Fences for Home and Garden: A Complete Guide to Selecting and Installing Wood, Masonry, Metal, and Living Fences

Home-improvement expert Jeff Beneke shows homeowners how to select and build the right fence to meet their needs. Includes step-by-step illustrated instructions for building wood, masonry, metal, and living fences that last.

This complete guide shows homeowners how to select and build fences that provide privacy and security, mark boundaries, hide unpleasant views, keep animals in or out, beautify a yard, and provide protection from the elements. Because different fences serve different purposes--a bright white picket fence might add curb appeal but won’t do much to secure your property from animals or people--it’s important to think through the design process before the first hole is dug. Author Jeff Beneke walks readers through this planning process--High or low? Open or closed? Gated or no? Building with wood, metal, brick, concrete, or shrubbery? What type of fasteners? After the design and materials have been chosen, Beneke guides readers through the building process with illustrated step-by-step instructions. Also included is information on how to repair fences and gates that have been damaged by the ravages of time.

Jeff Beneke is a building editor and writer and was a home improvement expert for The Spruce and a former editor of Fine Homebuilding Books. He has written more than a dozen home-improvement books, including How to Build a Fence, and published articles and reviews for a wide range of publications, including Popular Mechanics. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina.