Fencing Guides

Where to start, depending on your project

A fence project follows the same order every time, and most of the expensive mistakes come from skipping a step. If you are at the very beginning, start with measuring your fence line. Everything downstream — post count, picket count, concrete, budget — is built on that one number, and a measurement that is off by five percent will follow you all the way to the lumber yard.

Once you know your run length, decide what you are building. Our material selection guide compares wood, vinyl, aluminium and composite on upfront cost, lifespan and how much maintenance each one demands over twenty years. Pair it with the fence comparison tool if you want the numbers side by side, and the fence cost by state page to see what installers actually charge where you live.

Before you dig, read the permits and codes guide. Height limits, setbacks, corner-lot sight triangles and pool barrier rules are all local, and a fence that violates one of them gets moved at your expense. Call 811 for utility locates in the same week you apply for the permit.

Building the fence

Posts are the fence. The post installation guide covers hole depth, diameter, gravel bases, concrete mix ratios and curing times, and the post depth calculator gives you the exact depth for your fence height, frost line and soil. From there, follow the material-specific walkthrough: wood for stick-built board and picket fences, vinyl for routed-post panel systems, or chain link for terminal posts, top rail and stretching mesh without sag.

After the fence is up

New wood needs to dry before it takes a finish — the staining guide explains how to test for it, which stain type to use, and how often to recoat. Then keep the fence alive with the seasonal checklist in the maintenance guide, and when something does fail, the repair guide covers leaning posts, rotted rails, broken pickets and sagging gates without tearing out the whole run.

Guides versus the blog

These guides are evergreen, step-by-step instructions — how to do the job. Our blog covers the things that change year to year: current pricing, permit enforcement trends, product comparisons and opinion pieces on what is actually worth buying. If you want a procedure, read a guide. If you want to know what a project costs this year, read the blog.