Wood Fences

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A Plot-Plan and Trial Fence

Get some square-ruled graph paper and draw up a scale plot-plan of your property (use paper with the smallest squares you can find and have one square equal to anywhere from 1' to 5'—whatever scale will fit your land). Include sidewalks and roadways, and then ink in property lines. Mark the distance of your house from property lines, as well as drives, trees, gardens and outbuildings.

Carefully measure and draw (in dotted lines) setback lines and other applicable zoning regulations as well. In pencil or using strips of paper, lay out your preliminary fence plan. Lacking zoning-determined setbacks, give yourself plenty of leeway.

Locate a fence line at least 1' in from sidewalk edges, a good power-mower-width from the line between an abutting neighbor's lawn, and your own (keep the strip mowed yourself), 3' or more in from the ditch running along a country road, and a good 6' inside your property line in field or woods. In the plan, include drive openings (8' minimum), walk gates (3' to 4'), and farm gates wide enough to accommodate animals or a tractor (10' to 12'). If a building permit is required, an ink version of this plan will be part of your application; draw carefully. To start, assume that each fence bay will be 8' long.

Locate posts at gates, drive edges at corners, and at each turn in the fence line. You can adjust bay length later when you decide materials, design and lay out the fence on the ground. With the plan in front of you, meet with housemates and pretend you're all living with the fence through a year of carrying in small children, groceries, etc.—or building that horse barn you've long yearned for.

Be sure the fence doesn't interfere with day-to-day life or with the occasional major project. Also, think twice before cutting off wildlife trails, blocking shortcut school paths, or fencing out a neighbor who hikes over for coffee once in a while. Finally, go into the woods and cut a supply of 5'-long saplings, or buy a $5 bundle of dime-a-board wood lath.

Get a ball of twine too and erect a stick and string mock-up of the fence by running the string along the ground—around the house and any other high-traffic areas. Cut a point in one end of the sticks, hammer them in every 4' to 6' along the proposed line, and wrap the string around their tops. To make a string-and-stick mock-up gate: staple together a square of lath, brace it with an angle, and tie to mock-up gate posts with twine—it'll be floppy but will serve. Live with the prototype for a while and make changes as experience dictates. All this may seem like planning overkill, but some things can be learned only from a full-scale mock-up.

Making a Fence

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