Snohomish is the old river town. Downtown sits above the Snohomish River, the houses have mature trees, and a lot of the gardens were planted decades ago and then left to get big. The ground near the river stays wet. The hills just south of it do not. Board fencing in the low ground traps debris and can be flattened. We fence the yard you use up by the house. We do not dike the bottom of the lot with cedar.
Snohomish County · ZIP 98290 · 2020 population 10,091
A fence is not a flood wall
Posts on the bench are a normal wet-soil set. If a run has to cross ground that floods, we talk about a style that lets water through, or about stopping the fence short. Replacing a flattened fence every other spring is not a warranty issue. It is the wrong place for boards.
Gates near a shop or a drive get the heavy hinges. River-town properties tend to have those working gates, and they sag first.
The ground in Snohomish
Historic lots come with plants nobody planned: a cedar too close to the porch, a lilac that has swallowed the walk, beds that were neat in 1998 and are roots and bindweed now. Pruning and a hard cleanup are often the whole first phase. Bark, used with a little restraint, puts a finished line back on a Victorian front without covering the problem.
Closer to the river, drains matter. Riparian edges want native plants that can take wet soil, not a sod lawn rolled to the bank. We do not haul fill into the floodplain to “raise the yard” without understanding where that water will go next. Uphill, in the newer pockets, the work looks more like the rest of the county: lawns, small patios, and moss.
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.
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 Snohomish
- Gravel installation in Snohomish
- Hardscaping in Snohomish
- Landscaping in Snohomish
- Fence installation in Monroe
- Fence installation in Everett
- Fence installation in Lake Stevens
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.
