Of the many wood fence designs that are available to choose from, one of the prettiest is a picket fence. It is a style of wood fence that is particularly suitable for a cottage style home and garden and it has many advantages.

To begin with it is quite low in height, so if the fence design you are looking for is a privacy fence design it is not the right one for you, but it does allow the sun and the light through so it is good for plants and flowers. It is a romantic looking fence design and evocative of the typical English country garden, especially when it is a white picket fence and has a little wood fence gate.

Wood Fence Designs

You need to know how to build a fence and a picket fence is constructed in a particular way. Supporting fence posts, which can have a shaped top to match the pickets, are fixed into the ground at quite large intervals and the ‘pickets’, upright pieces of wood, are held parallel with horizontal bars at the top and also at the bottom. The pickets can be quite plain or have a shaped top and there are many different picket fence designs depending on individual taste. They can be of varying heights – also within an individual fence if it is custom made – and it is possible to make the fence so that it will look the same from both sides.

While a wood picket fence is the traditional way of making these particular wood fence designs it is not the only option. Vinyl fencing has become popular and widespread and it has a lot going for it. It does not need to be looked after in the same way as it is impervious to the weather; it does not need annual painting and it is less likely to rot. Unless you get up quite close to them it is difficult to tell the difference between a wood picket fence and a vinyl fence.

A split rail fence is one of the most common wood fence designs and is generally used for agricultural purposes, although on occasion it is used as decorative garden fencing. It is generally use in the countryside and it is the most suitable wood fence for horse fencing, farms and fields and possibly, the garden fence of country houses. It is seldom used in towns. The most common of this type of wood fence design uses timber logs ‘split’ lengthwise to form ‘rails’, hence the name split rail fence. Although you still need to know how to build a wood fence it has a simplicity of design and ease of assembly, needing only a handful of elementary tools.

The rails are stacked on top of each other, either straight or in zigzag fashion, this is called a worm fence, and vertical fence posts are used to secure them. Because of this, split rail fences are also known as ‘post and rail fences’. The suppliers offer separate end posts, corner posts and line posts with holes made halfway, two holes on adjoining sides and through single hole respectively. Most split rail fences have two horizontal rails, though some suppliers offer three or four if that is what the customer wants.

Wood Fence Designs

It is not too difficult to build. Wood fence posts are put vertically into holes in the ground and either tamped firmly in or sometimes fixed with  concrete. The fence posts are made from specially treated wood to help preserve them and to discourage attack from termites and other insects and molds. They can be weather proofed for use in areas prone to high rainfall and moisture.

The holes in the vertical posts are predrilled by the fence companies  before being supplied and if you are good at building wood fences you can either do the fence installation yourself or ask a professional to do it for you. The fencing supplies personnel might offer installation as an option. This type of wood fence conventionally does not use nails, although some people prefer to use them and it is particularly suitable for hard and rocky terrain.

However, this wood fence design is expensive as it uses a lot of wood.  The most common timber used in the construction of the split rail fence is American chestnut or chestnut blight, but cedar is growing in popularity.

Bamboo fencing is a great green option for a landscaping project if it includes building a fence. Bamboo fences are enjoying a well deserved surge of popularity at the moment as bamboo is sustainable, qualifies for a variety of uses, and is relatively cost-effective, not only for fencing materials but for many other things as well. It’s amazing what you can do with bamboo and it has been used for everything from clothing, flooring, house wares and decor.

Bamboo fences are certainly no exception to the bamboo craze. Compared to other wood fence designs, it makes for an attractive, eco-friendly, and durable choice for fencing in your yard, garden, deck or patio areas. The design of most bamboo fences on the market today is simple: it includes fence panels of uniform bamboo stalks linked together that roll out and connect panel to wood fence panel.

Wood Fence Designs

The natural beauty of the bamboo is the main selling point of these types of fences and its minimalist appearance suits a modern look or an Asian-themed garden. Another good thing about these fence panels is that they can also be used to cover arbors and pergolas, thereby instantly creating light shade for your patios and decks.

As well as being an attractive wood fence design in its own right, bamboo is a ‘green’ option for building a fence. It is known as one of the most environmentally friendly products to use because it quickly renews itself in its natural environment. It is durable too and bamboo fencing can outlast many other traditional wood fence designs; it also weathers extremely well and looks a lot better than say, a chain link fence with metal fence posts.

Importantly, bamboo fencing is fairly easy to find and it is relatively cheap fencing. For a specialty fence, the prices aren’t too bad. They tend to be in the region of about $60.00 per six foot by six foot panel. Both Amazon and Home Depot offer bamboo fencing for sale, so you won’t have to spend too much time trying to find a home and garden store, and you can sometimes get free shipping. It is also a relatively easy fence installation and you won’t need to know how to build a fence to put it up.

Bamboo comes in different washes from different suppliers, so you can go lighter or darker or opt for more natural shades if you would like to. Some fencing supplies offer wooden framing, in which you roll out the bamboo fence panels and fitl them inside the wooden fence frame. This is usually a bit more costly, but the result is a more sophisticated wood fence design.

When first thinking of choosing between the various wood fence designs for your home you will soon find out that there are quite a few different fence installations to choose from and it is important to pick a style that will give you what you need. Privacy fence designs are a popular choice for a garden fence and the idea of a privacy fence appeals to a lot of homeowners when they are trying to decide which types of fences will work best for them. There are lots of things to consider when building a fence and there are many pros and cons to every choice. The following are some examples of both of these.

The pros of  privacy fencing are quite a few. For starters it is obviously going to provide a lot of privacy as it will not be see through like chain link fencing and it will be much taller than, let us say, a picket fence. The height of a privacy fence is important if you are trying to keep a pet which can jump very high, a dog for example, safe inside the yard. It is also helpful for concealing unsightly items like a shed or camper that is housed in the backyard.

Wood Fence Designs

The cons of building a fence for privacy include the fact that the same animal that cannot jump over the fence might be more inclined to bark if it cannot see what is going on. It is likely to become agitated if it can only react to smells and sounds that it hears without being able to see what is on the other side of the wood fence.

While a privacy fence design offers privacy, it also restricts the view of the homeowner to see what is outside of his or her home. This is something else to consider when building a fence or trying deciding what wood fence design is going to work best for you. No matter which of the wood fence designs is finally chosen, whether it  is  a privacy fence or some other type of fence design,  it should be well made and strong and an attractive addition to the appearance of the home.

All wood fence designs give the homeowner a lot of color choices whether they use paint or a wood stain There is also the fact that while the color choices are almost unlimited a certain amount of upkeep will be required. Because wooden fencing, unlike vinyl fencing or a chain link fence installation, is susceptible to weather and the elements, it will need yearly maintenance and you should expect to have to make basic repairs. Often during the winter months the weather is bad enough to knock down whole fence panels, and you need to be prepared for this.

There are many different wood fence designs and some are more appropriate fence styles for a particular type of house than others, so if you are going to be building a fence it is worth taking a bit of time to choose the right wood fencing for your property. For example a simple picket fence is the best sort of garden fence for a cottage sitting within a cottage garden, while a split rail fence made of red cedar wood goes well with a country style house.

For many people privacy fence designs are probably what they really want when they first think of fence styles and fence installation, and a stockade fence might be the answer. Think carefully though, as privacy fence prices are quite high and it is not a particularly neighbor friendly fence design. If that were to become an issue, a garden trellis fence or lattice fence could be better. These wood fence designs allow for sunlight to favor both sides, conversations to take place and they provide a good backdrop to sympathetic planting.

Wood Fence Designs

It will undoubtedly be a sensible move to learn a bit about wood fence designs when you are planning on building a wood fence on your property; indeed, you might actually want to learn how to build a fence. There are very many different types of fence designs and as well as learning about the different fence styles, you might want to familiarise yourself with fence installation as well. You can then either build the fence yourself or at least be in a position to keep an educated eye on whichever of the  fence companies is doing it for you.

Within this broad base there are many variations and there are a number of things to keep in mind when building a wood fence. You should choose the correct fence styles for the building  and the surroundings; ideally too, they should be the right types of fences for the landscape, utilise the right sort of fencing materials and they should fulfil the function that you require of a fence. You might want to have wood gates to match.

Privacy is often one of the main reasons for putting up a wood fence and this can often cause disagreements between yourself and your next door neighbor. Your garden fence should be built at a height that is reasonable, both for your needs and for what other interested parties would consider acceptable. If it is too low, then neither side will get any benefit from privacy fencing, if it is too high it could be considered to be unfriendly. Fencing materials should be carefully considered when you are deciding how to build a fence and should be in keeping with their surroundings.

In order to avoid conflict pre fence installation discussions concerning which wood fence designs you might choose are essential to maintaining good relations.