Steel Privacy Fence in Palmdale, CA

Elsewhere in the Antelope Valley a solid steel panel run is ordinary work for this shop. Inside Palmdale city limits we say no to it at the first call. Section 17.86.040 accepts engineered wood, masonry, wrought iron, durable vinyl, or other similar durable materials as approved by the city. The very next part prohibits fencing made of natural wood, plywood, solid metal, tires, garage doors and other salvageable materials. A continuous line of flat steel panel is solid metal, whatever it is coated with.

Height still matters for whatever you do build. In the street side, interior side and rear setbacks of a home lot the limit is 6 feet, and a seventh foot is allowed only where the part above 6 feet is open view fencing. Inside the required front setback, a sight-obscuring wall, fence or hedge stops at 3 feet and open view fencing may be allowed up to 5 feet. A residential lot of 20,000 square feet or more may have a 6 foot open view fence in the front setback. A new fence or wall over 6 feet needs a building permit.

For privacy in Palmdale, masonry is the material to look at. It is a named material, and the code sets how it looks: plain precision block is prohibited, so block gets stucco or varied texture or color, such as split-faced block, with a decorative cap. Behind the front setback a 6 foot block wall is inside the limit, and a foot of open steel on top of it brings the line to 7 feet, since that top foot is open view. A mason builds the wall. We build the steel, cut to the wall's real length.

Where a see-through line is fine, open steel is the direct answer. Wrought iron is on the accepted list, and a welded picket fence is built in that style. Our standard panel uses 3/4 inch square pickets about 4 inches on center, which leaves a gap near 3.25 inches. The code does not define wrought iron style for you, so take a drawing to Palmdale Planning and let them confirm it before steel is ordered.

We will not build an open frame meant to be skinned with sheet later. Cladding it would turn it into the solid metal fence the code prohibits, and a frame drawn for a skin carries post sizes and spacing it does not need as an open fence.

An open panel changes the structure too. With gaps between the pickets, most of a gust passes through, so the posts carry a fraction of what a solid face would hand them. Gates still hang off one post each and get heavier steel. Gate posts go at least 36 inches into concrete, which is this shop's practice and not a code figure.

Industrial land has one narrow opening in the material rule. Walls or fences in industrial zones that the general public cannot see from a freeway, a regional or crosstown street, or a less intensive zone may be of other materials as approved by the city. Whether that reaches a solid steel screen on your parcel is for Palmdale Planning to answer, not a quote. If you already hold a quote for a solid steel run on a home lot in Palmdale, read it against 17.86.040 before anyone orders steel.

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.