How to Fix a Chain Link Fence (or When to Replace It)

Chain link damage usually touches one or two parts of the fence, not the whole run, which is what makes it cheap to repair. Re-tying loose fabric and tightening bands takes pliers. Re-stretching fabric, replacing rail and resetting posts takes fence tools and a crew, at $800 to $3,000 a repair.

What usually fails

• Torn or cut mesh, from a break-in, a fallen branch, or years of wear.
• Sagging fabric that pulled away from the ties or lost its tension.
• A leaning post, from a vehicle bump or a footing that gave up.
• A bent top rail, where something fell on it or someone climbed it.
• A gate that drags or will not latch, from worn hinges or a post that moved.

What you can do with pliers

Re-tie loose fabric. Aluminum fence ties cost a few dollars, and re-tying the mesh to the posts and the top rail with fence pliers takes out a surprising amount of sag.

Patch a small hole. Chain link fabric is woven from separate strands, so a damaged strand unweaves and a new piece weaves in. The patch shows up close and it closes the gap.

Tighten the hardware. Tension bands, brace bands and gate hinge bolts loosen over time, and snugging them back up straightens a lot of small lean before it becomes a real repair.

What takes fence tools

Re-stretching fabric. Chain link only works under tension, and stretching it takes a fence puller and a come-along anchored to the posts. Fabric that goes up hand-tight sags again within weeks.

Replacing a section of top rail. The rail sleeves together through the whole line, so a new section has to line up with the rail on both sides of it.

Resetting or replacing a post. A leaning post means digging out or breaking out the old footing and setting the post back in concrete. In open dirt that is the simple case. Where the post sits in asphalt or a slab, the surface has to be broken out and core-drilled first.

Rebuilding a gate. A sagging frame, worn hinges, or a gate that no longer meets its latch gets rebuilt or rehung rather than patched.

A section taken out in a break-in. The frame gets rebuilt and new fabric, usually 8 to 10 feet of it, gets tied and re-tensioned to the existing posts and rails, in one visit.

Repair or replace

How much of the system is gone decides it. Damage in one place, one post, one tear, one gate, is a repair at $800 to $3,000. Fabric rusted through along the whole run, or several posts moving, means every piece becomes its own repair and the total climbs past a new fence.

For the comparison: new 6-foot commercial chain link runs $55 to $70 a foot on a full run, so 60 feet of new fence comes to $3,300 to $4,200. When a repair on that same 60 feet climbs toward $3,000, price both.

Getting a number

Send photos of the damage and a rough idea of the footage. We price most repairs from that. If the damage runs longer than it looks in the photos the price moves with it, and we say so when the replacement number gets close to the repair.