Hi All, Wick here.

I get a lot of questions about today’s topic. Fences.

As the saying goes, “Good fences make good neighbors.”

I don’t know if this is true or not but I can tell you you will learn a lot about your neighbor when you start discussing the fence you both share. (As many of you have told me.)

I have a lot of questions to answer, so let’s begin.

Q: How tall can I make my fence?
A: Anything over 6 feet tall requires a permit.

Q: Whose fence is it? Mine or theirs?
A: This question could be the basis for a new philosophy. A better way to think of it is that the fence could be a manifestation of your relationship with your neighbor. Whatever you decide to be the truth, is the truth. But in general terms, you basically both own half.

Here’s what happened to me: I asked this neighbor to go halfsies on the cost of a new fence, they agreed. My other neighbors didn’t. In my mind, I co-own THIS fence, and I own THAT fence. My back fence neighbors are scary so I didn’t even ask. I just went for it.

Q: How do I find out where my property line is?
A: You can hire a professional. They charge about $500-$1000 per side of your yard to determine the true boundary line.

Q: What fence styles are there?
A: There are a bunch obviously, but in general you can do a good neighbor fence or a privacy fence. Good neighbor, like this, allows some peekaboo views of your neighbor. A privacy fence is one sided and there are no friendly views.

Q: How should I seal or finish my fence?
A: I prefer not sealing a cedar fence like this, over time the wood turns silver and you never need to do any maintenance. If you do seal it, remember you’ll need to reseal it every other year to maintain that look.

Q: How much do fences cost?
A: Fences can be crazy expensive. Nice, high end fences can be 10 grand for an average backyard.

Q: Lastly, What’s a cheap way to build a fence?
A: Here are two options right in my backyard. (My nickname ain’t ‘Thrifty Wick’ for nothin.) Let’s begin. Right here you can see this is the old pole from my chain link fence. I kept it because it’s strong and sturdy. I added some strapping for these cross braces, put the cross bases in and then I added these really cheap boards from PAR, these cost about 99 cents because they’re grade 3. Lot’s of knots and holes. There’s another way to use the chain link fence, but give me a ring and I can walk you through that if that’s something of interest.

Again, thanks for watching today and I hope you learned something about fences!

Wick