Wood Fence - Wood Privacy Fence Information

Wood has been used for fencing for centuries all around the world. It is the most common material used for fencing. Although wooden fences have limited life and require maintenance, yet because wood is easily available, or at least has been easily available in most parts of the world until recently, the cost of putting up a wood fence is relatively low. Plus they have a classical look and feel of country style that can’t be replaced with other types of fences.

Wood Fence Advantages

• Cost effective in short term.
• Provides full privacy if needed.
• Light and easy to install or take off.
• Cost effective in long term.
• Can be painted with any color paint.
• Wood is more versatile; it can be given any shape and is available in any size.
• Wood is biodegradable and environment friendly.

Wood Fence Disadvantages

• It has a limited life, usually between 5 to 10 yrs depending on the maintenance.
• Decomposing wood is vulnerable to fungus and dry root.
• Needs painting and maintenance on regular basis.
• When wood dries, it fades, cracks and warps.
• Drying wood contracts sags and deforms.
• Usually there is no warranty on wooden fence because of the nature of wood.
• Highest maintenance compared to any other fence.
• Vulnerable to termite infection.

Common Types of Lumber Used for Wood Fence

• Pine - Pressure treated for subterranean termites - besides having pressure treated pine, it is good to coat the lumber with water repellant stain to prolong the life of wood.
• Spruce - Untreated spruce picket fences and cross rails are most commonly used in prefabricated 4x8- or 8x6-foot picket and stockade-fence sections that you find at your local hardware store. These are then installed between pressure-treated fence posts.
• Cypress - Natural chemical Cypretine - Red Cypress is an all-natural aromatic wood that is grown in the swamps of Florida. Noted for its color consistency, density, hardness and relative lack of knots, cypress is a superior wood.
• Cedar and Red Wood - This is the best wood for fencing in or around your house as it is beautiful and has a longer life. But because it is high in demand, it more expensive as well.

The best and most elegant woods for fencing come from evergreen softwood containing resins that naturally repel molds, termites and other boring insects. The best known is California redwood; heartwood of this tree will last for 25 years or more without treatment.

But, being in demand for outdoor furniture, siding, decks and railings on upscale homes, redwood is expensive. Also, this wood doesn't tend to last as long in regions outside of California. Not quite as costly, but not cheap—and often hard to locate because it is sold primarily to outdoor furniture and fencing manufacturers—is Western white cedar (most of it from Canada).

Aromatic red cedar, cherry and a few other resinous furniture woods would make good fences, but are better used in cedar chests and dining-room tables. Red cedar and cherry are extensively used on both the East and Pacific coast. Wood that's good for naturally long-lived fence posts—and that you might find in your own woods or at a local rough cut sawmill—include black locust, the mid-western nuisance tree, the Osage orange, catalpa, red mulberry and sassafras.

Common Types of Wood Fence

• Board on Board - This is a privacy type wood fence. In this type of fence, a third picket is placed on top of every two picket nailed together, creating a full privacy and giving extra strength to the fence. Of course this means more wood, so the fence will be more expensive.
• Stockade - This is also a privacy wood fence; here the pickets are cramped together flat on rails and nailed tight against each other. But since wood bends and warps over time, you are most likely to have small gaps in between pickets. So you can say that over time, it become semi-privacy fence.
• Shadowbox - In this type of wood fence, pickets are placed behind and in front of each other, creating an almost full privacy fence. There are small gaps in between the front and back pickets.
• Post and Rail - This type of fence is most common in farms and other agricultural facilities. They do not have any pickets, only strong rails running along on posts. Commonly 2, 3 or 4 rails.
• Picket Fence - this is the most common type of wood fence. Before any of the fancy styles or designs of fencing were thought about, wooden picket fences existed. There are mainly two types of picket fences - classical being the most common one.
• Classical Picket Fence - Generally 6’ by 8’ wide panels, with two rails, several pickets spaced out evenly and the top tip of each picket shaped pointy instead of flat.
• Contemporary Picket Fence - Same size panels as the classical, 6’ by 8’ with two rails and several pickets. The only difference is that the top rail runs across the top line of the pickets, which are flat instead of pointy. So the top rail nails at the end of each picket and acts like a handrail.

Components of Wood Fence

Pickets - Pickets are generally rough cut and come in variety of width and depth. Most commonly available pickets are sized as follows. But if you have a specific need, you can have your sawmill cut you any size pickets you want. Also the tips of pickets are shaped differently. You have dog-eared picket, flat tip picket, pointed picket, gothic tip pickets and French gothic tipped pickets.

• 1/2" x 4"
• 1/2" x 6"
• 1" x 4"
• 1" x 6"

Rails - Rails got to be little thicker than the pickets. Generally rails are placed on the outside/ back of the fence. For extra strength you can run rails diagonally on a segment besides running the basic horizontal rail. Rails are available in two common sizes.

• 2" x 3"
• 2" x 4"

Posts - Posts of wooden fence is very important component. It faces the greatest danger of decomposition as it sticks in the ground. Most of the time you will have posts rotting and falling on the ground level. There is an old fashioned technique of avoiding the posts from rotting, which still works pretty well. The bottom of the posts is charred black on open fire and then stuck in the ground with rock salt. This prevents the wood in the ground from rotting or at least makes the life of the post longer. The posts are generally of a standard size - 4” by 4” by 8’. If you have a fence taller than the standard 6’, then you will need taller posts to go with it.

Fasteners – Since you are dealing with wood, best way to fasten the wood is nail and wood staples. Other important hardware you will need to choose is your hinges, that is if you got a gate on your fence line. There are varieties of metal hinges to choose from for wooden gates. They come in all different sizes and metal types. If you get yourself stainless steel ones, you save yourself the problem of rust. So here is a small list of parts you will need to get your fence together.

• Nails
• Ring-shank nails
• Staples
• Drop rods
• Hinges
• Latch and lock
• Level

Wood Fence Tips

• While there's no way to eliminate the weathering of wood, it's relatively easy to minimize the effects:
• Use three back rails (6' fence), two back rails (4', 5' fence), or 4 back rails (8' fence) for more hold-down points.
• Use only hot-dipped galvanized, or stainless steel fasteners with a ring or spiral shank to minimize warp and rust stains.
• Treat the surfaces of fence boards with a water-repellant solution to reduce the rate that moisture is absorbed and released. This solution should also have a good UV inhibitor if you don't want the fence to gray.
• Follow a regular maintenance program of cleaning and refinishing every few years with a "clear" or "toner" water repellant containing UV inhibitors. This will revitalize a dingy appearance caused by dirt, mildew or graying. It's like washing and waxing your car. Opinions differ on how necessary it is to perform regular maintenance, but most agree your fence will look much better for the effort.

Wood Treatment Options

Always try and get Pressure Treated wood to build your wood fence, if you can. This will add life to the lumber, generally by twice its normal age. Apart from PT wood, if you live in hot and humid place like FL, then it is also good to paint the wood with water repellant and some good weatherproof paint. It will increase the longevity of your fence.

You can choose from different grades of treated wood to match your goals for strength and appearance. Treatment does not affect the lumber grade; it simply makes the wood last longer. For this reason, domestic and import Pine is a popular choice. With pine we can specify the proper grade and it readily accepts treatment.

Even though pressure-treated wood is protected from termites and fungal decay, it is still a porous, natural material. Wood swells when it absorbs moisture and shrinks when it dries out. The drying process creates stresses in the wood, which contributes to cracking and warping. The sun's ultra-violet (UV) rays cause the wood to turn gray. Pressure-treated wood is subject to these effects, just like other lumber.