair in Colorado Springs: What I'm Actually Looking At When I Show Up

Nine times out of ten when I get called out for a leaning or wobbly fence, it traces back to one cause: posts that weren’t set deep enough for our frost line, or posts that were set correctly but have had their footings worked loose by 100+ freeze-thaw cycles per winter.

What Is the Push Test for a Fence Post?

Before calling anyone, do this yourself. It’s the first thing I do on every fence call anyway: put both hands on the post and push firmly in each direction. Any movement at all means the footing (the concrete that holds the post in the ground) has failed. A sound post won’t budge. A failed footing will rock, sometimes just a quarter inch, sometimes a lot.

What you’re feeling is the block of concrete around the post pulling away from the soil. Once that gap opens, water gets in, freezes, expands the gap further, and every winter after makes it worse. Bracing the post from the outside buys one season at best. It just shifts the load onto the neighboring posts without fixing the real problem.

Why Do Colorado Footings Fail Faster?

El Paso County’s frost line is 30 inches. That’s how deep the ground can freeze here in winter. Posts set to only 18 or 24 inches, common in DIY builds and budget installations, sit above the worst of the freeze-thaw movement instead of below it. The ground freezes and thaws around them all winter.

For a six-foot fence, set the post at least 30 inches deep so it sits below the frost line. Two things make the difference, and most repairs skip both: a few inches of gravel at the bottom of the hole so water can drain away, and a concrete pour that mounds up slightly above the ground so water runs off instead of pooling around the post. A post set this way will outlast every board, rail, and hinge around it (I’ve pulled 20-year-old posts that were set correctly and still rock-solid, right next to five-year-old posts set wrong that were already rocking loose).

Does Wood Species Matter at Altitude?

Pressure-treated lumber comes in treatment levels, stamped on the end tag. The two that matter for fences are UC3 (rated for above-ground use, not for sitting in soil) and UC4A (rated for ground contact, which is what a buried post needs). Standard lumber yard posts are often UC3 or unmarked, so they are not rated for the constant soil contact a post sees in Colorado’s conditions.

For boards and rails above the ground, I lean toward cedar because it handles our UV and swings in humidity a lot better than pine. At 6,035 feet, UV radiation is roughly 25% more intense than at sea level. That same intensity forces deck restaining every 2–3 years here instead of every 5. Untreated pine boards break down faster than most homeowners expect in this climate.

The combination that holds up: UC4A posts set below the frost line with a gravel base, cedar boards and rails above ground, finished with a UV-resistant penetrating stain (one that soaks into the wood instead of just coating the surface).

When Does Repair Make More Sense Than Replacement?

Replace the full fence when: more than 40% of posts have failed footings, the fence is over 15 years old and boards are consistently splitting, or the style no longer matches the property.

Repair makes sense when: isolated post failures in an otherwise sound fence, boards damaged by a single hail event or vehicle impact, or sagging gates that just need new hardware and a post reset.

We do a free walkthrough and written flat-rate estimate on every fence project, repair or replacement.