Iron Fence and Gates for Acreage in Lucas, Parker, Fairview and Lowry Crossing

These towns exist because people wanted land inside Collin County without moving to the county line. One and two acre minimums, mature tree cover, horse properties, and lot layouts that were drawn around a well and a septic field rather than a grid.

That combination produces fencing problems you don't get in Allen or Plano ten minutes away. Here's what we run into.

Fence Lines That Have to Work Around Things

On a subdivision lot the fence goes on the property line and that's the end of it. On an acre and a half, the fence line has to negotiate:

• The septic field. You cannot set posts through a drain field, and equipment shouldn't drive across one. If the layout isn't documented, that has to be located before anyone digs.
• The well and its lines. Same problem, less obvious, and more expensive to hit.
• Mature tree root systems. Post holes through the root plate of an established oak either can't be dug or shouldn't be. Sometimes the fence line moves. Sometimes the post spacing changes to span it.
• Grade change. These lots aren't flat. Iron fence follows grade by stepping panels or by raking them, and which one looks right depends on how steep the run is and what the fence is doing.
• Drainage. Water moves across these lots and a fence line shouldn't dam it.

We walk the whole line before quoting. On acreage, a fence quoted off a plat and not off the ground is a quote that changes.

Horse Property

A lot of these properties keep horses, and horse fencing has requirements that ornamental iron doesn't automatically meet.

Picket spacing has to be either narrow enough that a hoof can't pass through or wide enough that it can pull back out. The middle is where injuries happen.

Height needs to account for the animal, and a fence a horse can lean over is a fence a horse will lean over.

No sharp finials at chest height on interior fencing. Decorative spear tops belong on the road frontage, not on a paddock rail.

Visibility. Horses need to see a fence to respect it. Thin ornamental pickets read as less solid to an animal than a rail does, which is part of why pipe and rail fence dominates paddocks and ornamental iron stays at the entrance and the house.

The usual layout: ornamental iron at the road and around the yard, pipe or rail for the paddocks and the working perimeter.

Clay Soil and Posts That Move

North Texas clay swells wet and shrinks dry, and it does it enough to walk a fence post out of plumb over a few seasons. On a 40-foot subdivision run nobody notices. On a 600-foot run across a pasture, the whole line goes visibly wavy.

What prevents it is post depth and footing volume appropriate to the soil, not the minimum that holds the fence up on install day. It's the least visible part of the job and it's where a cheap fence gives itself away in year three.

Same soil, same mechanism as the foundation movement covered in our foundation watering guide. It's worth reading if you're on acreage here, because the thing moving your fence posts is moving your slab.

Trees, and What Falls

Mature tree cover is why people buy out here and it's also the most common source of fence damage. A limb comes down in a spring storm and takes out a section.

That's a good argument for iron over wood on a treed lot. A falling limb usually bends or breaks a couple of iron pickets, which is a section repair. The same limb flattens a run of wood fence.

What We Repair Here

• Storm and tree-limb damage to fence sections
• Posts walked out of plumb by soil movement
• Gates dragging as posts settle
• Rust at the base where sprinkler zones overspray the fence line
• Vehicle damage at the driveway entrance
• Extending an existing fence line, matching the original spacing and profile
• Tying new iron into an existing pipe or rail fence

More on our approach to install and repair on the wrought iron fence page.

Get a Free Quote from Autograph Construction

We fabricate and install custom iron fence and gates for acreage across Lucas, Parker, Fairview, Lowry Crossing and St. Paul. We walk the whole fence line before we quote. Contact Autograph Construction for a free on-site measurement.

Questions? Call (945) 231-3781