Chain link fencing in Burbank, California

Where chain link earns its keep in Burbank

A lot of Burbank was laid out in the 1920s through the 1950s on a tight grid with detached garages and service alleys running behind the houses. Magnolia Park is the clearest example: rows of cottages and bungalows, narrow side yards, and a rear alley doing the work a driveway does elsewhere. That layout creates exactly the boundaries chain link is best at. An alley-facing rear line does not need to be beautiful, it needs to be secure, durable, and cheap enough that you can afford to do the whole run at once.

The same logic applies to side yards squeezed between two houses, to dog runs, to enclosing a utility or equipment area, and to temporary fencing around a remodel. Studios and production work run through this city constantly, and short-term site enclosure is a regular ask. Chain link goes up quickly, comes down cleanly, and does not care about weather in between.

Its limit is obvious: it gives you no privacy. Woven privacy slats help and they are inexpensive, but they turn an open fence into something closer to a solid wall, which changes both how it looks and how the city treats it in a front yard. If privacy is the actual goal, wood or vinyl is the better money.

What we install

• Galvanized mesh, 4 to 6 feet. The standard silver fence. Hot-dip galvanized wire on schedule 40 posts, the right call anywhere appearance is not the point.
• Black vinyl-coated mesh. Galvanized wire with a bonded PVC coating in black or dark green. Costs more, looks far better, adds corrosion protection, and visually vanishes against landscaping and the Verdugo backdrop.
• Privacy slats. Vertical inserts woven through the mesh for screening, in a range of colors. A cheap way to buy sight-blocking on an existing run.
• Bottom rail or tension wire. The detail that stops a dog digging under and keeps the mesh line straight over the long haul.
• Walk and drive gates. Matching frame gates, single or double, with self-closing hardware where a pet or a pool is behind it.
• Temporary construction fence. Panel or driven-post enclosure for a remodel or a short-term site.

The parts that decide quality are the post schedule, the mesh gauge, and the footings. We set terminal, corner, and gate posts in concrete sized for the load rather than driving everything and hoping, because a corner post that moves takes the whole run out of tension with it.

Chain link and Burbank's fence rules

Burbank reviews fences itself, through the City of Burbank Community Development Department, Building Division, under Municipal Code Title 10. Not LADBS, not the County. The rule that matters most for chain link is a flat prohibition: since February 2017 the code has not allowed new chain link in a front yard or a street-facing side yard, however open the mesh is. A fence that was legal before that date can stay, but a new street-facing run is not on the table. The corner sight triangle near driveways and intersections still applies, and barbed, razor and electrified wire are prohibited outright, so none of that goes on a residential run here.

Where chain link is genuinely good in Burbank is behind the house. Outside the front and street-facing side yard setbacks the code allows a fence up to eight feet, which is more than most people assume, and it suits an alley line, a dog run, or a rear boundary. Privacy slats are fine back there. If screening out front is what you want, iron or an open picket is the material that gets approved, and the wrought iron page covers what that costs.

Chain link pricing in Burbank

Those figures take in posts, mesh, top rail, hardware and the labor. Old fence removal at $3 to $10 a foot, heavier gauge, and rocky footings in the foothills move you up. Every fence type is priced out on the Burbank fence cost guide.

Keep reading

If you are still weighing materials, the overview of fence installation in Burbank covers every option side by side.