Welding, steel gates and fences in Lake Los Angeles, CA

The typical Lake LA job is the steel that secures a big lot: welded yard gates, solid or heavy-gauge fencing, and entrances built to actually keep a property closed off, not just marked.

Lake Los Angeles is unincorporated Los Angeles County out on the far east side of the valley, and most calls from here start with the same word: securing. Large lots, equipment sitting on them, and a house set well back from the road.

That runs straight into the county's fence heights. LA County Code 22.110.070 holds a fence or wall in a required front yard to 3 feet 6 inches. An interior side or rear yard goes to 6 feet. Three and a half feet is not a security line, and that catches people who have just bought several acres out here expecting to put a 6 foot fence along the road.

The detail that makes it workable is the word required. The 3 foot 6 inch limit applies to the required front yard, which is the setback, not the whole frontage and not the rest of the lot. On a Lake Los Angeles parcel there is usually room to keep the line low where the code wants it low, and put the secured line and the gate behind the setback where the height is not capped the same way. That is a layout decision, and it is a great deal cheaper to make on paper than after the posts are in the ground.

A corner lot has its own number worth knowing. Under 22.110.070.B.3 a fence in a required corner side yard is held to 3 feet 6 inches where it is closer than 5 feet to the highway line, and can go to 6 feet where it is 5 feet or more from it. On a big lot, moving the line back 5 feet is what buys the extra 2 feet 6 inches of height. On a small lot that trade is not available, which is one of the reasons the same fence costs differently on two lots a street apart.

What gets built out here is welded, not bolted together. Yard gates sized for equipment, heavier gauge fencing, and entrances that genuinely close a property off. A bolt-together kit in this wind and this dust is a maintenance job waiting to happen, because every joint that relies on a fastener is a joint working itself loose.

The ground is loose, which matters more than the panel choice. Gate and fence posts should go at least 36 inches below ground, deeper on a solid panel or a wide gate leaf, deeper again where the soil will not hold. That depth is this shop's own practice rather than a published minimum. On a remote property it is also the part nobody comes back to fix cheaply, so it is the part we do not shorten.

Distance is the other Lake Los Angeles factor. When the gate is the only way in and the property is a long way from anything, a gate that drags or drops is more than an inconvenience. A dropped leaf, worn hinges or a racked frame will fight any motor hung on it, so the steel gets checked and welded true first. The motor and its wiring belong to other trades. The gate, the hinges and the frame are ours.

Finish is what decides how the fence looks in five years out here, because there is nothing between the steel and the sun. Hot dip galvanizing under ASTM A123 ties the zinc thickness to the thickness of the steel, and powder over galvanizing outlasts either coating alone. Ask for an AAMA 2604 class powder rather than the basic 2603 tier. Cut ends and weld seams run thinnest and rust first, so those edges get dressed before anything is sprayed.

Lake Los Angeles is the longest run we make from Division Street, so we would rather do one proper measure than three trips. Have your setback lines to hand if you can, tell us what is being secured and roughly where the property line sits, and we will lay the run out with you on site.

We build all of it at our Lancaster shop, so you get the same fabrication and the same crew as the yard down the road. Call (818) 220-8704 for a free estimate and we will come measure.