Residential wood fences

[David Nasser]

I need info on a residential wood fence in souther calif.

Should the 4 by 4's be pressure treated. And should there
be any type of metal bracing straps presunk in the concrete ?

David
www.pyramid-home-inspections.net

[jkogel]

Originally Posted by dnasser

I need info on a residential wood fence in souther calif.

Should the 4 by 4's be pressure treated. And should there
be any type of metal bracing straps presunk in the concrete ?

David
www.pyramid-home-inspections.net

If it's new construction, and the posts are not cedar or redwood, I might make a comment, if i couldn't find anything else to talk about.
It's just a fence.

John Kogel
www.allsafehome.ca

[Russel Ray]

Originally Posted by dnasser

I need info on a residential wood fence in souther calif.

Should the 4 by 4's be pressure treated. And should there
be any type of metal bracing straps presunk in the concrete ?

David
www.pyramid-home-inspections.net

Interesting question. I'm sure the Western Wood Products Association has some recommendations, but I'm not aware of any requirements per sé.

[Barry Adair]

I'd inquire with the local fence material supply about the specific muni the fence is installed. Around here some do and some don't require permit...

[Tim Spargo]

Yes many muni's require permits and basic standards for Property Line fencing. Especially at the 6' height threshold.

If someone made an entire fence out of undipped, unpainted just sitting right there doug fir posts... I might make mention it not being decay resistant material. After all... is doug fir really supposed to come in direct contact with soil or concrete.....

Tim

[Russel Ray]

Originally Posted by tspargo

Yes many muni's require permits and basic standards for Property Line fencing. Especially at the 6' height threshold.

If someone made an entire fence out of undipped, unpainted just sitting right there doug fir posts... I might make mention it not being decay resistant material. After all... is doug fir really supposed to come in direct contact with soil or concrete.....

Tim

Actually, Douglas Fir is what is called a "refractory species," which means that it has a natural ability to resist wetting and decay. There are others as well—such as red maple, eastern spruce, redwood—but Douglas Fir probably is the best known since there are so many uses for it since there are lots of Douglas Fir forests and the trees are quite large, thereby providing lots of lumber. It also holds up well under various types of stress, something that the maples and spruces can't say. Redwood is similar but there are too few redwood forests, and once one visits a redwood forest, one surely doesn't want to see the few remaining destroyed.

(source: Russel Ray, B.S. in Forest Management, 1978, Texas A&M University)