Whether you're trying to keep someone out, keep your pets and kids in or, if you're Sarah Palin, attempting to keep the prying eyes of a best-selling author from looking down at you, fencing is often your best option.
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"Fences are generally category specific to the needs of the client. They range from privacy to pools, to pets, to children. Commercial businesses and Industrial applications. It's a diverse field," said Ian Zumback with AFSCO Fence.
Like everything, else fencing has evolved over the years. It's available in all sorts of materials and the most popular stuff right now is maintenance free.
Vinyl is king in terms of the residential market. We've seen it replace pretty much most residential fences by 80 percent to 20 percent. There's no required painting. There's no required maintenance. I think that husband's across the region are rallying for less maintenance if possible. They'd rather be watching football or baseball than painting a fence like Tom Sawyer, "Zumback said.
What does it cost? It depends on a couple of factors. The type of material used and how much of it you need. Fencing is typically sold by the section, not by the foot.
"The only type of fencing that's not sold by the section would be chain link fence. That's generally sold by the linear foot," said Zumback.
At the project, here at this apartment complex they're replacing this old cyclone fence around the pool with a more ornamental, steel fence. When it comes to putting fencing up around the pool at your house, it is state regulated and there are laws you have to follow. It all depends on the material you are using to build your fence.
"The pool code for a chain link fence is different than the pool code for an ornamental fence system. It has to do with spacing and height requirements," Zumback said. "There's a nationwide regulation called the BOCA regulation. Most municipalities and towns have adopted that into their bylaws."
You can certainly install a fence yourself. In fact, according to Zumback, most residential fencing is now manufactured with the do-it-yourselfer in mind. He cautions, however, if you've got some grading issues with your yard, it's best to leave things up to the professionals.