How a fence is installed in Chatsworth

The install, step by step

1. Mark the line and confirm the boundary. We string the exact run, confirm the property line, and note where the fence meets a neighbor, a slope, or a driveway. On a shared boundary this is also when the Good Neighbor Fence Act notice belongs, giving your neighbor written notice before the work.
2. Call for utility locates. Before any hole is dug, underground utilities are marked. This is not optional and it is free, and on the older Chatsworth tracts it keeps a post hole from finding a gas or water line.
3. Set the corners, ends, and gate posts first. These posts carry the whole run, so they go in first and deepest. On a rail or chain link fence they hold the tension; on any fence they anchor the line the rest of the posts follow.
4. Dig the post holes, and drill the rock. This is the Chatsworth step. An auger opens the holes in soft ground, but along the foothill edge a hole will hit sandstone or a buried boulder a foot or two down. Rather than stopping short, we switch to a rock drill or coring bit and go to full depth. A shallow post in this wind will lean; a drilled one will not.
5. Set the posts plumb in concrete. Each post is set true, braced, and set in a concrete footing sized for the fence height and the wind exposure. The concrete cures before any weight goes on it, which is why a proper install is not a one-day job on a long run.
6. Hang the rails, panels, or mesh, then the gates. With the posts solid, the rails and panels or the stretched mesh go up, the run is trued and leveled, and the gates are hung and adjusted so they swing clean and latch square.

Why the footing is the whole game here

On most jobs in most towns, setting posts is routine. In Chatsworth it is the step that separates a fence that lasts from one that leans, and the reason is the Chatsworth Formation. The same Cretaceous sandstone that forms Stoney Point and the outcrops along the trails runs under the yards on the foothill edge, so a post line will cross rock somewhere on most of these lots. A crew that is not set up for it will pour a shallow footing on top of the rock and move on, and that post becomes the one that heaves when the Santa Ana wind pushes on the fence. Drilling or coring the rock to reach depth costs time on the affected holes, but it is the difference between a fence that rides out a wind season and one that does not. It is also why a Chatsworth footing is priced on site, once we have seen the ground, rather than guessed by phone.

What the wind and the fire zone add

Two more local factors shape the install. The first is wind: Santa Ana gusts funnel through Santa Susana Pass and hit these yards with force, so on exposed runs we set posts deeper and closer together and size the footings up. A solid six foot fence is a sail, and the footing is what holds it. The second is fire: because Chatsworth sits in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, on lots near the open space we plan the material so the stretch closest to the house is non-combustible, which changes the post and panel choice for that run. Neither of these is an afterthought; both are decided on the layout day, before the first hole is drilled.

How long it takes, and what it costs

A standard backyard run in easy soil can go up in a few days including cure time. A long acreage line, a run full of rock, or a job with gates and an operator takes longer. The rock is the biggest variable, which is exactly why we walk the line before quoting. For the material ranges and what the drilling adds, see the Chatsworth fence cost guide. If you are choosing a material to install, the wood fencing page lays out where cedar and redwood make sense and where the fire zone or the upkeep points you elsewhere.

Keep reading

If you are still weighing materials, the overview of Chatsworth fence installation covers every option side by side.