Ten Ways to Make a Plain Cedar Fence Look Custom
The difference between a builder-grade fence and one people comment on is rarely the fence itself. It is six or seven small decisions, most of which cost very little if they are made before…
Pergola, Patio Cover or Pavilion? Choosing Shade for a North Texas Yard
An uncovered slab in North Texas goes unused from June to September. All three of these fix that, but they give different amounts of shade, attach to the house differently, and cost quite different…
Wood Fence Care Through a Texas Year: A Season-by-Season Checklist
A cedar fence in North Texas gets hit by hard sun, hard rain and soil that moves under it. Almost none of the care it needs is difficult — it is just easy to…
Automatic Driveway Gates: Openers, Power and Getting the Size Right
An automatic gate is the one thing on a property that has to work every single day, in the rain, with a car waiting behind it. Most of the reliability is decided before the…
Pool Fence Rules in Texas: What Actually Passes
Pool barrier rules are the one area of fencing where getting it wrong has consequences beyond looks. They are also widely misexplained online, including on the state law question.
Fence Staining in North Texas: When, How Often and Why It Matters
Staining is the cheapest thing you can do to extend the life of a wood fence, and it is the thing most often done at the wrong time with the wrong product. Timing matters…
Repair or Replace? How to Judge an Old Wood Fence
Most people decide based on how the fence looks, which is the least useful signal available. Here is the order we actually check things in, and you can do the first test yourself in…
Why Fence Posts Lean in North Texas Clay — and How to Stop It
If you have watched a three-year-old fence start to lean in North Texas, the wood is rarely the problem. The soil is. Here is what is happening underground and what a proper installation does…
Cedar vs. Pressure-Treated Pine for a Texas Fence
Cedar and pressure-treated pine both last in North Texas, but they fail in different ways and they do not belong in the same parts of a fence. Here is how we choose between them.
Board-on-Board, Side-by-Side or Horizontal: Choosing a Cedar Fence Style
Three patterns account for nearly every cedar fence in North Texas. They cost different amounts, they age differently, and only one of them stays gap-free once the wood dries out.