Murray has a lot of established yards, and established yards have established trees. That is pleasant to live with and inconvenient to dig in. A post hole every several…
Murray has a lot of established yards, and established yards have established trees. That is pleasant to live with and inconvenient to dig in. A post hole every several feet along a boundary will eventually meet roots, and when it does you have a decision rather than an obstacle. Small feeder roots can be cut without much consequence. Large structural roots near the trunk are part of what is holding the tree upright, and cutting through them so a hole lines up neatly is how a healthy tree becomes a hazard two or three seasons later.
The usual fixes are small and practical. Shift a post a foot in either direction and adjust spacing on both sides so the panels still land evenly. Hand dig the holes closest to a trunk instead of running an auger through them, which is slower but lets the crew feel what they are cutting. In tight spots a slightly different panel length or a stepped layout solves it. What you should not accept is a crew that hits a root and powers through because moving the post would mean recalculating the run they already laid out.
Almost every established yard has irrigation, and almost none of it sits where the homeowner remembers. Sprinkler lines tend to run parallel to property lines, which is exactly where fence posts go, and they sit at a depth an auger passes through without slowing down. The fix is unglamorous. Run each zone before digging and mark the heads, trace the likely path between them, and dig out any drawing or photo from when the system went in. Irrigation control wire usually runs alongside the pipe, and it is just as easy to cut and considerably more annoying to trace.
Buried utilities are the more serious version of the same problem, and those get located by the proper locate service before anyone digs, not after. Private lines a utility locate will not cover, such as a gas line run out to a grill, a low voltage lighting circuit, or the irrigation system itself, stay your responsibility to point out. Tell your contractor what you know about the yard, including work you have had done before and anything a previous owner mentioned. Ten minutes of walking the line and pointing at things beats an afternoon spent repairing a mainline while a crew waits.
Older yards rarely offer a clean, flat, empty line. You get slope, raised beds, a shed set close to the boundary, and branches hanging exactly where the top rail wants to be. Slope is handled either by stepping panels down in level sections, which leaves triangular gaps along the bottom, or by raking the fence so it follows the grade, which closes those gaps but requires panels built for it. Which one is right depends on the yard and on how much you care about dogs and small animals finding a way underneath the finished fence.
Trees also change how a fence ages. A run in permanent shade under a canopy stays damp longer after every storm and all through spring, and dampness is what actually destroys wood fences. If a boundary run sits under heavy tree cover, that argues for a material indifferent to moisture, or at minimum for a maintenance habit rather than good intentions. Wood needs staining and sealing on a schedule to keep water out, while vinyl and aluminum do not. Leaves and debris piled at the base of any fence should get cleared, since a wet pile holds moisture right against it.
Small roots, yes. Large structural roots close to a trunk, no, not without accepting some risk to the tree. The better answer is usually to move the post rather than cut the root, adjusting spacing on either side so the panels still work out evenly. If a mature tree sits right on the line, hand digging around it and altering the layout slightly is normal fence work, not an unusual request to make of a contractor.
That comes down to what you agreed to and how clearly the system was marked. It is worth asking directly, before work starts, how a contractor handles irrigation damage, because answers vary from one company to the next. Either way, your part is making the lines easy to find: run the zones, flag the heads, mention repairs or additions you know about, and share any documentation. Marked lines get avoided far more reliably than remembered ones.
Yes. A utility locate should be requested before any digging, post holes very much included. Locates cover public utility lines and not private ones, so anything you or a previous owner installed, like a gas line running to a grill, landscape lighting, or the irrigation system, still has to be pointed out separately. Post holes are deep enough and numerous enough to find whatever is down there, and nobody wants to find it with an auger.
Cedar or treated pine, built board by board on site, which is why wood follows a slope and an odd corner better than anything else. It moves with the seasons, it takes stain, and it wants that attention on a schedule.
Learn more →Vinyl keeps its color and never asks for a stain rag, which is most of the appeal. The real questions are how the posts are set and how much wind those solid panels are going to catch out where you are putting them.
Learn more →Ornamental aluminum and steel where you want a boundary you can see through, chain link where you want dogs contained and a back line marked. Both let wind pass instead of fighting it, which matters on an exposed lot.
Learn more →Gates are the moving part, and moving parts are what fail. Width, post size, hinges, latch type and whether that post was set to carry a swinging load are what separate a gate that closes from one you lift.
Learn more →Leaning posts, wind-broken panels, a section a falling limb took out, a gate that quit latching. Sometimes a whole run has to come down and sometimes four posts are the entire problem, and those are very different jobs.
Learn more →Get quotes from contractors who set posts properly. No fee to be matched.
Call 801-823-6018A few details about the yard is all we need to route it correctly.