Northbridge Fencing for Older Homes

Replacing a fence on an older Northbridge place usually means pulling out the old run, setting new posts and fitting new panels or sheets along the same line. The fencer removes what is there, takes it away and builds the replacement to suit the house.

Older boundaries tend to have a mix of materials, patched over the years. One side may be timber palings, the next a fibro sheet, and the front a low wall with a rusting gate. A fencer walks the whole line with you and works out where one style should carry through.

You get a price after the measure-up, so the number on paper reflects your boundary and not a guess. A quote sets the agreed scope. If the digging turns up a surprise, such as an old footing buried in the sand, the fencer tells you before going further.

You do not need to settle every detail with your neighbour before getting a price. A fencer can measure and quote while that conversation happens.

Repair makes sense when the damage is limited. A leaning section with two or three rotten posts can often be re-set or have those posts swapped while the rest of the fence stands. Storm damage, like sheets knocked out of a back fence, is often a patch job too.

Replacement makes more sense when the posts have rotted along most of the run, when the panels no longer line up, or when the fence is fibro and cracking. Patching a fence that is failing everywhere just brings you back to the same problem next season.

The fencer looks at the posts at ground level first, because that is where timber rots and where metal rusts. That tells them whether the rest of the fence is worth saving, and they confirm it on site.

On Northbridge's narrow, older lots, Colorbond sheets and slat panels are easier to carry down a side path than long timber runs, and a low period-style front fence suits an older frontage.

Posts set in sandy Perth soil are what usually fail first, so the material matters less than how the posts are anchored. Steel Colorbond posts and aluminium slat posts do not rot in the ground the way timber posts can, which is why they hold a straight line longer in sand. Timber suits a traditional house and costs less to start, though the post bases need more care over time.

A pool needs its own barrier. Glass and aluminium pool fencing are both built to the pool barrier standard, which is there to keep young children out. The same fencer can build the gate to match, so the run and the gate look like one job, and they check that it swings freely and latches properly before handover.

On a tight block, slat gap width decides how much privacy you get. Narrow gaps or a solid sheet run on the street side screen the yard well, while wider gaps let in more light and breeze but show more to people passing.

A taller, solid front fence with a latching gate also makes the yard harder to see into and harder to wander through. The fencer can show you how gap width changes what a passer-by sees.

Fibro sheeting from older fences can contain asbestos, so it should not be snapped, drilled or broken up by hand. If your fence is cracking and you want it gone, removal is a job for a specialist who handles asbestos safely, and a fencer can line up a new fence to go in straight afterwards. Until the remover arrives, leave cracked sheets alone so the pieces do not break further.

An older house on a tight lot here may only have side-path access, so the size of panels and sheets matters when the fencer plans the delivery. Tell the fencer early how materials will reach your boundary.

Around the Parry Street Precinct, between Stirling and Braid Streets, the houses date from the years after the 1890s gold boom, and some are modestly detailed Federation Queen Anne places. A low, period-style front fence keeps that frontage visible from the street, and a fencer can talk you through styles that sit well beside it.

If your boundary faces the Mitchell Freeway or Newcastle Street, the traffic noise is constant, so a solid Colorbond run does more for you than an open slat.

Near the Perth Cultural Centre end, the footpath stays busy well into the evening. A solid or tight-slat front fence keeps the yard out of view of people walking past towards the State Library of Western Australia or Russell Square.