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Stepped fence on downslope curved street

| Posted in Construction Techniques on February 3, 2004 02:53am

I am planning a fence connected to a Japanese garden style entryway for a house; the fence will visually enclose the front yard of my house and will  have to parallel the street and curb.  The street drops in elevation from the (proposed) gated entrance to the yard (and walkway to the front house entrance) to the driveway about 75 feet away to the right when facing the house; in addition, the curb curves in a S shape mover this distance.

 

What are the best methods for laying out and completing the fence?  The spacing between the 4×4 posts will be 6 feet starting from the gatepost; if I align everything to the curb (i.e. the front of each each fence post will be parallel to that immediate section of curb), then there seems to be no way to get straight lines between the posts.  How do you build a fence that both needs to curve to match the street and drop to match the terrain in a way that doesn’t drive you crazy with multiple sections (a stepped fence with same length rails)

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Replies

  1. User avater
    Sphere | Feb 03, 2004 03:59am | #1

    pile a bunch of rocks there..

    Go Stab yourself Ya Putz! Ya think I Parked here?
  2. davidmeiland | Feb 03, 2004 04:27am | #2

    Hate to say it, but to look masterly you need to parallel the walkway and build sections of a consistent length. The face of each post is as parallel to the walk as you can make it. The rails that connect the posts to each other have slight miters on the ends. You can either step up and down with level sections, run sections sloping parallel to the land, or use vertical boards that master the rails and follow the land so there are no 'sections'. If you choose to square things off and ignore the curve of the walk you risk creating a jarring contrast. At least it would jar me.

    Before doing a job like this I think it's helpful to see what other people have done. Take the dog for a walk in a nice expensive neighborhood with the same hills as yours and see the fences people have built. Take your digicam and shoot a bunch of photos.

    1. mobiledoc | Feb 03, 2004 05:31am | #5

      Thanks for the sugestion about comparisons; I have been looking for similar situations but everyone must be chicken since, so far, I haven't found any property with a wood fence paralleling a street downhill on a curve.  Stone is easy (relatively) and 9gnoring the curves (very common) is also easy but jarring.

  3. KRettger | Feb 03, 2004 05:23am | #3

    Hey mobildoc,

    Sometimes a picture or a sketch is worth a thousand words. Got to admit I got a little lost in your description of the front of your house, sidewalk, street, etc...

    But anyway there is one layout trick that comes to mind when considering the overall problem.

    First, toss out the idea of 4x4 posts every 6'. The number one thing you have to get to first is a good visualization of the fence itself, on a 1 to 1 scale to figure out the practicality of any latter decisions.  The way to do this is KEEP IT SIMPLE!!!!!!

    So--- take a garden hose and roll it out 6' back from the street, walk, etc....  running parallel to the same objects, just like you would be laying out your fence. Then when you have the hose running where you want the fence to be running, eyeball the curves and radiuses, and figure out where you are going to have to put posts, so as to keep nice, eye pleasing curves, that don't "jut" out to far, or cut too close to the border. Think of the rails as arcs across the radius's. Everywhere you think a post would work good put a rock or brick or some such.

    When finished with this second step, take a break. Get out a deck chair,settle down into it and order your woman to pop the top on a cold one and serve it to you in a frosted mug. When she finishes laughing at you, go get it yourself, and sit back down and just mellow out awhile looking at how your fence wants to run.

    This ought to be the fun part. You should be able to "see" how the fence is going to want to break into sections to keep a smooth flow along the boundaries, and where you need posts to keep if "flowing" smoothly, while simultaneously keeping into account elevations to account for drops in ground etc...

    Once you have done this and know where you want the posts to go, mark each spot with a splotch of spray paint. Next go right ahead and tell your woman she can stop laughing now, you actually do know what you are doing and this fence is going to be the beauty of the neighborhood, it's just that she can't see it because women don't have a good enough imagination and "eye" for the work of a "master".

    Then call utility people and have them mark for underground utilities so you don't kill yourself when you dig the holes for the posts. Also check for any sprinkler lines or your woman is going to be laughing again when water goes spraying all over when you hit one of these.

    I hope this gets you headed in the right direction. Usually once you can "see" just exactly how a wall or fence will run, it gives you a place to "start", and then the "rest" of the problems start working themselves out.

    Like to hear how it turns out.

    Cork in Chicago

    1. mobiledoc | Feb 03, 2004 05:29am | #4

      I laughed and saw the simplicity in your answer.  Thank you!

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