I remember once when we had an open plan garden and I my wife and I decided that we definitely needed a fence of some sorts. She jested that perhaps we needed an electric fence to keep all the neighbors cats and dogs away from pooping all over the place. Then she wanted a tall privacy fence so that she could do a spot of sunbathing in the summer. All I knew is that building a fence of some sort was necessary as roaming residents were using our back garden as a shortcut.
Although a nice sturdy wooden fence can improve the look of a garden plus act as a security fence of sorts, choosing the right kind proved a little more complicated once we got down to the builder's merchants. We were confronted with an array of fence panels and types that we never knew existed.
Here are just a few options available to the home owner these days: The chain fence, or chain link fence, the vinyl fence, the ever popular picket fence (we have that out the front), the traditional garden fence, wire fence, and the aluminum fence, which is more for commercial use I would guess. By the way, this is just a few of what we saw, and the range of options really does seem limitless.
The guy down at fence supplies said that although building a fence is one of the easiest projects that you can complete on your own, you will still be quite hard pressed to find a guide that tells you all you might need to know before you start one. This is because of the number of options that you have when building a fence. As you can see from the short list above, there are literally dozens, possibly even hundreds of different kinds of fences, so no one can claim to be expert on each and every one. If you want to learn how to build a fence, you must first decide exactly which type it is that you wish to build.
If you are just looking for a way to separate your house from the houses of your neighbors, or to fence in your dog, or to stylishly enclose your property, and you live in a low crime, suburban neighborhood, I would probably suggest building a picket fence. Building a fence of this type is easy, if time consuming. You simply hammer in the individual spikes of wood, and then attach them together with a horizontal cross-member. Then all you have to do is paint your fence and you are ready to go. Many residential communities have very strong and specific rules governing building a fence, so often the picket fence is your only option anyway.
On the other hand, if you are building a fence for security purposes, you might want to consider a few other options as well. Building a wrought iron fence can be a way to get some security, while still preserving style. Although these types of fences are far from unbeatable, they are stronger than picket fences, and can be bought tall enough and sturdy enough to keep out most unwanted visitors. Many iron fences have spikes that are both decorative and functional, making them almost impossible to climb. Although someone who is really determined to get into your house will no doubt find a way past this defense, building a fence of steel is enough to scare away most perpetrators. After all, the crooks are looking for an easy target.
Other solutions that combine the affordability of a wooden fence with the greater security of metal is a chain-link fence. Building a fence out of chain link is easy, because it can be bought pre-made. All you have to do is to sink it into some concrete, and you are ready to go.
If you would sooner leave it to the experts, then simply contact a fence company, and let them help you to decide then construct your fence of choice. Just because something is said to be simple, doesn't always mean it's always easy. This was the case when my father-in-law and I fell out trying to erect a simple wood fence over at his place once. For some reason we just couldn't get the darn fence posts to align and so the panels would not meet. I don't ever want to go through that again!
