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Wood Fences in Sherwood

Sherwood Wood Fence Installation

Wood Fences That Hold Their Line in Sherwood Clay

Most Sherwood back yards sit under full grown trees on ground that swells wet and shrinks dry. Both of those decide how a wood fence gets built here. We set posts in concrete with drainage under them, keep the pickets up off the dirt, and screw every board. Licensed, insured, bonded.

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Ground & Footings

Central Arkansas Clay Moves, and a Post Line Has to Handle It

The clay under Pulaski County takes on water and swells, then dries out in August and pulls back. Sherwood gets both of those in the same year. A post sitting in a narrow hole with nowhere for water to go rides that movement, and after two wet and dry cycles the run has a visible wave in it. We dig the hole wider than the post needs so the footing has real shoulder against the clay, get depth below where the ground freezes, and put a few inches of clean gravel in the bottom so water leaving the concrete drains instead of standing against end grain. The top of the footing gets crowned so rain sheds away from the wood.

Flat lots make that matter more. A good deal of Sherwood has almost no fall to it, and after a heavy storm water sits along the low side of a back line for a day or two. Where the fence crosses that low spot we plan for it before the auger comes off the trailer: tighter post spacing, gravel in every hole, and the boards held up off grade. If a stretch of your yard genuinely will not drain, we will say so and talk through what that means for the material.

Shade, Leaf Litter, and the First Two Boards

The ranch and split-level streets that filled in from the 1970s through the 1990s came with trees that are now full size. Oaks and pines shade most of those back yards for the better part of the day. Shade is pleasant to sit in and hard on a fence. Boards under a canopy stay damp long after the open part of the yard has dried, and leaf and needle litter piles against the bottom of the run and holds that moisture there through the whole winter. The bottom two boards take almost all of the abuse. Any picket sitting directly on soil takes it worse and will be the first thing to go soft.

So we build the bottom of the fence to survive it. Pickets are held above grade instead of buried, and when a homeowner wants that gap closed, we run a rot board along the bottom that can be pulled and replaced years later without touching the rest of the run. Clear the leaf line a couple of times each fall and that bottom board will outlast anything a crew nails straight into the dirt.

Wood privacy fence built along a shaded back yard line in Sherwood, AR by Delta Fence LLC

Routing a Post Line Around Established Roots

A mature hardwood puts roots out well past the edge of its canopy. Catching a major root with the auger is routine on these lots, and cutting through one so a post can land on a tidy eight foot mark is a bad trade for both the tree and the fence. We adjust instead. Sometimes the post shifts a foot, sometimes a bay comes in short and the spacing picks back up on the next, sometimes we dig that hole by hand. The run still reads straight from the patio, the tree keeps what it needs, and nothing is bearing on a root that will keep growing into the footing.

Root mass, low ground, and where the shade actually falls are things you find standing in the yard, not on a satellite image.

Material

Treated Pine or Cedar, Told Straight

Treated pine is what most of Sherwood gets, and there is nothing wrong with it. It goes in for less and it takes stain well. What it does is move. Pine that comes off the truck wet dries fast through an Arkansas summer, and some boards will cup or twist while that happens. Letting the wood settle before staining, and screwing rather than nailing, is what keeps that movement from pulling the fence apart. Pine wants a coat of sealer every couple of years. Skip it long enough and the boards gray out and start checking along the grain.

Cedar costs more up front and asks for less afterward. It resists rot and insects on its own, it stays flatter than pine through a humid summer, and it holds a cleaner top line in shade. Left bare it fades toward silver gray, which some homeowners want and some do not. Under a heavy Sherwood canopy, where a fence stays wet longer than it would in an open yard, cedar is usually the one we point people toward. We will put both in front of you before you decide.

Three Things We Do on Every Sherwood Build

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Gravel Under Every Post

Clean gravel in the bottom of the hole gives water somewhere to go. That is what keeps a footing from working loose through a wet spring and a dry August.

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Boards Held Off Grade

Nothing touches soil. Pickets sit above the dirt and leaf line, and a replaceable rot board closes the gap when a homeowner wants it closed.

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Screws, Never Staples

Screwed boards stay tight for the life of the fence and come off clean if one ever needs swapping. Staples cup the wood within a few seasons.

Older Subdivisions

When Your Back Line Already Carries Two Other Fences

In the established Sherwood neighborhoods, a back corner is often where three yards meet and each neighbor built in a different decade. One side is a leaning stockade from the eighties, the other is newer chain link, and somebody’s hedge has grown into both. Replacing your section means deciding where the new run actually sits and how it ties in at each end so the result does not look patched together. We walk that corner with you before anything comes down.

Where the old fence sits and where your line actually runs are not always the same thing. A survey is what settles that question, not us and not the neighbor. If your neighborhood has an association, its covenants are the authority on height, which way the finished face points, and sometimes stain color, so check with the board before we schedule. Anything the City of Sherwood or Pulaski County requires for your lot is theirs to confirm. We handle the teardown and haul off the old material. If a wood fence turns out to be the wrong answer for a stretch of your property, we also build vinyl and chain link across Sherwood.

Service Area

Sherwood and the North Side of Pulaski County

We build across Sherwood, from the older streets off Kiehl Avenue to the newer subdivisions toward Gravel Ridge, and out into North Little Rock and Jacksonville. Finished work from around central Arkansas is in our fence gallery, and the rest of the map is on our service areas page.

FAQ

Questions We Get in Sherwood Back Yards

My back yard is shaded all day. Should I go cedar or treated pine?

Under a heavy canopy we lean cedar. A shaded fence stays damp for hours after the open yard dries, and cedar handles that on its own without a homeowner staying on a sealing schedule. Treated pine works there too, but it wants sealer every couple of years.

There is a big oak right on my fence line. Can you still run posts through it?

We route around it. Post spacing shifts, one bay comes in shorter, and that post gets dug by hand if the roots call for it. Cutting a major root to keep a tidy measurement is not worth it, because the tree suffers and the footing eventually gets pushed out of plumb as the root grows.

Water stands along my back line after a storm. Will that ruin a wood fence?

It shortens one badly built. We handle it with gravel in the bottom of every hole, a crowned footing that sheds water, tighter spacing through the wet stretch, and boards held up off grade. If a section truly will not drain, we will say so before we commit to wood there.

How deep do you set posts in Sherwood?

Below the depth the ground freezes, in a hole cut wider than the post so the footing has shoulder against the clay. Depth alone does not do it here. Width and drainage at the bottom are what keep a run plumb after the ground swells wet and shrinks back dry.

My two neighbors already have fences on the same corner. How does that work?

We walk the corner with you first and plan how the new run ties in at each end. If there is any question about where the line actually falls, a survey is what answers it. If your neighborhood has an association, check its covenants on height and finished-face direction before we schedule. Send us the details and we will come look at it.

Do you take the old fence away?

We do. We pull it, load it, haul it off, and clear the line before a single new post goes in. On an older Sherwood lot that usually means pulling out old concrete footings too.

Related Services

More Fencing Around Sherwood

Sherwood Privacy Fencing

Six foot solid board and board on board, sized to what the covenants in your neighborhood allow.

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Sherwood Vinyl Fencing

No sealing, no staining, and nothing at the bottom for damp leaf litter to rot.

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Sherwood Commercial Fencing

Yards, lots, and job sites across the north side of Pulaski County.

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Walk the Line With Us

Every Sherwood Quote Starts in the Back Yard

Kade will look at your trees, your low spots, and how your line meets the neighbors, then give you a straight number. Licensed, insured, and bonded.

(501) 626-7024 kadeendl@gmail.com Get a Free Quote
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