Yes. A fence on a slope is built one of two ways. It is racked, with the rails following the ground, or stepped, with level panels that drop like a staircase. Racked fences leave the smallest opening at the bottom.
Racked or stepped: which is better?
- Racked: rails follow the slope and pickets stay plumb. Best on gentle to moderate grades and for yards with dogs.
- Stepped: each panel is level and set lower than the last. Needed on steep grades and with rigid factory panels. A triangle of open space is left under each one.
- Cut to fit on site: each board is trimmed to the ground. It takes longer and gives the cleanest result in wood.
I have a dog that digs and a yard that drops. How do I avoid gaps?
Ask for a racked or site-cut fence that stays close to the ground, and then close off the bottom. Options are a treated kick board at soil level, a concrete mow strip, or wire mesh buried along the line. In the hills this also helps keep coyotes from pushing under.
My yard is steep and rocky and two companies turned the job down. Who does this?
Call us. We will walk the line and tell you straight whether we can build it. Steep lots are ordinary in Laurel Canyon, Mount Washington, Silver Lake, Beachwood and across the Santa Monica Mountains. They take longer. Materials go down stairs or across a neighbor's access by hand, holes are dug with bars and hand tools, and downhill posts are set deeper. Rock is cored, or the post is anchored to it. Tell us if the fence will stand on or next to a retaining wall. The wall may need an engineer's review, and the city can count the wall in the height.
Do installers dig by hand or with a machine?
Both. Where a machine can reach and the ground is level, a power auger is faster. We dig by hand on slopes, next to block walls and foundations, near marked utilities, around tree roots and in side yards too narrow for equipment.
We can only give a real price after seeing the fence line. The estimate is free. Call (310) 361-5119 or text us a photo of the yard.