Milwaukie Fence Replacement Done Right

Occasionally the gate hardware, rarely the wood. Fences from the mid-century era were often built with untreated posts set straight into soil, and after this many decades the structure below grade is gone even where the boards look passable. We will inspect it honestly, and if a section is genuinely sound we have no problem leaving it alone.

More than a bare-ground install. We demolish the existing fence, haul it away, and break out the buried concrete before new posts can go in, and that removal is real labor on lines that have stood for 70 years. Materials, length, and terrain drive the rest. Everything appears as its own line item, and we do not charge for the estimate.

The municipal code allows up to 6 feet on side and rear lines, which suits most privacy projects. Yards facing the street are held to stricter heights, and the exact numbers depend on your lot's situation, so we confirm the current standards for every project rather than guessing. Planning around the rule beats rebuilding to it later.

It can if it is built expecting saturation. In that low ground we set posts with generous drainage bases, choose materials rated for prolonged wet contact, and use fasteners that will not corrode after a soggy season. A fence built for average conditions fails early there. One built for the wet years does fine in the dry ones.

Not if we can help it. Around significant trees we hand-dig post holes instead of running an auger, and where a major root crosses the line we shift the post location rather than severing it. Losing a mature tree to save eight inches of fence placement is a bad trade, and on these older blocks the trees are half the property value.

That is much of what we build here. Board widths, cap rails, and gate details all carry a period feel when chosen deliberately, and a 1940s cottage looks wrong behind a fence styled for a new subdivision. We bring photos of pattern options to the estimate and match the fence to the house instead of forcing a catalog default.

Start with the hinge post. If it is plumb and solid, anti-sag hardware and rehung hinges usually cure the drag for a fraction of replacement cost. If the post moves when you push it, the gate was never the problem, and we reset the post first. We repair gates without requiring you to buy a whole fence project.

Let the fence dry first. Fresh cedar holds too much moisture for stain to penetrate, and under the dogwood and maple canopy here that drying often takes a month, sometimes closer to two. Once it is ready, apply during a stretch of dry weather, then recoat on a regular cycle to hold the color. Left unstained, the fence stays structurally sound; it shifts to gray, which also suits some older homes.

A surveyor can run a pin search, locating the monuments recorded when these plats were drawn, and on blocks like Ardenwald's those pins often still sit under decades of accumulated soil. That search costs a fraction of a full survey. We then build to the markers, or to a line both owners mark out together; establishing the boundary itself is legally a surveyor's job, never ours, no matter how obvious the old fence line looks.

It often works in your favor. We build year-round, and rain rarely interferes because concrete cures through a chemical process instead of by evaporation. The exception is steady cold under about 40 degrees, which asks for extra measures we plan around and which our winters seldom deliver for long. Homeowners who book between November and February typically see shorter waits than spring callers do, useful when a whole line needs replacing.