Picket fence practical advice wanted

Posted by Ook on January 12, 2007, 11:56 pm

Mama wants a picket fence around the front yard (so do I :P). Any practical
advice from anyone here that has been there done that? At this point I'm
looking for post spacing, size, and depth. Can you use 2x4, or should I use
4x4 for the posts? How far apart should posts go? City ordinances state that
fences on property lines can only be 30" high (no, really, can you believe
that?) so this fence will only be 30" high.

Posted by Edwin Pawlowski on January 13, 2007, 12:47 am

"Ook" <Ook Don't send me any freakin' spam at zootal dot com delete the

Don't send me any freakin' spam> wrote in message
> Mama wants a picket fence around the front yard (so do I :P). Any
> practical advice from anyone here that has been there done that? At this
> point I'm looking for post spacing, size, and depth. Can you use 2x4, or
> should I use 4x4 for the posts? How far apart should posts go? City
> ordinances state that fences on property lines can only be 30" high (no,
> really, can you believe that?) so this fence will only be 30" high.

Last picket fence goes back to my childhood. My father built it by ripping
the pickets in the garage. He used 4 x 4 for posts. Today, I'd use pressure
treated. He made sections between the posts that were hung by putting three
strips of wood in a "U" shape. They just lifted out, two hangers on each end
using the horizontal boards. By having them removable like that, it was
easy to get to the garden, move something in or out if needed, or take them
off to paint in a better place.

Since the fence can only be 30" high, I'd think that 6 foot spacing would
give better scale than 8' spacing. The pickets were probably about 2 1/2"
wide but I'd be sure to measure some that I liked and go from there.

I do like the looks of a picket fence. Good luck.

Posted by on January 13, 2007, 3:57 am

Ook wrote:

> Mama wants a picket fence around the front yard (so do I :P). Any practical
> advice from anyone here that has been there done that? At this point I'm
> looking for post spacing, size, and depth. Can you use 2x4, or should I use
> 4x4 for the posts? How far apart should posts go? City ordinances state that
> fences on property lines can only be 30" high (no, really, can you believe
> that?) so this fence will only be 30" high.

Posts should be 4 x 4 and sunk below the frost line. You may be able
to use 2 x 4 , check local ordinances for post sizes and spacing.

2 x 4 is obviously not as strong so go with shorter post spacing .

Rails can be 2 x 4

pickets maybe 3" x 1 or picket material which is thinner

bottom rail maybe 8" high , top rail maybe 26" high with pickets at 30"

I start at each post and work in to the center using a spacer block to
keep things even . The center picket can be trimmed slightly if needed.

Posted by HeyBub on January 13, 2007, 8:47 am

Ook wrote:

> Mama wants a picket fence around the front yard (so do I :P). Any
> practical advice from anyone here that has been there done that? At
> this point I'm looking for post spacing, size, and depth. Can you use
> 2x4, or should I use 4x4 for the posts? How far apart should posts
> go? City ordinances state that fences on property lines can only be
> 30" high (no, really, can you believe that?) so this fence will only
> be 30" high.

Please check with whoever you need to check with. Some jurisdictions, civic
associations, or bipolar neighbors prohibit fences of ANY kind in a front
yard.

I saw one court case where a dude with a flower-bed border that looked like
a fence got gobsmacked by the fence police.

Posted by Ook on January 13, 2007, 11:33 am

> Ook wrote:

>> Mama wants a picket fence around the front yard (so do I :P). Any
>> practical advice from anyone here that has been there done that? At
>> this point I'm looking for post spacing, size, and depth. Can you use
>> 2x4, or should I use 4x4 for the posts? How far apart should posts
>> go? City ordinances state that fences on property lines can only be
>> 30" high (no, really, can you believe that?) so this fence will only
>> be 30" high.

> Please check with whoever you need to check with. Some jurisdictions,
> civic associations, or bipolar neighbors prohibit fences of ANY kind in a
> front yard.
> I saw one court case where a dude with a flower-bed border that looked
> like a fence got gobsmacked by the fence police.

I hear you, and I feel their pain. I live in Oregon, and as bleading heart
as this state is, at least they are not overly anal about things like that
in most cities around here. It's an older neighborhood, and there is no
association. Associations around here usually get run out of town, *nobody*
wants them. As for neighbors - they put 8' fences on their property line if
they think they can get away with it. The city set up various building
ordinances in just recent years, and they haven't gotten to rabid about
them. We recently cut down a dead tree on city property. The inspector was
here to look at sidewalk work I was doing, looks at the tree and goes "btw,
you needed a permit to do that (pointing at what was left of the tree)
because it's on city property, but because it's done already I don't see
anything".

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