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Hi, Everyone. I was looking to see if someone could provide me with an economical solution to my problem.
I have a tiny dog (8 lbs). In my community (Amberly), the only types of fences we are allowed to build are white vinyl and black aluminum. The white vinyl is far too expensive. Additionally, the only way to construct it on our sloped yard would be to step it - and that would leave large gaps underneath the joints of the panels.
The problem with the aluminum is that the standard type has pickets that are 4"+ apart. With a dog this small, she can easily walk across from one side to the other. Not to mention that if our neighbors decide to get fences someday, their big dogs could poke their noses through to our side and hurt ours. Ideally, we would like to get the type where the pickets are closer together (2" apart), but this increases the price A LOT and makes it out of our price range. We would also need to get special approval. We want to spend at most $4k, which is the price of the standard type. The double type take us up to $6k. We even had pricing on the "puppy picket" type that has double pickets only a 1/4 of the way up, but this was actually even MORE money ($7k).
Does anyone have a solution for this (that looks decent too)? The suggestion we have received from all the fence companies is to use black cable ties to attach black plastic chicken wire to the fence that would block the dog from escaping. However, we would really like to go with something more permanent and less make-shift. Not to mention that I don't think our HOA would allow us to keep this up. Please help!
We put in black aluminum and our 16 pound Havanese can get through it. We didn't do the puppy picket because it was an extra $1500 (about $10 / ft.) or so and we figured she was a puppy and wouldn't be able to get through it when she was full grown. Big mistake. Our 11 pound Bichon has never tried but could fit through. I would either get the puppy picket or do the chicken wire. We've discussed trying the chicken wire but I just keep hoping the Havanese gets too big.
You can't with an 8 pound dog. It doesn't protect it from other dogs. We actually tried it with our Bichon. She never adjusted well to it (would go off the deck, do what she needed and run back in). Invisible fence is great for medium to large dogs, but not a solution for small ones (regardless of what the salesperson tells you.
The black chicken wire should not be visible from a distance so I don't think the HOA should have an issue with it. Sounds to me like the best option. I would otherwise suggest using plexiglass as an alternative but that probably would add significant cost as well as maintenance to keep it clean. I would assume PVC in the long run could come out cheaper or at least more convenient over the years. While it costs more initially, should be much less in maintenance required than other types of materials. I would have to assume the aluminum fence will require periodic repainting at a minimum ?
We hope to be moving into our new home in Clayton within the next few months and are currently going through such decisions ourselves ... however, our restrictive convenance does not appear to have any restriction on the type of fences, just the setback off the street, so we might have some additional options. We do have 2 larger dogs (Labx and Sheltie). Our budget will depend on what we sell our current home for, but do hope to go with PVC. While it costs more initially, in the long run its should be cheaper for us, since it lasts much longer (than wood types) with much less maintenance. We also hope to be in our new place for a long time, so looking at such costs as long term. We would still be concerned with gaps at the bottom as our dogs will dig and the sheltie can jump pretty high - so we have to go with 6 foot high fence. We don't want to consider the invisiable fence because as many others have stated, that doesn't keep other animals from coming in.
Good luck, hope whatever you go with works for you financially, visually, etc.
The aluminum is not supposed to require repainting. That's why we chose it (because our choices were black aluminum or 6' wood privacy fence which requires maintenance). We have about 150 ft. and our estimate for puppy picket was about $5k v. $3500 for regular. Could you install it yourself to save money? It's much easier than a wood fence labor wise. Ours went up in about 3 hours (three guys who knew what they were doing).
The problem with the PVC is that our property has a significant slope in the back half of the yard, and using PVC type would requiring stepping the panels. When you step the panels, it creates gaps between where the panels meet - these gaps would give our dog many places to escape from.
Invisible fence is not an option for us. We don't want to do it with a dog this size. Plus, a neighbor has a very large dog and there is nothing preventing him from crossing over.
We considered installing the fence ourselvers - however, the problem again arises from the slope. We understand that to install the aluminum we need some type of special panels that will adjust the pickets so that they stay level down the slope, and we don't have to step them. In other words - the panels become parallelograms instead of rectangles. Unfortunately, the hubby is not very handy and we don't know any other handy people in the area to help.
I don't know about this chicken wire option - it seems a little...well, crappy. We would really like something more permanent and that is not offensive to our neighbors.
Our yard is sloped too, so I know exactly what you mean. We're not handy so we had to pay to have someone install it. Have you called Seagars? We got an estimate from them (although we used someone else) and they were fairly reasonable. Do you know how many feet of fence you need? I know that installed aluminum is about $20/ft. and puppy picket is about $30/ft. Getting a fence was a big issue for us so I understand how aggravating it is. It's also aggravating having spent $3500 for a fence and $1000 for invisible fence and still have a dog that escapes. Good luck.
I have a listing in The Park at West Lake and when I first went to see the house, I noticed the black wrought iron fence (although its really some type of aluminum); however, I wondered how my seller kept the small dog from getting out.
After asking, she showed me that she has what looks like black chicken wire but its the same type aluminum as the black wrought iron. Its not noticeable AT ALL unless you are right on top of it. It cost something for the fence guys to install it but I didn't ask her the price.
We are building in Amberly/Peninsula and had the same concern.
Then we saw that there is a house in Amberly/Peninsula that has the aluminum fencing and you can barely make out the black chicken wire. You wouldn't even notice it unless you were looking for it. We just happened to be looking at the fence to see what we were supposed to buy.
If you want to go check it out, it's on Painted Turtle. I believe they are the only house that has the fencing installed so far so it shouldn't be hard to spot.
Good Luck.
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We even had pricing on the "puppy picket" type that has double pickets only a 1/4 of the way up, but this was actually even MORE money ($7k).
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