Fence Installation in Happy Valley, OR
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The wall came with the house. On a Happy Valley lot cut into the side of Mount Scott or the ridges south of it, the pad the house sits on is often held by a retaining wall at the back or the side, and the fence went on top of it, or behind it, or somewhere in between. When the fence fails, the first question is not what to build. It is whether the ground the new fence will stand in is still where the wall left it.
Whether the wall is holding
A fence on a hillside lot is only as level as the ground it stands on, and on a cut lot that ground is held by a wall. A wall that has bowed, leaned, or cracked is moving the soil the posts sit in, and a new fence set into moving ground moves with it. So before VResh prices a Happy Valley fence, it looks at the wall: whether it is plumb, whether it has cracked or bulged, whether water is getting behind it, and whether the ground at the top of it has settled or slumped. If the wall is holding, the job is just the fence. If it is not, the wall has to be dealt with first, and VResh will say at the estimate whether that is work it takes on or work that goes to a wall contractor before the fence crew comes back. What VResh will not do is set new posts into ground that is still moving.
Happy Valley's wall rules, and how they move a fence
Whoever rebuilds a failing wall builds it to Happy Valley's rules, and the rules can change where the fence goes. The city allows a single retaining wall up to 8 feet, "measured from the visible downslope face." Where a slope needs more than one wall, "all retaining walls shall be terraced with a minimum visible distance between walls equal to the visible height of the downslope retaining wall." A wall of 4 feet or more require a building permit, and those over 12 feet require a land-use application as well; walls over 4 feet also require vegetative screening and setbacks under the city's code.
For the fence, the terracing rule is the one that matters. A tall builder wall rebuilt as two shorter walls with a terrace between them puts a strip of yard where there was none, and the fence either sits on the upper wall, where it stands highest and sees the most weather, or on the lower, where it holds the yard's edge. Both are drawn before either is priced.
The fence on the wall
A fence can stand on a wall or behind it, and on a cut lot the choice is made for it by the wall's construction. A segmental block wall or a timber wall has a top course that a post can be set behind but not into; the posts go in the ground behind the wall, and the fence runs a foot or so back from the wall's face. A poured concrete wall with a cap can take a post bracket on top, and the fence runs on the wall's line. Which one your wall is decides which one your fence is, and the estimate says so.
Where the fence leaves the wall and runs down the slope along a sideline, the main fence page's raked and stepped panels apply. On a cut lot, the raked panel, with its top following the grade, is usually the one that meets the wall cleanly.
The 4-foot line on a sloped front yard
Happy Valley sets fence height by where the fence stands relative to the house. In front of the building, or within 30 feet of the front property line, whichever is less, a fence may be up to 4 feet. Behind the front of the building, or more than 30 feet back, 8 feet. Inside a clear-vision area at a driveway or corner, two and a half feet. Lattice and trellis count toward the height.
On a flat lot, the rule is easy to read. On a lot where the house sits above the street on a cut, the front of the building is up a slope from the sidewalk, and the 30-foot line from the front property line may fall halfway up the driveway. VResh measures both and marks where the 4-foot limit ends and the 8-foot limit begins, because on a sloped front yard that line is rarely where the homeowner pictures it.
A fence of 7 feet or less needs no building permit under the state's exemption. Taller than 7 feet does, with a site plan.
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Fence questions from Happy Valley, OR
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We have a wealth of experience working as main building contractors on all kinds of projects, big and small, from home maintenance and improvements to extensions, refurbishments and new builds.
Two stages, or one
A Happy Valley fence estimate comes back as one stage if the wall is holding and two if it is not, with the wall's work and the fence's each dated. Either way, the fence is priced only against ground that will stay put. Call or text (503) 272-6436.