Wrought Iron Fence in Acton, CA

Our version is welded steel. The standard panel uses 3/4 inch square tube pickets in 1.5 inch channel rail, about 4 inches on center, which leaves a clear gap near 3.25 inches. Line posts run 2.5 inch square up to 6 feet of panel height. On an Acton perimeter those posts, rails and frames are the solid lineal pieces the section allows, since they are there for structure.

Decoration needs a light hand. The same section wants at least 70 percent of the fence area non-view-obscuring and allows solid pieces only as structure or a minor architectural feature. Small details at the posts keep the fence open. A solid band of plate along every panel, or a brand cut into sheet steel across the run, starts to use up open area. Tell us the detail you want and we lay it out with the open area easy to see. If it looks close, take that drawing to county planning.

Along the road, height is the first limit. LA County Code 22.110.070 holds a fence in a required front yard to 3 feet 6 inches and allows 6 feet in an interior side or rear yard. The height is taken from the highest average ground level within 3 feet of either side. A low iron frontage across the setback that rises to 6 feet along the interior side yards is one layout that meets both numbers.

Sloped lots mean the panels either step or rake. A stepped panel stays level and drops at each post, which opens a wedge of air under the low end. A raked panel tilts to follow the ground with the pickets still plumb. On a steeper run, or anywhere a gap under the fence matters, raking keeps the bottom rail close to the dirt.

A pool changes the fence more than the district does. California Health and Safety Code 115923 wants the barrier at least 60 inches tall, no more than 2 inches clear underneath, and no gap a 4 inch sphere can pass. Our standard gap already stops that sphere. The access gate opens away from the pool and closes and latches by itself, with the latch no lower than 60 inches up. The outside face can offer no handhold or foothold, so low rails and scrolls stay off it. A pool barrier is raked, because stepping wedges break the 2 inch limit.

Set those two figures side by side and they collide. The 60 inch barrier minimum is taller than the 3 feet 6 inch front yard figure, so our reading is that a pool barrier belongs outside the required front yard. Whether any relief exists for one inside it is a question for county planning. Section 115922 applies when a building permit is issued for a new pool or a remodel at a private single family home, and it calls for at least two of seven drowning prevention features. The fence enclosure is one of them.

Where the fence meets the drive, the entrance span rule comes in. Section 22.302.060.F.2.c allows one residential ranch entrance sign span per lot, topping out at 20 feet above natural grade with 12 square feet of combined sign face. We carry the same pickets through the span, the gate and the fence so the frontage reads as one piece of steel.

This work runs out of our shop on Division Street in Lancaster. Read the full wrought iron fence details, or call (818) 220-8704 and we will come out.