Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 12, 1993 TAG: 9303050385
SECTION: LAWN & GARDEN PAGE: LG-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
THERE'S A FENCE TO FIT YOUR FANCY AND FINANCES
Good fences, as the old saying goes, make good neighbors. But these days, a good fence also can serve as a decoration, a means of privacy, or simply as a way of keeping the family dog close to home.As the Roanoke Valley becomes more and more urban, said Bob Pedigo of Viking Fence Co. Inc., fences are becoming more and more important, as people continue to build houses in the most desirable neighborhoods.
"Homes are on top of each other, and people want privacy," he said. The owners also "feel more secure" with a fence around their property.
There are many different types of fencing, and each is designed to fit every need and budget.
Perhaps the most expensive type of fencing is wrought iron, which also can be the most secure, said Roy Caviness, owner of Roy W. Caviness Welding.
"They're very popular," he said. "Wrought iron can be made as solid as you want. It all depends on what you want and how much you want to spend." Many homeowners like to use wrought iron for security gates at driveways, he said.
Besides being functional, wrought iron fences also can be works of art.
"They're very attractive," Caviness said. The metal can be worked into almost any shape and color imaginable, and Caviness often uses plans drawn by his clients or copies designs from pictures they supply him.
"They have a lot [of] say," he said od his clients. "I do what they want."
Some of the most popular designs incorporate grape vines and leaves and other decorative work.
Caviness said there is no average price for this type of fence. "It's custom work," and each job is different.
Wooden fencing is probably most popular right now, for both residential and commercial uses, Pedigo said. It comes in all kinds of styles, from the old-fashioned white picket fence to 14-foot privacy fences. The average price for a wooden fence is about $8 per foot, he said, depending on the size of the boards.
Pedigo has been in the fencing business for 30 years, and until the early '70s, he said, chain link was the most popular style. Now, people want the privacy and the decorative value wood can offer. And because of new methods of treating the wood, it can last for decades.
Viking Fence specializes in installing all types of wooden fencing. Although many people are successful in installing their own fences, it's not easy to do, Pedigo said. Because of the hilly terrain of the Roanoke Valley, it's hard to get the top and the bottom of a fence to come out even unless you are an expert at it.
All of his customers seem to have their own ideas about what they want, Pedigo said, and because the fence boards are custom-made at his shop, he usually can accommodate them.
The average job takes about two days, he said, because each post is set in concrete, which needs time to dry. Most people start thinking about fencing in the spring and fall, he said, so summer and winter are good times to buy.
Walker Fence and Handrail doesn't specialize in any one type of fence, said Ernest Walker, one of the owners of the company, which installs fencing for residential, commercial and farm use.
His workers can put up all kinds of fences, including wood, wrought iron, chain link and barbed wire. Walker said he occasionally has been called upon to repair ancient chestnut "pile of sticks" fences, in which the rails are simply stacked on top of each other in a zig-zag pattern and tied together where they cross. This is the oldest type of fencing in the country, he said, and a good example of it can be seen at the Booker T. Washington homeplace in Franklin County.
Like the other contractors, Walker can build fences to his customers' specifications.
"If they can think of it, we can build it," he said.
Walker said his charges usually are based on the cost of the wood and how many post and gates there are, rather than by the foot, although the average picket fence costs about $8 per foot.
One of the most popular types of fences he installs is the split rail, he said. This kind of fence "sets the property off," and is intended for decoration, rather than privacy or security.
There are two types of split rail fences, he said. The first type has dowel-type rails, which are set into sockets in the posts. The rails in the other type actually go through the post and rest on top of one another, he said. The typical farm fence has three rails, while the decorative type usually has two.
Chain link is the least expensive type of fencing most homeowners can buy. Most people who ask for chain link fences have utilitarian uses in mind, Walker said. They often have children or dogs they want to keep confined to a yard, or they want to keep other people out.
Then, of course, there is the no-fence fence, which is ideal for people who don't want an enclosed yard, but want to keep their pets on their property.
Invisible Fencing of Southwest Virginia offers an electronic system which can be used to train dogs to stay in a yard or away from certain areas, such as a flower bed or sand box.
Jenny Richardson, one of the owners of the company, said the system works on 99 out of 100 dogs. A wire is buried along the property line, and the dog is given a collar that will respond to signals sent through the wire from a transmitter inside the house. If the dog gets too close to the wire, Richardson said, the collar will sound a warning tone. If the dog doesn't stop, it receives a mild electric shock, which Richardson said is more startling than painful.
"It's an unpleasant reminder to them that they're where they shouldn't be," she said.
The average system costs about $1,000, she said and should last for 30 years or more.
Although, as Pedigo said, it isn't easy to put up your own fence, it can be done for a reasonable price. Home supply stores such as Lowe's sells 8-foot sections of different types of fencing. Prices range from around $10 a section for two-rail split rail to around $30 per section for palisade or shadowbox styles.
And although the store does not provide specific instructions for putting the fences together, it sells home improvement books that do. Grading problems aside, it can be fairly easy to set posts and nail fencing sections to them.