Wood Fence Installation
Wood fencing in West Hills, California
A cedar or redwood privacy fence is the traditional West Hills backyard boundary. We build ours to sit correctly on the ground beneath it, whether that is a flat Sherman Way tract or a clay bench above Valley Circle, and to pass the gated-community review before the first post is set.
Why homeowners choose wood here
Most of the West Hills tracts were built from the mid 1960s through the 1990s around a warm, natural backyard, and nothing matches that look like real wood. A cedar or redwood fence gives you full six foot privacy, a face that suits both the older ranch tracts east toward Sherman Way and the larger custom homes climbing west toward Castle Peak, and a price that comes in below vinyl or iron for a long run. Wood also takes a custom detail more readily than anything else we install, whether that is a lattice or trellis cap, a good-neighbor board-on-board pattern, or a horizontal slat face for a more contemporary elevation.
What you give up is freedom from maintenance. Wood wants a stain or seal every two to three years to keep its color under the strong inland sun, and left bare it grays and can check or cup. A homeowner who never wants to think about the fence again is generally better served by vinyl. One who wants the warmth, and does not object to a weekend with a brush every few years, stays with wood.
Cedar or redwood, and the styles we build
Nearly every wood fence we put up in West Hills is western red cedar or construction-heart redwood. Against pine, both hold off rot and insects far better, both take stain evenly, and both sit in the dry heat without the quick decay a cheaper wood shows. These are the styles homeowners here ask for:
- Dog-ear or flat-top privacy. The plain six foot backyard run, boards butted tight so nothing shows through.
- Board on board (good neighbor). Overlapping boards that look finished from both sides, which a gated-community review and your neighbor both appreciate.
- Lattice or trellis top. A privacy fence with an open cap that adds height and lets some wind through, useful on the exposed western benches.
- Horizontal slat. A cleaner, modern face for the newer custom homes in Monte Vista and the Estate Collection.
The style is a matter of taste. The posts are what settle how long the fence lives. We set pressure-treated or steel posts in concrete footings sized to the run, the soil, and the wind, because a wood fence gives out at the post long before it gives out at the panel.
Two soils, two ways to set a post
West Hills is not one kind of ground, and a wood fence has to respect that. East of Valley Circle Blvd, on the flat tracts toward Sherman Way and Vanowen, the soil is sandy alluvium that drains well and takes a post cleanly, so a straight privacy run goes in without drama. West of Valley Circle, up onto the sloping benches below Castle Peak, the ground turns to high-plasticity clay that swells when it is wet and shrinks when it dries. A post set shallow in that clay will heave and lean within a season or two, so on the benches we dig deeper footings, add drainage at the base, and set slope-rated posts that hold the run plumb through the wet and dry cycle. It is the same fence on top; it is a different fence underground.
Wind belongs in the same conversation. Santa Ana gusts funnel down through the western canyons in the fall, and a solid six foot fence catches all of it. On the exposed benches we set posts deeper and closer together, and on the windiest runs we will suggest a lattice or slat top that lets some air pass rather than fighting all of it.
Wood and the fire zone
The far-west canyon and hillside lots, out toward El Escorpion Peak and Box Canyon, sit in or near a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. Solid wood is combustible, so on those parcels we keep it away from the structure: the stretch of fence within a few feet of the house is better in iron, tubular steel, or block, with wood reserved for the back and side runs out in the yard. You keep the warm face where you actually see it, and the defensible space the fire authority wants stays intact. On the flat tracts east toward Sherman Way, away from the wildland edge, wood throughout is perfectly reasonable.
Wood fence pricing in West Hills
| Run length | Typical installed range | Common on |
|---|---|---|
| 75 linear ft | $2,250 to $4,500 | One side yard or a short back line |
| 150 linear ft | $4,500 to $9,000 | A standard tract backyard |
| 250 linear ft | $7,500 to $15,000 | A larger estate lot or full perimeter |
Each range takes in the posts, the panels, the hardware, and the labor. Hauling off the old fence lifts a wood job, as do the deeper footings a clay bench needs, a lattice or board-on-board upgrade, and gates. Our West Hills fence cost guide sets the whole thing out line by line.
Your wood fence price, put in writing
We come out to the property line, read the soil and the wind, note whatever the gated community will ask for, and leave a fixed written quote with you. There is no fee for the visit and no obligation once it is done.
Request a written priceWood fence questions
How much does a wood fence cost in West Hills?
Installed, wood comes to about $30 to $60 per linear foot, which puts a 150 foot run of six foot cedar or redwood privacy at $4,500 to $9,000 in most cases. Where inside that spread you land depends on the wood you choose, whether an old fence has to be pulled out, and whether the lot is flat tract or a clay bench asking for deeper footings.
Does West Hills soil change how a wood fence is built?
Yes. The sandy soil on the flat alluvial tracts east toward Sherman Way drains well and takes a post easily. West of Valley Circle Blvd, on the sloping clay benches, the high-plasticity clay swells and shrinks with the seasons, so we put the posts in deeper footings with proper drainage and the run stays plumb instead of heaving over the years.
Is a wood fence a good idea on a West Hills fire-zone lot?
On the far-west canyon and hillside lots near El Escorpion and Box Canyon that sit in the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, we hold solid wood back from the house and put iron, tubular steel, or block within a few feet of the structure for defensible space. Out at a back property line, well away from the home, wood is perfectly sound. Right against a house near the open space it is the wrong material.
Which wood stands up best to the West Hills heat?
Western red cedar and construction-heart redwood are the two we put forward. Each resists rot, each stands up to the hot, dry inland summers far better than pine, and each takes a stain or seal evenly. Reseal every two to three years and you hold the color and slow the checking that strong UV works into any wood fence.
Keep reading
For how the work is sequenced, fence installation in West Hills.