Fence Installation in Hillsboro, OR

Posts Set in Concrete, a Third of Their Length Below Grade. 811 Call Handled. Free Estimates. Licensed OR #241979.

 
 

Orenco Station was built under a zoning ordinance written for it, and the ordinance allowed things conventional subdivisions did not: streets no wider than 20 feet, front setbacks capped at 19 feet, accessory dwellings, live-work houses, side-yard easements, and "garages located in the rear of properties." Eighteen hundred homes were built on 209 acres under those rules from the late 1990s onward. A quarter century later, the first fences are coming down, and the rules that shaped the lots shape the replacements.

Two of those rules matter for a fence more than the rest.

 

Rear garages, and the fence that meets the alley

The garage is at the back, reached from an alley, and the rear fence is not a back fence in the usual sense. It runs from the garage to the sideline; it carries the household's gate, which is used every day, and it faces a lane that other households drive down. Three things follow for the fence.

The gate is the part that gets used. On a front-loaded lot, the rear gate is an afterthought; on an alley lot, it is the door to the house, and the main fence page's point about a braced gate frame is the point that matters most here.

The alley side is a public face. A fence that shows its rails to the street is a private matter on a cul-de-sac and a shared one on an alley the neighbors use, which is why the finished side of an alley fence gets decided on purpose.

The run is short, and the posts are close to the garage slab. Post holes beside a slab and a driveway apron are set with the concrete in mind, and the estimate says where each post goes.

Side-yard easements, and whose fence it is

A side-yard easement typically allows a house to use a strip of the neighboring lot as its own side yard, one of the ways Orenco fitted houses onto narrow lots. On a lot with one, the side fence may stand on a line that is not the property line, and the strip between fence and line belongs to one neighbor and is used by the other. Which side of the easement the fence sits on, and who may rebuild it, may be written in the plat and the recorded documents for the lot, and VResh reads them before drawing the run. Where they are silent, the question belongs to the two households, and VResh does not decide it. VResh writes a single scope for the shared run, so that whatever the neighbors agree on, one contractor builds a continuous fence. That is the shared-run rule: who may rebuild is settled before anything is drawn.

Outside Orenco, on the conventional lots in the corridor subdivisions, the side fence is usually on the line and shared in the ordinary way, and only the shared-run rule carries over: it is settled first, because it is the one that cannot be changed later without another conversation.

Matching a street built from one drawing

On a street where every fence came from the same builder, the replacement is judged against its neighbors on both sides. Panel style, height, and cap are what the eye catches from the sidewalk. Matching them is the default; changing them is a choice, and VResh will show you what the change looks like against the neighbors before you make it. Many of these streets also sit within a homeowners' association whose exterior standards address fence style and stain. VResh does not summarize association standards, because each document is its own; read yours and bring it, and the estimate will be written to it.

The work itself

Post setting, materials, gates, and staining are on the main fence page. On a first-replacement subdivision fence, the old posts usually failed at grade in the way that page describes; the old concrete comes out, or the new post goes beside it, and the estimate says which.

Serving Portland Metro Area

VResh Construction provides window replacement, siding installation, roofing, dry rot repair and full exterior renovation services throughout the Portland metro area and Southwest Washington.

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Southwest Washington

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OUR FAQS

Fence questions from Hillsboro, OR

I'm in Orenco, and my side fence isn't on my property line. Is that a mistake?
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Probably not. Orenco's zoning allowed side-yard easements, so a fence can sit on the easement line rather than the property line. The plat or recorded easement for your lot should show which, and VResh reads them before drawing.
My neighbor and I share a failing fence. Who pays?
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That is between the two of you and your lot documents. One scope for the run, billed to one owner or split between two, is the ordinary arrangement.
Can you replace only my half of a shared fence?
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VResh can and will first explain why a fence that changes halfway along a boundary is the one arrangement that usually disappoints both sides. If the neighbor will not join in but agrees to the work, a full-run replacement by one owner is the cleaner job.
Does my alley fence have to match the neighbors'?
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Usually only if your association's standards or your recorded covenants say so. What an alley fence has to do is carry a gate you use daily and show the neighbors a face you chose on purpose.
I'm in a 1970s ranch near downtown, no alley, no easement, no HOA. Is this page for me?
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The alley and easement sections are not. The shared-run rule and the post-setting standard are the same everywhere, and the main fence page covers the rest.
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Client's Talk

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.

Have the plat in hand

For an Orenco lot, or any lot in a corridor subdivision, the plat and any recorded easement are the two documents to check first to determine where the fence can stand and who may rebuild it, with your association's standards, if you have them. Have them ready, and VResh will write the estimate to them. Call or text (503) 272-6436.