Wood Fence Installation Abilene TX

Cedar for nearly every Abilene project. The natural oils resist rot and insects, and cedar moves less than pine when humidity swings from 15 percent to 80 percent overnight. Pine costs roughly 30 percent less upfront but cups and twists faster in our heat, so the savings go right back into replacement pickets. If the budget forces pine, we use pressure treated pickets and ground contact rated posts to get the most out of it.

Clean and seal every two to three years with a penetrating oil based sealer rated for high UV. Skip film forming stains, they peel in this sun. Rinse the dust off before sealing or you trap grit under the finish. Walk the fence each spring after wind season and check for loose pickets and rail fasteners. Keep sprinkler heads aimed away from the base, because constant wetting rots posts faster than anything the weather does.

Yes, using either stepped or racked installation. Stepping keeps each panel level and drops it in increments, which suits the sharper grade changes in Abilene's older neighborhoods. Racking angles the pickets to follow grade and holds a consistent gap along the bottom, better on gentle slopes. We walk the fence line with you and mark which method applies to each run before a single post goes in the ground.

Minimum 30 inches below grade, with a bell-shaped flare at the base and 4-6 inches of coarse gravel underneath. Taylor County's expansive clay heaves posts set at the common 24-inch depth within three to five years. The bell locks the post against vertical movement and costs nothing extra in material - it's purely a matter of how the hole is dug.

Six feet is standard for backyard privacy and the tallest you can build in most Abilene neighbourhoods without a permit. Front yard fencing is typically capped at 4 feet. Corner lots carry sight-triangle restrictions near driveways and intersections. We confirm the limits for your specific address before quoting.

Face the finished side out. Most Abilene HOAs require it, and it's the neighbourhood convention even where no rule exists. If you want the finished look on both sides, board-on-board construction achieves that without doubling your material cost.

Yes. Horizontal fences need closer post spacing - 6 feet rather than 8 - and thicker boards to resist sagging across the span, so they run about 20-30% more than vertical. They look excellent on modern homes. Cedar is the right species here; pine warps too readily in horizontal runs under our heat.

Wait 4-8 weeks for pressure-treated pine to dry out - stain applied to wet-treated lumber won't penetrate and will peel within a season. Cedar can be stained within a week or two. Test by sprinkling water on a board: if it beads, wait longer; if it soaks in, you're ready.

Yes. Removal and disposal of the existing fence, including posts and concrete footings, is quoted as part of the project. Old concrete is the labour-heavy part, so we identify how much of it is in the ground during the estimate rather than raising it later as a change order.