Wood fencing in Burbank, California

Why wood still wins on most Burbank lots

Walk the streets off Magnolia Boulevard or the blocks between Hollywood Way and Buena Vista and you will see the same thing over and over: a six foot wood fence between two 1930s houses that were built about eight feet apart. There is a reason for that. Wood gives you full privacy at a price that beats vinyl or iron over a long run, it can be built to any height and any line without a factory panel size dictating the layout, and it suits the Craftsman, Tudor Revival, and Mission Revival stock that fills this city far better than a bright white plastic panel would.

It is also the most adaptable material when the lot is awkward, which in Burbank it often is. Narrow side yards, detached garages, and rear alleys mean a lot of runs have to jog, step, or end in a gate. Wood lets us cut and build in place instead of forcing a prefab panel into a space it does not fit. And when a homeowner wants something less standard, a horizontal slat face for a remodeled ranch or a board on board that looks finished from the neighbor's side too, wood is where that lives.

The honest trade-off is upkeep. Burbank summers run hot and dry, mid 90s as a matter of course and past 105 in a Santa Ana push, and that sun is hard on an unfinished fence. Left bare, cedar silvers within a season or two and can check or cup over time. Put a stain or seal on it every two to three years and it keeps looking deliberate. If never touching the fence again is the dealbreaker, vinyl is the honest answer. If you want the warmth and a weekend with a sealer tray does not bother you, stay with wood.

Cedar or redwood, and the styles we build

Two species cover nearly every Burbank wood fence we build: western red cedar and construction heart redwood. Rot and insects bother them far less than pine, they take a stain evenly, and neither falls apart in dry heat the way a cheap fir picket does by year three. These are the styles that come up most here:

• Dog-ear or flat-top privacy. Six feet tall, boards butted tight, nothing clever about it. The workhorse across the valley floor.
• Board on board, the good neighbor build. Overlapping boards so the fence reads finished from both sides. Worth it on a shared line where you and your neighbor are splitting the cost under the state boundary fence rule.
• Horizontal slat. A cleaner, modern face that suits the remodeled post-war ranches and the newer infill around the Media District.
• Low picket with an open top. The front yard answer under Title 10: a short solid or picket base with an open, see-through section above so the run stays legal and still reads as a fence.
• Lattice or trellis cap. Extra height and light without a solid wall, and it lets a Santa Ana gust pass instead of pushing on it.

Whatever the face, the posts decide how long it lasts. Pressure-treated wood or steel goes into concrete footings sized to the run and the exposure, since a wood fence nearly always gives way at the post while the panel is still fine.

Burbank ground, from valley floor to foothill

The digging in this city changes completely depending on where you are standing. Across the flat floor, roughly 500 feet of elevation through Magnolia Park, Downtown Burbank, and the streets near Riverside Drive, the soil is alluvial fill, coarse sand and gravel washed down out of the surrounding mountains. It digs fast and drains well, which is good news for both the schedule and the post. What it asks for is proper footing depth and clean concrete, because loose granular soil grips a post less than clay does.

Climb toward the Verdugo slopes and it turns into granitic bedrock and decomposed granite. Now the post hole is the job. Some holes go easily through weathered DG and some hit rock that needs breaking, and the grade means the run has to be stepped in level sections or racked to follow the fall so no gap opens under the bottom rail. We read that on the estimate visit rather than guessing, because it is the single biggest swing in what a hillside fence costs against the same fence on the flat.

The front yard rule, and the permit that goes with it

This trips up more Burbank homeowners than anything else, so it is worth being plain about. Burbank is its own city with its own building department. Your fence is reviewed by the City of Burbank Community Development Department, Building Division, under Municipal Code Title 10, not by LADBS and not by the County. In a street-facing yard, only the lower portion may be solid, on the order of the first two feet, and anything above that is expected to be an open design you can substantially see through. Rear and side yards allow a taller solid fence, and going above the general cap brings city review. Corner lots also have a sight triangle near the driveway and intersection where height is held down so drivers can see. Barbed, razor, and electrified wire are not allowed.

What that means in practice is simple: put your solid cedar where it does the work, in the back and along the sides, and use a low base with an open top out front. We quote it that way from the first visit and point you to the city counter to confirm the standard that applies to your zone, since specifics vary and the code gets updated.

Wood fence pricing in Burbank

Posts, panels, hardware, and labor sit inside those ranges. Old fence removal at $3 to $10 a foot, foothill footings in decomposed granite, a board on board or lattice upgrade, and gates all push you toward the top. The complete picture is in our Burbank fence cost guide.

Keep reading

The overview of Burbank fence and gate installers covers the same ground across every material.