How to Design Historic Picket Fences

A picket fence can give an older home a finished look. Details such as picket fences add to the ambiance of a historic home. The first step in designing the right fence for your home is to find old photos of homes with picket fences that are the same age as your house. With a resource to draw from, it becomes much easier to choose a picket fence style for your home.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Photographs of the front and sides of the home
• Photocopies
• Tape measure
• Plot plan
• ¼-inch graph paper
• Tracing paper
• Ruler
• Mechanical pencil
• Straight edge
• Clippings or reference book of picket styles
• City, county, neighborhood, historical society restrictions, easements and codes
• Scissors
• Clear tape

Designing Historic Picket Fences

1. Photograph the house from the front and sides, covering any area where the picket fence will be installed.

2. Use the plot plan to identify the property lines. Jot down the measurements from the house to each of the pertinent property lines.

3. Research with the city, county, neighborhood or historical society for any front fence restrictions, easements or codes that affect the height or setback of the fence. It is important to resolve code and building permit issues far in advance of designing the actual fence because they will affect every aspect of the design. The restrictions might require a specific style of fence.

4. Make several sets of enlarged photocopies of the photographs of the house. Make photocopies of your three favorite fence styles from your clippings or books. (Enlarge or reduce these images to approximately match the scale of the house photographs.) Use your restriction information to mark easements on one of the plot plans. If the house is not on the plot plan, then measure and mark the location of the house and sidewalks that will stay. Make several sets of photocopies of the plot plan with the marks.

5. Use the guidelines (if any) from the city or county indicating fence height. Generally, historic picket fences are 3-4 feet tall around the front and sides of homes and taller around vegetable gardens.

6. Cut out the fence images and tape each one over the photocopied image of the house. This will give a good visualization of the house with the fence style.

7. Lay out the picket fence based on the style and spacing of the fence sections. Start at the corner posts and try to find a spacing measurement that can be used uniformly around the fenced area. Adjust the post placement as necessary and mark the position of posts on a photocopy of the plot plan.

Tips & Warnings

• Symmetry is key to how a picket fence looks. All the fence panels should be evenly spaced. This will determine where a fence can start or stop.
• Sometimes it is necessary to reposition walkways to create the optimum layout for front fences.

References

• Historic New England

[joan1957]

on 11/10/2009 This brings back memories of days gone by. I used to help my grandmother whitewash her picket fence when I was a little girl.