Steel Privacy Fence in Lancaster, CA

Privacy mostly happens behind the house. Lancaster Municipal Code 17.08.130.D lets a fence in the side or rear setback stand 6 feet, and a solid face at that height closes the view from the neighbors and takes the worst of the wind off a patio. Out front the same section keeps a fence in the front yard setback to 4 feet. That screens a parked car. It does not screen a window. On a corner lot, the section groups the corner lot side yard setback with the front at 4 feet.

The height is measured from the ground at the foot of the fence. Section 17.08.130.C puts the tape on finished grade at the base and runs it to the top edge of the fence material. Plenty of yards fall a little toward the back wall or the street. A solid panel cannot follow that fall without leaving a gap under it, so the run steps, and each step gets its own reading. The low end of each step is where a 6 foot run quietly turns into 6 feet and a few inches.

More height than that takes a review. Section 17.08.130.E gives the director room to approve up to 25 percent above the limits. That is a submittal and a wait on the city's schedule. Settle it before the panels are cut to length, since a panel welded tall and then refused has to be cut down.

Some lots with a Lancaster address are not in the city at all. On unincorporated county ground next to the city, LA County Code 22.110.070 applies instead: 3.5 feet in a required front yard, 6 feet in the interior side and rear yards. The side and rear number matches the city. The front does not. The parcel record shows which one you have.

A solid face turns wind into post load. There are no gaps in the skin, so every gust that crosses the valley in the afternoon lands on the panel and gets passed to the post and the concrete around it. That means a heavier post section, shorter spacing between posts, and a deeper hole than an open picket run of the same height would need. We set posts in at least 36 inches of concrete and go deeper for a solid face. That is our own shop practice. No code sets the figure.

Apartment and condo properties raise a separate question. Section 17.08.130.G names a masonry wall, a tubular steel fence or a comparable material, up to 6 feet, for multifamily use. A solid skin on a steel tube frame is not the same product as a tubular steel fence, so ask planning whether they will read your panel that way before you order a solid run for a multifamily lot.

A fence in Lancaster spends its life in full sun, and the coating is what carries it. Galvanizing to ASTM A123 goes on first, with the zinc thickness keyed to the wall of the tube. A powder topcoat goes over it, an AAMA 2604 class product rather than the basic 2603 tier. Cut ends and weld seams carry the thinnest coating, so we dress those before anything is sprayed.

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