where to find 4' fence materials? (how much, cost, building, fences)

[campmom123]

I live in Laramie Wy, which is a big enough town for us but obviously not a huge metropolis of activity. We are planning to build a privacy fence in less than 2 weeks. The city says the front yard portion (which is the majority of it because it's a corner lot) must be only 4' high. The lumberyards in town only sell 6' cedar fencing. Seems like a huge waste to cut 2 feet off every board and do who knows what with it. 8 ft pieces can be ordered and then cut in half to make 4' sections, but this is actually MORE expensive than the 6' pieces (even after you divide it in half). The prices on 6 footers are almost double what I'm finding online at the big box places, which we can drive 1 hr to if needed, but they also don't seem to have 4 ft fencing. At least it would be cheaper to waste the extra 2 feet though. What are you supposed to do in this situation? I suppose I should just go around town to the homes who have 4' wood privacy fences and ask "how did you do that?"

[JimRom]

If the 8' lengths are more expensive, I'd say going with the 6' and cutting 2' off is the way to go. You could always line your closet with cedar using the scrap

[Narfcake]

At 4', there's not going much of any privacy to be honest.

Have you considered just making a 3' high fence instead? It's still high enough to keep wandering folks out, but being half a 6' board, you can keep the costs down.

[campmom123]

Well I know it's not as private at 4' instead of 6', but that's the city's code. We have small kids and a dog, so we want it as high as we can get it. Because of the way houses sit on corner lots in this town, the front yard IS the yard, so we can't just forget about privacy in the front yard and hang out in the back instead.

We currently have a 4' chain link but it's super ugly and the dog can squeeze thru the gate, so we are thinking we can build something nicer looking and a little more secure feeling/looking.

Lowe's appears to have 4' panels online but they don't show a price because they're not available at my local store. I'm going to call and see how much they are if they can order them....

[Narfcake]

The thing about special order ... you're stuck with whatever it ends up. Knowing the lumber at the big orange and big blue, not every piece is all that pretty. Even if it ends up cheaper per board, you might end up spending more still if the boards aren't usable.

For the reason of being able to pick your own, go with the 6' and chop it down, using the leftovers for bordering out a raised garden, a bird house, or something.

[SteveArmy]

for the excess material maybe you need something like this... its a really short fence (about 15", 15" deep) that hides some empty pots, gardening soils, tools, plants with ugly pots, etc

[campmom123]

I called both the orange and blue, and the prebuilt panels cost more and require special order, but the regular pickets are in stock and cheap so I guess we'll go with those. I'd love to stay local but their prices are just too high, so big box it is.

Yup, it looks like getting 5 or 6 foot pickets and cutting them down is the only option. I guess I should start a thread for ideas on what to use them for. That is a cute little fence in the above photo. The Lowe's guy said people build planters out of them, etc....

[Cornerguy1]

Your problem seems to stem from the fact that you plan on orienting your fence boards vertically.

How about running the boards horizontally and building 6-foot long sections which you can make 4 feet high?