Wood Fence Specialists in Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis Wood Fences

Minneapolis wood fence is a great choice for the Twin Cities. After all, it looks great, it's resilient, it's perfect for use in outdoor settings, and it offers you many choices when it comes to style and design. Whether you're in the market for a privacy, stockade, post and rail, picket, or framed wood fence in Minneapolis or St. Paul, you'll find that few materials are as well suited to fencing applications as good, old-fashioned wood.

Which Wood is Best?
The answer to this question is really a no-brainer. As far as wood that's suitable for outdoor use goes, there's really only two species that fit the bill: cedar and redwood. Both have natural oils and tannins in the wood itself that resist moisture and repel insects. Also, both are very attractive from an aesthetic standpoint. Redwood can be used for fencing, though generally its higher price makes it cost prohibitive as a fencing material (redwood is primarily used for decking and outdoor structures like gazebos). That leaves cedar in the spotlight. Pressure treated lumber is sometimes used to cut costs, though keep in mind that even pressure treated wood won't last as long as cedar, so you'll be looking at having to replace posts and boards much sooner than if you go with cedar from the get go. To add to that, pressure treated lumber has been under the microscope lately because of potentially harmful chemicals that can leach from the wood into the ground. To make a long story short, cedar is hands down your best bet for building wood fence in Minneapolis.

Can the Fence Stand Up to Minnesota Weather?
This is an excellent question to ask, and if you'd ask it about run of the mill lumber, our response would probably be no. The weather in the Twin Cities, which can include everything from major thunderstorms to blizzards to tornadoes, is brutal on any exterior building material. As previously mentioned, however, cedar and redwood are naturally suited for standing up to full frontal meteorological assaults. The truth is that the biggest threat to your Minneapolis wood fencing is neglect. While cedar and redwood do have a natural resistance to the elements, it's also important that you regularly treat them with a water sealer/stain every 5 to 10 years. Do so religiously and your wood fencing in Minneapolis is likely to last a lifetime. Leave your wood fence to fend for itself, however, and it will eventually dry out, split, crack, and rot.

What are the Environmental Impacts?
One argument that is sometimes made by proponents of other fencing materials is in regards to the poor sustainability of using wood fencing compared to, say, vinyl. They claim it's environmentally irresponsible to use a dwindling natural resource such as wood for something as trivial as a barrier between you and your neighbor. In fact, as long as you do your homework and buy from a reputable retailer, you should be getting cedar that is grown and managed in a sustainable manner by the lumber company, meaning it will never run out. Add to that the fact that wood is far easier on the environment than other popular building materials when it comes to the water pollution, air pollution, solid wastes, and greenhouse gas emissions that can be attributed to its production, and suddenly using wood fencing in Minneapolis is a lot more green than many competitors would have you believe.

What to Expect Cost and Time Wise
If you're seriously considering wood fencing in Minneapolis, you'll be better situated to make the right call if you know how much it's going to cost and how long the job's going to take. HomeAdvisor tracks jobs that originate in our system using homeowner surveys so that we can share exactly that type of information with potential customers. Based on the Minneapolis wood fence builds that we've been party to, our data shows that the average wood fence in Minneapolis runs $3,050 to install, including materials and labor. Of course, that figure can fluctuate quite a bit either way depending on how big your lot is, the lay of the land, and the style and materials you end up choosing, as our high figure of $5,000 and our low of $1,400 demonstrate. And how about time? It rarely takes more than 4 days to a week, start to finish, for a professional fencing contractor to install Minneapolis wood fence on your property.

It's not a bad idea to talk to a fencing contractor whether you plan to do your wood fencing job yourself or not. It's by far the best way to get a look at different styles, get a ball park idea of cost, and it's an opportunity to talk shop about the particulars of your individual fencing installation. Whether you decide to hire a pro or not, you'll be glad you took the time to meet with somebody who knows exactly what it's going to take to get your new fencing project off the ground.