Mama wants a picket fence around the front yard (so do I :P). Any practical advice from anyone here that has been there done that? At this point I'm looking for post spacing, size, and depth. Can you use 2x4, or should I use
4x4 for the posts? How far apart should posts go? City ordinances state that fences on property lines can only be 30" high (no, really, can you believe that?) so this fence will only be 30" high.
Last picket fence goes back to my childhood. My father built it by ripping the pickets in the garage. He used 4 x 4 for posts. Today, I'd use pressure treated. He made sections between the posts that were hung by putting three strips of wood in a "U" shape. They just lifted out, two hangers on each end using the horizontal boards. By having them removable like that, it was easy to get to the garden, move something in or out if needed, or take them off to paint in a better place.
Since the fence can only be 30" high, I'd think that 6 foot spacing would give better scale than 8' spacing. The pickets were probably about 2 1/2" wide but I'd be sure to measure some that I liked and go from there.
I do like the looks of a picket fence. Good luck.
Posts should be 4 x 4 and sunk below the frost line. You may be able to use 2 x 4 , check local ordinances for post sizes and spacing.
2 x 4 is obviously not as strong so go with shorter post spacing .Rails can be 2 x 4
pickets maybe 3" x 1 or picket material which is thinner
bottom rail maybe 8" high , top rail maybe 26" high with pickets at 30"
I start at each post and work in to the center using a spacer block to keep things even . The center picket can be trimmed slightly if needed.
Please check with whoever you need to check with. Some jurisdictions, civic associations, or bipolar neighbors prohibit fences of ANY kind in a front yard.
I saw one court case where a dude with a flower-bed border that looked like a fence got gobsmacked by the fence police.
I hear you, and I feel their pain. I live in Oregon, and as bleading heart as this state is, at least they are not overly anal about things like that in most cities around here. It's an older neighborhood, and there is no association. Associations around here usually get run out of town, *nobody* wants them. As for neighbors - they put 8' fences on their property line if they think they can get away with it. The city set up various building ordinances in just recent years, and they haven't gotten to rabid about them. We recently cut down a dead tree on city property. The inspector was here to look at sidewalk work I was doing, looks at the tree and goes "btw, you needed a permit to do that (pointing at what was left of the tree) because it's on city property, but because it's done already I don't see anything".
My neighbor has the coolest picket i've seen. The have roughly 36" around the deck, a 12" deep box hedge at 30", then a 24" picket on the outside of
It looks sooooo cool.
In some places, the inspector would have made you put the tree back.
I read about a situation not too long ago where a citizen called to report a dead tree on a highway right-of-way and cautioned that it could fall and cause a problem. He gave them explicit directions and location. The tree folk came out within a week and cut down a 75 year-old (healthy) pecan tree on his property, roughly fifty feet from the diseased, dead tree.
When he got home and saw the damage, he went ballistic. He called the highway department and raised more hell than the third monkey on Noah's gangplank.
The next week, the tree people came and cut down two pine trees next to his house. The dead tree was still dead.
The now tree-reduced citizen went bridal! He hired a lawyer. Sued the highway department, the tree service contractor, the governor, and everybody they ever knew. He hired an armed guard to patrol his several acres with orders to shoot any tree-molesters on sight. He called the TV people, Time magazine, he put up signs.
The state eventually compensated him for his trees. No word on the original problem.
As to civic associations, I know a lady that's a legal administrator at a law firm that specializes in responding to complaints by civic associations. In other words, the association sics their lawyer on you and you retain this law firm to fight back.
check with you local "fence viewer" at the building dept.
1x3 strapping works great for pickets and is less expensive.| > Please check with whoever you need to check with. Some jurisdictions, | > civic associations, or bipolar neighbors prohibit fences of ANY kind in a | > front yard. | >
| > I saw one court case where a dude with a flower-bed border that looked | > like a fence got gobsmacked by the fence police. | | I hear you, and I feel their pain. I live in Oregon, and as bleading heart | as this state is, at least they are not overly anal about things like that | in most cities around here. It's an older neighborhood, and there is no | association. Associations around here usually get run out of town,
*nobody* | wants them. As for neighbors - they put 8' fences on their property line if | they think they can get away with it. The city set up various building | ordinances in just recent years, and they haven't gotten to rabid about | them. We recently cut down a dead tree on city property. The inspector was | here to look at sidewalk work I was doing, looks at the tree and goes "btw, | you needed a permit to do that (pointing at what was left of the tree) | because it's on city property, but because it's done already I don't see | anything". | |HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.