Fence replacement

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irvinehusky

irvinehusky

New member
Hello,

I need to replace the wood fence around my property.  I would appreciate it greatly if someone can recommend a good
contractor for this type of work.

I think wood is the cheapest but what are good alternatives?

What would be considered a good price (price per ft.) for each type (wood, vinyl, etc.)?

Thank you very much in advance for your help.
 
You have no other options except to replace the current one with the same exact height, length and material if you live in Irvine. You will need to negotiate with 3 neighbors. Have them sign a consent form and possibly participate in paying for 50% of the cost. if they are not willing to participate in sharing the cost then you have to negotiate for 1/2 of the wall thickness to sit on their property or you have to build the entire wall on your own property. If I were your neighbor I will not participate and without my consent I will get a brand new wall at your expense and gain 3 inches on my property.
 
irvinehomeshopper said:
You have no other options except to replace the current one with the same exact height, length and material if you live in Irvine. You will need to negotiate with 3 neighbors. Have them sign a consent form and possibly participate in paying for 50% of the cost. if they are not willing to participate in sharing the cost then you have to negotiate for 1/2 of the wall thickness to sit on their property or you have to build the entire wall on your own property. If I were your neighbor I will not participate and without my consent I will get a brand new wall at your expense and gain 3 inches on my property.
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So if u have a wood fence, you have to replace with with wood and are not allowed to do a concrete block fence with the same height?
 
Yes to maintain the consistency of a master planned community. Individuality is not accepted!

USCTrojanCPA said:
irvinehomeshopper said:
You have no other options except to replace the current one with the same exact height, length and material if you live in Irvine. You will need to negotiate with 3 neighbors. Have them sign a consent form and possibly participate in paying for 50% of the cost. if they are not willing to participate in sharing the cost then you have to negotiate for 1/2 of the wall thickness to sit on their property or you have to build the entire wall on your own property. If I were your neighbor I will not participate and without my consent I will get a brand new wall at your expense and gain 3 inches on my property.
Click to expand...
So if u have a wood fence, you have to replace with with wood and are not allowed to do a concrete block fence with the same height?
Click to expand...
 
It depends on your HOA.

We replaced our wood slat fence with a block concrete wall (stuccoed and painted) and our HOA allowed it as long as our 3 neighbors signed off on it.

The problem with block wall is you need more space for the base and sometimes you have to reroute sprinkler lines to accommodate that extra space.

The issue with wood fences is you either have to remove the existing cement footers or re-plan the span to allow for footers next to the original one (had to do that ourselves in the late 90s when the big winds knocked over our fences... no HOA on that one but one neighbor didn't want to share the cost).

If you are redoing your fence as slats (much cheaper than block wall), I would use vinyl planks as it's more durable but it's harder to work with since you have to use screws instead of nails.
 
white picket or (and) vinyl fences are unlawful in Irvine. HOA rarely approve a substantial deviation from the original parameters. The older Irvine ghettos would allow that compromise. Good luck getting it approve in the new villages!
 
For the new homes no one should need to worry about the wind getting to the fences between neighbors.

irvinehomeowner said:
It depends on your HOA.

We replaced our wood slat fence with a block concrete wall (stuccoed and painted) and our HOA allowed it as long as our 3 neighbors signed off on it.

The problem with block wall is you need more space for the base and sometimes you have to reroute sprinkler lines to accommodate that extra space.

The issue with wood fences is you either have to remove the existing cement footers or re-plan the span to allow for footers next to the original one (had to do that ourselves in the late 90s when the big winds knocked over our fences... no HOA on that one but one neighbor didn't want to share the cost).

If you are redoing your fence as slats (much cheaper than block wall), I would use vinyl planks as it's more durable but it's harder to work with since you have to use screws instead of nails.
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irvinehomeshopper said:
white picket or (and) vinyl fences are unlawful in Irvine. HOA rarely approve a substantial deviation from the original parameters. The older Irvine ghettos would allow that compromise. Good luck getting it approve in the new villages!
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I know you're trying to troll... but Irvine HOAs are fairly flexible when it comes to the backyard areas of homes, especially if you are replacing a broken down wood fence with a nicer vinyl one or a block wall one.

But you are right... you don't need to worry about the wind in newer homes because many of them are using block wall instead of wood planks.
 
Good luck in getting your neighbors to pay to upgrade the entire fence to a block wall instead of replacing just a wood slat that only cost $5 vs a $5,000 wall. Sure Irvine HOAs are flexible. I heard pigs there could fly too.
 
You have not really convinced me if I am you neighbor why I should contribute 1/2 of the cost to an expensive block wall that you want when I already know 2 neighbors already said yes to you. You are now obligated to move forward and I already know I will be getting a free wall regardless. I will insist you build your wall on your property because the wall is thicker and I will sue you if you encroach a mm into my property. HOA will defend my right.
 
Let me raise another question if two of your neighbors contributed to your wall and they love purple. They technically can paint the wall on their side and up to the middle of the wall cap as well as the middle of the wall where the wall ends face the street. From your second floor you will see that ugly line of purple at the top of the wall as well as the purple straight line that run up the middle of the end when you drive into your 2CWG.
 
In our case, in Irvine, in an HOA for a mid-90s built neighborhood... we got the estimate first and unless all 4 neighbors agreed to pay their share (which was divided by linear footage), the project would not go forward.

So if one of our neighbors did not want to do it, it didn't get replaced. We weren't even the ones to initiate the project, our rear neighbor sent us a letter and we agreed... even though ours cost the most (double our side neighbor) because the wood slat wall was falling apart. He did all the legwork of getting 3 estimates and he was the main contact.

In the end, I think we should have had to pay a little less because they used our yard as the main work-from area so we had tons of traffic in our front and side yards... I think our neighbor actually came by and helped clean up the areas they trampled all over because he felt bad.

But it's okay... not everyone in Irvine are soul-less, mute dog-walkers who are afraid of eye contact with non-Asians and actually don't mind working together to get something done.
 
You were extremely lucky! The. One neighbor who did not participate so did you have 2 walls being block and one wood? The recent FCBs would not be that nice.
 
So did your neighbors have to negotiate with their neighbors to get the block wall so 3 walls would match in their yards otherwise one neighbor would eventually ended up with mismatched walls in his yard? Or this domino effect and enldless  negotiation cycle resonated through the neighborhood because no one is willing to live with wood and block walls in their yard.
 
All neighbors participated... or else we would not have moved forward.

It was weird for a while when the fence was down... you can see straight through to your neighbors... we felt so exposed.

Edit: There were only 5 of us (I think I said 4 previously... our 2 houses and 3 rear houses)... no domino effect because we were cul-de-sac to corner on a short street so there were only 5 houses in our strip... the end cap walls were already block walls.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
But you are right... you don't need to worry about the wind in newer homes because many of them are using block wall instead of wood planks.
Click to expand...

Let me correct you. The wind will never reach the walls between neighbors when houses are so tightly packed and walls between neighbors are stucco over a wood frame wall elevated off the dirt anchored to a galvanized steel pipe piled into the dirt.
 
irvinehomeshopper said:
You have no other options except to replace the current one with the same exact height, length and material if you live in Irvine. You will need to negotiate with 3 neighbors. Have them sign a consent form and possibly participate in paying for 50% of the cost. if they are not willing to participate in sharing the cost then you have to negotiate for 1/2 of the wall thickness to sit on their property or you have to build the entire wall on your own property. If I were your neighbor I will not participate and without my consent I will get a brand new wall at your expense and gain 3 inches on my property.
Click to expand...

Hello,

Thank you very much for your detailed answer.

I live in the West Park HOA area and the fence is all original (1996).  Although all sides will eventually need replacement in a few years, one side is leaning over badly and I purchased it like that last year.  The winds a few weeks ago made it worse.  It was not a standard sale so the seller (not owner) would not fix the fence.  At this time, we will only fix this one side.  Unfortunately, this one side is quite long so I'm sure it won't be cheap.

The next door neighbor was eager to get this fixed and called me about it a couple of days ago.  We kind of talked about it when we originally introduced ourselves.  We're both going to get a couple quotes.  So, I'm sure they'll pay for 1/2 of the cost.  I hope anyway...  :)  If anyone recently re-did their fence, I would appreciate if they can recommend someone.

It's wood right now so if what you say is correct then we won't be able to install vinyl or some wood hybrid then?  I know it's more expensive than wood so it all depends on how much more.

One question my neighbor asked was if we decided to go with other than wood, and when she negotiates their fence on the other side with her other neighbor (or I do with my other neighbor) and they don't want to pay for the more expensive vinyl or hybrid, would that kind of mix-and-match be allowed by these Irvine HOAs?  I must admit it's a pain having to deal with three different neighbors for each side.

Also, is this a modification that requires submitting plans to the HOA for approval?  Assuming everything gets replaced as is (wood, height, material, etc.)

Thank you again for your help.
 
What I brought up are all logistic issues and nasty neighbors. I am not a troll but just want to paint a realistic perspective for you moving forward with this difficult issue.
 
The new buyers have to initial the disclosure that they are aware that the wall between neighbors are not block but a wood frame stucco walls. Block walls are used in places where retaining grade is required.
 
irvinehusky said:
irvinehomeshopper said:
You have no other options except to replace the current one with the same exact height, length and material if you live in Irvine. You will need to negotiate with 3 neighbors. Have them sign a consent form and possibly participate in paying for 50% of the cost. if they are not willing to participate in sharing the cost then you have to negotiate for 1/2 of the wall thickness to sit on their property or you have to build the entire wall on your own property. If I were your neighbor I will not participate and without my consent I will get a brand new wall at your expense and gain 3 inches on my property.
Click to expand...

Hello,

Thank you very much for your detailed answer.

I live in the West Park HOA area and the fence is all original (1996).  Although all sides will eventually need replacement in a few years, one side is leaning over badly and I purchased it like that last year.  The winds a few weeks ago made it worse.  It was not a standard sale so the seller (not owner) would not fix the fence.  At this time, we will only fix this one side.  Unfortunately, this one side is quite long so I'm sure it won't be cheap.

The next door neighbor was eager to get this fixed and called me about it a couple of days ago.  We kind of talked about it when we originally introduced ourselves.  We're both going to get a couple quotes.  So, I'm sure they'll pay for 1/2 of the cost.  I hope anyway...  :)  If anyone recently re-did their fence, I would appreciate if they can recommend someone.

It's wood right now so if what you say is correct then we won't be able to install vinyl or some wood hybrid then?  I know it's more expensive than wood so it all depends on how much more.

One question my neighbor asked was if we decided to go with other than wood, and when she negotiates their fence on the other side with her other neighbor (or I do with my other neighbor) and they don't want to pay for the more expensive vinyl or hybrid, would that kind of mix-and-match be allowed by these Irvine HOAs?  I must admit it's a pain having to deal with three different neighbors for each side.

Also, is this a modification that requires submitting plans to the HOA for approval?  Assuming everything gets replaced as is (wood, height, material, etc.)

Thank you again for your help.
Click to expand...

As each HOA is governed by different board members and different bylaws, each will have different rules.
You'll need to contact your board and make your request.
My suggestion: vote early and vote loud. If you are prepared with your solution, including:
- a total bid cost
- allocation of expenses, and
- a timetable,
you'll likely get what you want.

If you show up with only a problem, and no desired course of action, you run a big risk of getting the opposite of what you want.
?By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.? Benjamin Franklin

I'll pm you with the contact info for a company that has done some fence repairs/rebuilds for clients of mine in the past. All have been happy with their work (so far!).

Good luck,
-IrvineRealtor
 
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