Well you went another year looking at that rotted dilapidated wooden fence and this year you are going to replace it! You picked out the wood, concrete, and have found a place to recycle the old wood. Great!
Now STOP!
Before you pull out your credit card at the local DIY store, take a few moments to really do the prep needed for build a fence. You may not think that there is anything to it, but there are a few trip-falls that may mean you will be wasting time or money in that new fence. So put your wallet and car keys away and take a look at these top 3 tips you need to know before building a fence.
Do Your Fence Research
Unless you were the one to build your home from the ground up, you may not know who the fence actually belongs to. It may seem obvious, but do you really want to be halfway through the project when an officer shows up with a cease and desist order?
Go to your local county courthouse and look up your property lines in the Public Records section. They will have everything marked out so that you are certain to be panting your posts in the right place.
While you are at the courthouse, stop by the City Planning Office and make sure that you are not violating any city ordinances, codes, or regulations by building your fence. Your old one may have been grandfathered in past new regulations where a new fence will have to adhere to updated codes.
Finally, check with your HOA (if you are part of one) to see if their regulations will let you build. They may have restrictions on height, materials, and which side gets to “look nice”. On the other hand, you might get lucky and the HOA will do it all for you since many HOAs cover outdoor fixtures.
Know Your Fence Etiquette
Most of this may seem to be common sense to you, however, if you are sharing the fence with a neighbor, you may end up stepping on toes without knowing it. It is often common courtesy to split the costs of a new fence between the two properties, although this is may not be the case. More often than not, one neighbor can afford the materials where the other one can’t. In this case, the second party will donate time and labor to make up for the material cost.
Another discussion to have with your neighbor is who gets the “pretty side” and who gets the “ugly side”. Which is which? The pretty side has the slats where the ugly side has the posts and crossbeams. If your new fence is facing out to the world, it is common for the pretty side to face away from the property. Some cities even have regulations to that effect. However, when sharing the fence, a discussion needs to take place.
Click Before You Dig
You may have seen posters and signs with these exact words. Digging can be dangerous, before you start tearing down the old fence, call your local utility companies. They will send a service tech out to your home to mark out where their underground lines run. To learn more or schedule a site inspection, click here: COLORADO 811.
Sadly, more than a few DIYers will dig without checking. Before joining their ranks, be aware that if you damage a cable while planting a post, the utility company can sue you for repair costs. Your city will also issue some very costly fines as well.
All in all, building the actual fence may be the easiest part of the whole project, but by taking these few simple steps, you can ensure that your new structure will stand in good stead; causing few headaches and making you a good neighbor.
Feel free to call True Performance Real Estate today and ask any questions you might have about your home fence project.
Call: 303-317-6311