Fence Installation in Dallas, TX

For any improvement project you undertake, including a fencing project, you should set aside the time to take care of a couple of preliminary steps. These will help your fencing project proceed smoothly and not cause you any further stress. Here are some steps to consider before you begin your project that will benefit you in the long run.

Have a Property Survey Done

You aren't required to conduct a property survey of your land before having a new fence installed. The borders between residential properties can move a fair distance away from where they're actually recorded as being, though, so having a survey done is often a good idea.

Unofficially, property boundaries have a tendency to shift over time due to a variety of factors, including landscaping changes, shifting soil, outbuildings, and the assumptions people make about where the property line is. The end result is that people often put a fence up without checking where the official property line actually is.

Having a property survey done can go a long way to helping avoid a difficult situation with your neighbors, should a dispute arise regarding the property line. With the official property records in hand, you'll know that your fence installation is within your borders and fully compliant.

Call 811 Before You Dig

While your backyard might look unspoiled and pristine, there's the likelihood that there's a lot going on below the soil, including electrical and plumbing lines. Working with our professionals ensures that we won't just take care of your fence installation in Dallas, but that we have all the information needed to dig the holes for your fence posts safely and without damaging any buried utility lines.

For those planning to go the DIY route—or planning on doing any kind of digging themselves—it's important that you call 811 at least two days before you dig, to ensure the peace of mind that comes with knowing you aren't going to hit an electrical cable or plumbing pipe a few feet down.

For those looking at replacing an existing fence, you might have questions about whether now is the right time or if your fence can hang on for a few more years. To assess the condition of your fence, walk along both sides of it (provided you have access to both sides), and examine it from multiple angles for signs that it's time to replace it. These signs include:

• Rotten timbers that are soft, discolored, or crumbling.
• Missing or broken pickets or boards.
• Gray, weathered wood.
• Strips of paint are peeling off.
• Metal fencing is rusted or otherwise corroded.
• Hard to open or close the gate.
• Fence posts are leaning and/or shifting when you touch them.
• Sagging chain link panels.
• Parts of the structure, other than the posts, are making contact with the ground.
• Concrete footings of the posts are exposed due to soil erosion.
• Patches of vinyl show visible signs of sun damage.
• Broken, creaking, or misaligned latches on your gate.

This is a reasonable question to ask. Especially before you dive into a large fence installation project, because if your structure is in reasonably good shape, there's not really a reason to replace it completely. However, there's no point to waste time, money, and effort on fences that have extensive damage—especially if replacement is more cost-effective.

If you're only noticing a little bit of damage here and there, or that the problem is relatively simple to solve—like a couple of missing pickets—then your local handyman can take care of it easily with the right repair strategy.

However, if there are a lot of small (or not-so-small) repairs needed that span the entirety of your fence, then repairing it would be expensive and time-consuming. Likely, the cost of replacing the entire fence would be cheaper than investing in repairs. In such a situation, a new fence installation is the way to go. Here are a few scenarios where replacing your fence is really the best option:

• More than approximately 25% of the entire fence has been damaged or affected by damage, which can include storm damage, neglect, or general deterioration over time.
• There's been sudden, extensive damage, from a falling tree or branch or even a vehicle crash.
• Destructive insects, like carpenter ants or termites, have taken up residence in the structure.
• You're looking to invest in increasing your property value or refresh your property with a new style of fence.

Maintenance will, of course, depend on the fence material that you've chosen. With metal fences, there isn't much involved with maintenance. It's a good idea to monitor them for rust and, depending on the type of material, they might need an occasional coat of anti-rust paint.

With wooden fences, there's more maintenance involved. That's because they're more susceptible to wood rot. Given that your fence is exposed to the elements, it's prone to moisture incursion and rot only affects wood with a moisture content above around 20%. Therefore, if you want to avoid wood rot, you want to ensure that your fence boards are cleaned regularly and refinished with a wood stain to seal out moisture.

If you're not feeling up to the task of regular maintenance, then don't worry. Your local Dallas handyman is here to take care of that for you as well. Give them a call today!

Naturally, the time frame for your fence installation will vary due to various factors. These include the length of the fence, whether there's any challenging terrain or obstacles that need to be worked around, and the fencing material used. Typically, fence installation in Dallas takes between one and four days, but don't forget that important work must be done before installation can even begin.

For instance, if the previous fence needs to be torn down, then that has to happen. Additionally, measuring the length of the fence and calculating the materials needed will have to be done, too. Then, there's the matter of obtaining the materials and pulling any fence permits needed for the work to move forward. Plus, we need to ensure that the area is free of any buried utility lines or other obstacles that could present a problem for digging the holes for fence posts.

Gates aren't always necessary. If your fence is meant to be a decorative or privacy fence, then you might choose to forgo a gate entirely in favor of a gap that's framed by two ornate fence posts. However, for those who need their fence to contain rambunctious kids or pets—or discourage trespassers—then a gate will be a key component in your fence's security.

Standard gates are swinging ones, with hinges attached to a single post. The latch is installed on the other side, aligning with the latch side of the post. However, there might not be enough room for a swinging gate, especially if we're talking about driveway gates.

In the case that you're having driveway gates installed, then it makes more sense to install a cantilever gate that folds in on itself when opened. Another option is to install a rolling gate that moves on tracks alongside the fence when open.