Fence installation in Arlington
What we build in Arlington
Arlington's grid of colonials, Craftsman bungalows, and brick rows near Ballston and Clarendon puts fence decisions close to the sidewalk. Front fences here are usually open black aluminum or low wood picket, sized to the county's 4-foot limit within 25 feet of a public right-of-way. Side and rear yards take the privacy: six-foot wood shadowbox or vinyl panels between rowhouses, with solid runs where a cut-through street backs the yard.
Small lots mean every foot works. We set gates where bikes and trash cans actually travel, notch panels around AC units and meters, and keep the finished face toward the neighbor as courtesy and code both expect. Townhouse rear courts get board-on-board runs on narrow footings, and shared driveways get a single gate leaf sized to the real opening.
Aluminum suits Arlington's slopes better than most materials — panels rake a few degrees per bay, so a hillside run follows grade without a sawtooth jump. Chain link covers the utilitarian corners, side yards and school-adjacent runs, in galvanized or black vinyl-coated fabric that disappears against green.
Corner lots in Arlington deserve their own paragraph, because the county treats both street-facing yards as front yards. The practical result: privacy gathers behind the building line, and the two exposed sides get open fence that keeps the corner bright. We have built enough of these to know where the sight lines matter — to traffic, to the school walking route, to the neighbor's kitchen window — and we design to them rather than around them.
Materials get chosen for the maintenance you will actually do. Rowhouse owners with street parking lean vinyl and aluminum; homeowners with alleys and gardens lean wood and enjoy the staining ritual as seasonal theater. Both are correct answers, and we price them side by side rather than steering. Chain link stays available for the honest corners where budget and duty beat decoration.
Winter salt, summer shade, and the constant foot traffic of a walkable county test every material differently. Aluminum shrugs off the road salt; vinyl fades imperceptibly under the shade line; wood tells the truth about its maintenance schedule every spring. We match the material to the exposure on your lot, not to the photo you saved, and we say why in writing.
Rowhouse rows and corner lots suit aluminum fence installation at the front and wood fence installation behind the building line. For the garage courts and alley storage, see chain link fence installation.