Timber Gates
Wooden Gates

Call: 0403 816660 for more information or email us: enquire@resurrection.com.au

How to Build a Front Fence

1. Picket fence and Garden fence design
2. Timber and painting
3. Layout
4. Posts
5. Framing
6. Cladding
7. Gates
8. Automatic gate opening systems

Californian Bungalow home

What is it for?
There are many reasons to build a fence. You may wish to keep your young children or dogs safe from the street, you may wish to create a secure place for your family, or you may wish to add a feature to your property in keeping with its architectural heritage. Whatever the reasons, you will have some definite parameters in mind when wanting a fence., whether it be a picket fence, garden fence or high privacy fence.It needs to provide enough privacy for your peace of mind. It needs to be high enough to keep the children and dogs in, and the world out. It should look good, in keeping with the overall architectural style of your home. It needs to have functioning gates and a letterbox. Do you want to see through the fence to highlight your cottage garden and roses, or do you want a solid barrier for privacy?

So these are the basic parameters in which to consider:
Height of the fence.
See-through or solid.
Number and positioning of gates.
Architectural style.

What style?
You will now be in a position to consider what style of fence will suit your home. If you live in a heritage overlay, the local council will have definite ideas about your streetscape and will require you to build a fence in keeping with the architectural style of your home. This is a good idea anyway as it is generally the best way to harmonize your fence with your property, and thus add to its overall value. There is no excuse for a badly designed fence, as the template for your fence will be right there in your suburb. Take some time to drive around, looking for homes similar in style to yours, and study the fences. When you find one you like, take note of its design features and construction details. Measure the size of the posts, rails and plinth, the gaps between pickets or the type of cladding, the design of the gates, whether stepped or running with the slope, and any other distinctive details. Note the construction details. Are the plinths and rails mortised or rebated? How are the post caps made? Do the gates have a metal or wooden frame? Take a pad and pencil or a camera and record the distinctive detail. You can then sit down and design your fence. You will want to envisage it in front of your house. How will the overall look feel? If your house is elevated, consider a slightly higher fence to keep the overall proportions in order. Will you be able to see the bottom or the top of the windows? If you are after privacy, the top of the fence will need to be just above eye height. If you are after effect, you will want to have the features of the house on display. The style of your home will depend upon its age. For instance, housing styles in Melbourne over the past century can be clearly divided into definite periods as we move through the decades, with its economic booms and depressions, wars and social movements. You will find some of these styles featured in this website. They roughly follow the guidelines opposite:

 

 

 

1850s
Gold rush economy
Colonial and Gothic
Simple pickets
1880s
Victorian land boom
Victorian Ornate
Pickets/rippleiron
1900s
Federation
Federation and Edwardian
Featured gates & caps
1910s
Edwardian era / Ist world war
Edwardian
Arts & crafts
1920s
Art Deco
Californian Bungalow
Woven wire
1930s
Great Depression
Garden City movement
Chain mesh
1940s
2nd world war the low brick fence
Late deco, double brick homes
The low brick fence
1950s/60s
Boom economy
The suburban spread / Modernism
More low bricks
1970s
Baby boomers buy homes
The “Jennings” home/housing estate
No more bricks please!
1980s
Baby boomers buy the investment property
Neo-Edwardian
The neo-picket fence
1990s
Baby boomers holiday in Europe
Neo- Georgian
More pickets
2000s
Baby boomers have the 2nd family
Modern residential architecture
Mixed media
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