Fence installation in Indianapolis, done in the right order from the first stake

Locate the real lot line before a single stake goes in

The existing fence is a poor boundary marker. Plenty were eyeballed into place, and some drift a foot or more onto the adjoining lot. The dependable markers are the iron pins a surveyor drove at each corner when the subdivision was platted, typically a few inches under turf or landscape rock.

When a pin is gone, was knocked loose by a driveway contractor or does not agree with the plat drawing in your closing documents, hire a land surveyor to reset the corners. Many installers hold the fence a little inside the boundary rather than right on it, so every footing is on your own ground and you can still reach the outer face to maintain it.

What Indiana 811 marks, and what it leaves for you to find

Indiana 811 is the free service you contact before digging. Each utility sends a locator to paint and flag its buried lines in the yard: red for power, yellow for gas, orange for telecom, blue for water and green for sewer. Post positions then slide a little along the run to avoid those marks.

Locators only mark lines their company owns. Everything on the house side of the meter belongs to you, and nobody else will flag it. Before layout, list anything private that might run under the planned line:

• Irrigation piping and sprinkler heads
• Invisible dog fence wire
• Low-voltage cable feeding landscape lights
• Electric or gas lines out to an outbuilding or an outdoor kitchen
• Buried downspout extensions and sump discharge lines

Settle permits, zoning and covenants before ordering panels

The rules that apply depend entirely on the address. The local building or zoning office can tell you whether a permit is required, how front-yard height limits differ from backyard limits, how far back from a sidewalk or right-of-way a fence has to stay and what corner lots must leave open for drivers to see. Confirm each of those for your lot before material is bought.

In newer neighborhoods the association is usually the tougher reviewer. Covenants often control material, color, style, height, which side faces out and whether the fence can run forward of the rear corner of the house. Get its decision on paper.

Look at the plat for drainage or utility easements along the back line as well. A fence inside one is often permitted, but the holder can make you take a section down to reach its lines, and rebuilding is your expense. Associations typically want a packet with:

• A drawing of the yard showing the fence route, gates and distances from lot lines
• The material, style and color, usually with a catalog image
• Heights for every section of the run
• A copy of the survey or plat with boundaries marked
• The contractor's name and an estimated start window

Staking corners, placing gates and dividing the run

Layout starts with a stake at every corner, end and turn, and a taut line strung between them. Gates go in first because each opening has a set width that cannot flex to fit leftover space. Whatever remains is split into equal bays.

1. Drive stakes at corners, ends and every change of direction
2. Run a tight line between stakes at one steady height
3. Mark each gate opening after measuring the biggest item that must pass through
4. Split every straight stretch into equal bays and mark each post center
5. Spray-paint hole spots and compare them with the locate flags
6. Walk the line with the homeowner so any changes come before digging

Digging into dense, wet clay that lifts posts in winter

The Indianapolis area sits on a broad, level till plain left by glaciers, and what lies beneath most lawns is thick clay that hangs on to water. As that soaked clay freezes, it expands, clamps onto the sides of a footing and can jack it upward a bit every season. Depth is the defense, with every hole reaching past the zone that freezes during the coldest part of the year. The building department for the address establishes that depth, and a careful crew digs to it instead of stopping wherever the auger stalls.

Powered augers manage most lots, although clay tends to glaze the sides of a hole smooth. Newer subdivisions built on graded and compacted fill sometimes hide buried construction scraps, and on lots near the White River or the creeks running into it, groundwater can seep into a hole quicker than the post goes in. Either one slows progress.

Three post-setting methods and where each fits

There is no universal answer for setting posts. Material, height, how solid the infill is and how quickly the soil drains all push the choice one way or another.

• Concrete is standard for tall solid fences and for every gate post. A skilled installer puts gravel at the bottom so the end grain can drain and shapes the top of the concrete into a dome above grade, so rain sheds off rather than collecting against the post.
• Crushed stone packed in thin tamped lifts drains freely and makes swapping a post later far easier. In tight clay, though, the stone pocket can hold water like a cup.
• Two-part expanding foam cures in minutes and is light enough to carry anywhere in the yard. It suits lighter, open designs when the post manufacturer allows it.

Handling grade: stepped sections versus racked panels

A yard that looks level often falls several inches once a string line shows the truth. Newer lots are graded with shallow swales that carry storm water toward the street or a rear easement, and the fence has to deal with that change in one of two ways.

With stepping, every section stays dead level and the run descends in stair fashion, leaving a wedge-shaped opening beneath the low end of each panel. A racked fence angles the rails to match the ground so the bottom edge stays an even height above the lawn. Wood fences framed on site rack easily, chain link conforms to the ground naturally and factory panels differ by product, a topic covered on the aluminum fence page.

Whichever approach is used, leave the bottom open where the fence crosses a drainage swale. That gap keeps the fence from damming runoff onto a neighbor.

Building and hanging a gate that keeps its shape

Gates cause more headaches than any other part of a fence, and most trace to how they were framed and hung. The hinge post takes the entire load of the swinging leaf, so it goes deeper and gets more concrete than its neighbors in the run. On wood, the frame wants a diagonal brace that starts at the lower hinge-side corner and climbs to the upper latch-side corner; set that way, the brace pushes weight back toward the hinges and keeps the latch end from sinking.

• Size the opening for the largest thing that will roll through, like a mower, a wheelbarrow or the trash cart
• Use heavy strap hinges or adjustable hinges with exterior or stainless screws
• Leave room under the gate for the ground it sweeps over, especially on a grade
• Choose a latch that works from both sides, with a spot for a padlock if wanted
• Pick the swing direction early, because it determines where hinges mount

Taking down and disposing of the existing fence

Removal tends to eat more time than owners plan for. Pickets and rails come off quickly, but old posts locked in concrete have to be levered out or excavated. When an old footing sits exactly where a new post needs to go, the crew either breaks it apart or nudges the layout to clear it.

Treated wood must never go into a backyard fire, so it heads to a landfill or transfer station, while chain link fabric and steel framework often go to a scrap yard.

The usual order of events on a residential install

The physical work on a home fence moves along fairly fast; the waiting on either side is what stretches the schedule. Approvals, the locate window, material lead times and wet ground all affect the start, and no one can honestly commit to a date until they are cleared. A normal sequence runs:

1. A site visit to walk the route, take measurements and talk through materials and gates
2. A written estimate with a layout sketch
3. Association sign-off and any permit the address requires
4. An Indiana 811 ticket and the resulting marks
5. Removal of any existing fence
6. Layout, digging and setting posts
7. Curing time before posts take any load
8. Rails and boards or panels, followed by gates and hardware
9. Cleanup and a last walk to test every gate and latch and sight down the line

Items every installation estimate should list in writing

Bids for the same yard can differ widely because they are not describing the same fence. Price follows the footage, how tall the fence is, which grade of material, how many gates and how wide, how tough the digging is, whether an old fence must go and how much grade must be managed. The contractor prices the job after seeing it in person. For a fair side-by-side comparison, each bid should state:

• Total footage plus a layout drawing
• Material, style, grade and color, naming products where possible
• Post material, dimensions, spacing and setting method
• Hole depth, matched to the local frost requirement
• Number and widths of gates, plus the hinges and latches
• Tear-out and hauling of the old fence
• Who files the permit and the association application
• Whether slopes will be stepped or racked
• The payment schedule and the workmanship coverage terms
• Exclusions such as rock, roots, buried debris or a boundary survey

Next steps for pricing a new fence

If the fence you have might only need work instead of replacement, the fence repair page helps with that decision. To weigh materials, look at wood privacy fences or chain link fences. Once you have a direction, go to the contact page with the address, a few yard pictures, a rough sketch of the route and any covenant rules you already know. Owners in Greenwood, Plainfield and the rest of the service area begin the same way.

Fence installation in Indianapolis — common questions

Related work

Across the metro