Lynnwood is built tight: retail around Alderwood, houses on smaller lots, and soils that were compacted when the neighborhood went in. Rain runs off roofs, walks, and the mall-side pavement faster than the yard can take it. City fences are disputes when the line is guessed. We want the pins or a survey, and we want you to have talked to the neighbor before we dig.
Snohomish County · ZIP 98036 · 2020 population 38,141
On the line, with the neighbor in mind
Side yards are tight. Posts go in by hand, holes are straight, and the fence does not block the drainage that currently runs along the line. A new solid fence set into a swale is a dam. We keep the bottom up or we leave a gap where the water runs.
Good side, gates, and the trash day path get decided before the first post. Moving a gate after the concrete is the expensive kind of change.
The ground in Lynnwood
Residential yards here are often a rectangle of tired turf, a fence, and a patio slab that has settled toward the house. The soil underneath is dense. Water sits, moss follows, and a new plant put into that ground without loosening it just stalls.
We aerate and dethatch before we promise a greener lawn, and we look at the downspouts before we sell a flower bed. Pavers and gravel show up on the small patios and the side yards where people actually walk. There is also commercial work along the retail streets — pruning, pressure washing, and beds that have to look kept without a full-time gardener. Native, lower-water plantings make more sense than a hedge that needs shearing every three weeks next to a busy road.
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
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.
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.
More from this crew
- Fence installation across Snohomish County
- Retaining walls in Lynnwood
- Gravel installation in Lynnwood
- Hardscaping in Lynnwood
- Landscaping in Lynnwood
- Fence installation in Edmonds
- Fence installation in Brier
- Fence installation in Mountlake Terrace
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.
