Choosing Fencing

With all of the variety of materials and brands in today's home improvement stores, choosing fencing is not the easiest task. There are numerous factors to take into account when you are choosing fencing for your home or business. Therefore, you need to take a little bit of time to consider the options before going to the store to buy the necessary materials.

Choosing Fencing

The Functions of a Fence

For the sake of comparison, consider a chain-link fence versus a wooden fence. Both types of fences can serve several of the same purposes, such as:

* Helping to confine dogs and animals to a particular part of the yard
* Keeping children from accessing adjacent wooded areas or high-traffic roads
* Discouraging potential intruders.

Even though both kinds of fencing work in the same manner, you are probably concerned about choosing fencing that looks attractive on your property. If so, a wooden fence is the best choice.

Decorative Fencing vs. Protective Fencing

Although the very nature of fencing is to restrict access to and from the area surrounded by the fence, some people prefer choosing fencing that is solely meant for decorative purposes. Picket fencing is a popular type of fence chosen by those who wish to spruce up their home's curb appeal. Decorative fencing does not help to protect the owner's property in terms of theft. The average height of this kind of fencing is three feet.

However, if you are choosing fencing to improve the appearance of your yard or stop chipmunks, mice, squirrels and rabbits from entering your garden, decorative fencing will suit your needs. If keeping out unwanted animal visitors is your main goal, a small chain-link fence costs less and does the same job as a picket fence. Although small pests, like the one's described above, can travel underneath and through the fence's slats, they will most likely be deterred. The most common place to install decorative fencing is around:

* Ponds and bodies of water
* Small flower gardens
* Shrubbery
* Vegetable plants.

Fencing for Serious Protection

If serious protection is your main concern, you probably do not care about the attractiveness of the fence itself. In this case, you should consider an electric fence or barbed-wire fence. Barbed-wire fences will deter intruders and stray animals because climbing them is too painful.

Electric fences are also excellent choices whether you buy a visible or an invisible one. When a person or animal touches the fence, they will get a light yet startling shock. However, most people can quickly learn how to step over the electric line; therefore, this type of fencing is best to use for enclosing pets and farm animals. Some people even install small electric fence versions in order to secure valuables such as jewelry. As you can see, there are a lot of aspects to take into consideration when choosing fencing. So before you head out to your local home improvement store, think about what you want out of a fence.