8 Tips for Building the Perfect Fence

Landscape Architect: Grant Jones

A series of knot-textured Construction Heart redwood fence panel modules are stepped along a sloping site. At the top of the fence, design interest was added by alternating inserts of uprights and whimsical gabled redwood "roofs." If you are planning a fence project, Redwood Fences For All Reasons, a 16-page idea-starting, how-to guide to fence designing and building can help. Send $2.50 to California Redwood Association, Department F8, 405 Enfrente Drive, Suite 200, Novato, CA 94949. For general redwood information, check out their web site at www.calredwood.org.

Designer/Builder: Julian Hodges

An elegant redwood picket fence features an inviting, asymmetrical redwood gate characterized by a pleasing scoop design and an overhead trellis. If you are planning a fence project, Redwood Fences For All Reasons, a 16-page idea-starting, how-to guide to fence designing and building can help. Send $2.50 to California Redwood Association, Department F8, 405 Enfrente Drive, Suite 200, Novato, CA 94949. For general redwood information, check out their web site at www.calredwood.org.

Designer/Builder: Dave Wilson

A basic, but elegant, redwood solid board fence is enhanced by a custom gate featuring oval and crescent cutouts near the arched top. The fence is decorated with routed-out detailing on the posts and fence tops. If you are planning a fence project, Redwood Fences For All Reasons, a 16-page idea-starting, how-to guide to fence designing and building can help. Send $2.50 to California Redwood Association, Department F8, 405 Enfrente Drive, Suite 200, Novato, CA 94949. For general redwood information, check out their web site at www.calredwood.org.

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8 Tips for Building the Perfect Fence

There are many reasons to build a functional and beautiful redwood fence and gate. Whether intended as a landscape focus or a subtle backdrop, a redwood fence can screen out neighborhood sights and sounds, garbage cans or your garage and enclose a private garden for a bathroom or bedroom. It can contain children and pets, display your prize plants and also hide or highlight your house’s architectural features. The following are some tips to help you design and build the redwood fence that is perfect for your house and lifestyle:

1 - Materials

Knotty redwood garden grades are ideal for fencing because of redwood’s outstanding dimensional stability and durability and its natural decay and insect resistance. Redwood is also easy to saw and work with because of its grain, texture and lack of pitch. Because redwood takes and holds finishes better than other woods, it is the best choice for fencing when you want to color-match it with your house.

2 - Style

When choosing a style for your redwood fence, it’s important to consider esthetics as well as function because fences make highly visible statements about your property and will add to its value if they’re carefully planned and well crafted. A distinctive design will add character to an ordinary yard and make your outdoor area more inviting. If your garden has already been landscaped, the fence should blend with the overall feeling that’s been created and with the architecture of your house.

3 - Choices

Your local redwood lumber dealer may have standard pre-fabricated gates and post-and-rail, basketweave, stockade, picket, board-on-board fence patterns in six- or eight-foot sections and gates. Or you can design your own redwood fence—-high or low, solid or see-through, with board dimensions and spacing varied in distinctive horizontal, vertical or diagonal applications. To help get you going, there are many idea-starting and how-to books and booklets available on fence design and building.

4 - Planning

Whether you decide to build the fence yourself or have a contractor do it for you, you should be aware of zoning ordinances before making final plans. In some areas, fence height, location, style and materials are regulated. To avoid problems that might arise from a faulty survey, it’s a good idea to build your fence a few inches inside your property line. It’s also advisable to check with electric and water companies to make sure you won’t hit underground electric, water or sewer lines when holes are dug for the posts.

5 - Grades

Selecting the correct redwood grade for different elements will also ensure a longer-lasting fence. Posts and bottom rails, which are in or within six inches of the ground, should be decay-resistant Construction Heart redwood.

Construction Common redwood can be used for the top rail and fence boards. For special designs with intricate detailing, Clear All Heart, Clear or B Grade might be best because of their fine grain and even texture.

6 - Construction

A basic fence usually consists of 4x4 redwood posts spaced every 6 or 8 feet with 2x4 rails or stringers and 1-inch fenceboards, 4 to 12 inches wide. Most fences are 3 to 4 or 6 to 8 feet high to accommodate standard 6- to 8-foot redwood board lengths. Heavier fences over 6 feet high may require 2x6 stringers and 4x6 or 6x6 posts.

7 - Anchoring Posts

Your fence will look better and last longer if care is taken to make sure it’s properly anchored. Setting the posts is the most critical aspect of fence construction because they keep the structure upright and stable. Postholes should be dug with smooth, straight sides or with the hole wider at the bottom than at the top. To keep groundwater away from the base of the posts, six inches of gravel should be placed in the bottom of the holes and more gravel filled in three or four inches up the posts. Once the posts have been positioned and braced, the holes are packed with concrete.

8 - Hardware

To avoid unsightly stains, use non-corrosive hot-dipped galvanized, stainless steel or aluminum nails and fastenings. The California Redwood Association recommends that a finish be applied to retard weathering. A clear water repellent containing mildewcide will reduce harmful effects of moisture. If you want a weathered look, a bleaching treatment will provide a silver-gray appearance. A semitransparent stain can be used to give the wood color while allowing the grain pattern to show. Opaque colored stains can also be used to achieve a good effect.

A carefully designed and constructed redwood fence and gate will add to the beauty and enjoyment of your garden and be well worth the expenditure of energy, time and money. Get your project going with the booklet Redwood Fences For All Reasons, a 16-page idea-starting, how-to guide to fence designing and building. Send $2.50 to California Redwood Association, Department F8, 405 Enfrente Drive, Suite 200, Novato, CA 94949. For general redwood information, check out their web site at www.calredwood.org.

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