How to Plan a Fence

There's more to building a good-looking fence than just grabbing some boards and putting them up. It takes planning - lots of it. Here's what you need to know.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Yard Templates
• Phone Books
• Phone Books
• Measuring Tapes
• Graph Papers

1. Check your local zoning laws. Most fences are permitted to be 6 feet high, but some communities restrict the height for aesthetic purposes.

2. Talk to your neighbors. Your fence will become part of their yard and you'll have an easier time building it if you can access it from both sides. Besides, you may get lucky and they'll share the cost with you.

3. Be absolutely sure of where your property line is. Many disputes have arisen from questions about whose side the fence is on.

4. Consider how existing plants and trees will affect your fence planning. Will you have to cut down that 30-foot oak or can you go around it? Remember that roots eventually become a problem if you place posts too close to them.

5. Draw a diagram of your property; indicate dimensions, posts and gates.

6. Decide what purpose you want the fence to serve. Do you want privacy or security? Should it be decorative or confining?

7. Use a chain-link fence to keep pets and kids in or out of your yard. Partial privacy can be had with the addition of climbing vines such as grapes, kudzu or clematis.

8. Pick a picket fence if you just want to show off your cute gingerbread-style house or mark the edge of your yard. These come prefabricated or you can build one yourself - though it's a tedious task you may well regret.

9. Put up a post-and-rail, or ranch-style, fence around a corral or along a long driveway. This is the style you see cowboys sitting on in movies and photos.

10. Get great privacy with a panel fence. These too are prefabricated and very easy to put up. You may want to consider the lapped type - it's woven like a basket - because the panels tend to shrink a bit with hot weather.

11. Keep prying eyes out with a board fence. This type offers the best privacy and is difficult to climb. It's also the most expensive to build.

12. Try an alternative to the board fence ' an interlapping board fence. This fence's vertical boards alternate. It holds up well in windy areas, and looks good from either side.

[Emzfairy]

on 4/12/2007 Can anyone suggest how I would break holes in a concrete paving slabs please to put a dividing fence between me and my neighbour's drive? There is no soft soil to put fence posts in. BTW I'm a girl, so it needs to be the easiest way!! Thansk

on 11/22/2005 Though vines and ground cover may fill gaps on your fence or around the bottom, vines have a tendency to grow between the fence and can do quite a bit of damage to the structural integrity of the fence. The weight alone of large amounts of Jasmine, honey-suckle or other vines, can bring down fences with 2 3/8 inch metal posts. I have torn down and erected many fences, and I would say that vines are one of the top reasons privacy fences lose their integrity. Coupled with wind and weather, vines can bring down a fence years before it should. With chain link I wouldn't be as concerned. The tubing used as line posts is also very thin and can easily bend under constant weight and pressure.

on 11/22/2005 I worked for a fencing company, and we had a chart that we'd work with. I would first measure the length from corner to corner, then I would find the corresponding numbers in this chart. This chart would give me the exact feet and inches to place posts.