Mill Creek was laid out as a planned city: curving streets, townhome slopes, golf-course edges, and lawns that were meant to look trimmed from the day the house sold. The soils are the soils of a graded subdivision, and the rain is the same county rain that finds every low corner. The original fence is often on the line, leaning, with posts rotted at grade. We replace posts. Screwing new boards to rotten posts is a one-year job.
Snohomish County · ZIP 98012 · 2020 population 20,799
Replace the tired builder fence
We match a reasonable height for the street, set new posts, and keep the drainage gaps the builder accidentally got right. Gates get rebuilt with a diagonal brace. Shared fences need the neighbor’s agreement, and we ask you to get it before we are standing in both yards.
Stain is optional and it is maintenance. We can do a first coat on dry wood. We do not stain wet cedar in a November rain and promise a finish.
The ground in Mill Creek
The expectation here is a clean edge. Lawns get mowed on a schedule, aerated before they mat down, and fertilized lightly enough that we are not just feeding the moss. Townhome and hillside lots need low walls and tight paver work more than they need a big landscape renovation. Bark beds are there to keep the mulch line straight and the weeds out of the front that faces the street.
We still find the same drainage mistakes as everywhere else: downspouts tied to nothing, and patios pitched back at the siding. The difference is that a small failure shows, because the rest of the street is kept. Native shrubs fit the greenbelts behind the houses. A tropical plant list does not survive the first wet winter, and it will not match the neighborhood even if it did.
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
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.
Gates
A diagonal brace in the right direction, hinges that can carry the weight, and a latch you can open with one hand. The gate post is bigger or deeper than the line posts. A sagging gate is a build problem, and it shows up fast.
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 Mill Creek
- Gravel installation in Mill Creek
- Hardscaping in Mill Creek
- Landscaping in Mill Creek
- Fence installation in Bothell
- Fence installation in Lynnwood
- Fence installation in Everett
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.
