Repair & Replacement
Why is my fence leaning?
Almost always frost heave. Water in the soil around a post freezes, expands and lifts the post; repeated freeze-thaw cycles walk it progressively out of plumb. It happens when footings were set above the frost line, when the hole was undersized for the post and load, or when drainage around the post is poor and water pools against it.
The durable fix is resetting the affected posts in properly sized footings below the frost line, with drainage that moves water away from the post rather than holding it. Straightening a post without addressing the footing simply defers the problem to the next winter.
Clay-heavy soils hold water against footings and make heave worse, which is why it is a particularly live issue in parts of Chester County — the Red Clay Creek watershed around Kennett Square especially.
A leaning gate is usually a different problem: either the gate post was undersized for the leaf weight, or the gate frame has no diagonal brace and is racking under its own weight.
