Granite Falls takes the mountain rain and sits on ground that falls away toward the river and the falls. Steep sides of lots are normal. Water concentrates, finds the weak spot in a bank, and leaves a rill where the lawn used to be. A racked fence on a steep rocky slope opens a gap a dog uses, or it twists the posts. We step it, and we dig into rock instead of perching the post.
Snohomish County · ZIP 98252 · 2020 population 3,572
Step the fence with the hill
Posts on a foothill lot sometimes hit rock early. We do not stop at the first stone and call it deep. The post is founded, even if that means a different footing. The fence follows the grade in steps you can see, with the bottom gap consistent enough that you are not looking at daylight on one bay and buried board on the next.
Wind on an open slope loads a solid board fence. We say if the exposure wants a more open style. A solid sail on two posts is a future repair.
The ground in Granite Falls
Properties on the edge of town back into fir and alder. The lawn, if there is one, is a cleared bench. The rest is slope, stump, and shade. We get called when a bank has started to slump after a wet winter, or when a path down to the lower yard has turned into a creek.
Rock walls and a drain at the top of the slope do more than plants will. Beauty bark in the deep shade keeps the weeds down and the mud off the house, but it will not hold a bank by itself. Tree work is practical: limbs over the roof, and sightlines where the forest is closing the drive. Aerator and seed belong on the flat piece only. Treating the whole hillside like a turf job is how you waste a season.
How we do the work
A fence in this county fails at the post. Wood rots where it meets wet soil, and a post set in a soft hole leans when the clay shifts. We set posts deep, we crown the concrete or the rock so water does not pool on the wood, and we keep the bottom of a board fence off the ground so it is not wicking mud.
Cedar for the boards, pressure-treated or steel where it touches the soil. We do not bury untreated lumber. Gates are built as gates, with a brace, not as a short panel that sags by August.
What we look at first
- The property line, before we dig
- Slope, and whether the fence should step or rack
- Who keeps the good side, and where the gates need to swing
- Sprinklers and the neighbor’s grade
Stepped or racked
Stepped panels on a real slope, so the boards stay plumb and the gaps stay even. Racking a flat panel down a hill twists the frame. We pick the method from the grade, not from a photo.
How long cedar lasts
A well-set cedar fence in this rain is often in the fifteen to twenty year range, longer if the bottom stays dry and you stain it before it goes gray and split. The posts outlive a careless bottom board. We build so you can replace boards later without replacing the line.
Posts
Deep, plumb, and crowned at the top of the footing so water sheds. The wood that touches soil is treated or it is steel. We do not set a cedar post in a soup of native clay and hope the gravel dust saves it.
More from this crew
- Fence installation across Snohomish County
- Retaining walls in Granite Falls
- Gravel installation in Granite Falls
- Hardscaping in Granite Falls
- Landscaping in Granite Falls
- Fence installation in Arlington
- Fence installation in Lake Stevens
- Fence installation in Marysville
Sources for the climate and the water
- USDA plant hardiness map for choosing plants that can take a Snohomish County winter.
- EPA WaterSense on watering less once a lawn or a new planting is established.
- EPA Soak Up the Rain on keeping roof and yard water from becoming someone else’s problem.
