Aluminum Fence Installation in Simpsonville, SC

Aluminum fence installation in Simpsonville answers a problem that shows up in most back yards here and in very few elsewhere. Subdivision lots in this part of the Golden Strip are graded so stormwater leaves the back of the property along a shallow channel, and that channel usually sits inside a recorded easement saying nothing may obstruct it.

Simpsonville had 23,354 residents at the 2020 census, up from 18,238 in 2010, and neighboring Five Forks went from 8,064 in 2000 to 17,737 in 2020. Nearly all of that growth is subdivision housing with covenants and drainage plans behind it, so the fence question and the engineering question tend to arrive together.

The fence that can cross a drainage easement

Water passes through an ornamental aluminum panel. Between the pickets there is far more air than metal, so a run crossing a swale slows the flow slightly and then lets it go. A solid six foot panel on the same line does the opposite, and the result turns up in the first heavy season: standing water on the uphill face, silt banked against the bottom board, and a corner of the yard that never dries out.

That is the practical case. The recorded one matters more. A drainage easement across your lot generally prohibits any structure that obstructs flow, and that language does not soften because the neighborhood looks better with a privacy fence. Where an easement crosses the line, we would rather run aluminum through it than build something that has to come back out at your expense.

The detail is the bottom rail. Panels sit on the posts, and where the ground dips through the swale that rail should bridge the low point rather than sit down in it. We hold it clear of the flow line and leave the gap open where water actually runs, which also stops leaves and sticks packing up underneath and turning a clear fence into a solid one.

Setting posts in a builder graded lot

A Simpsonville subdivision lot had its topsoil stripped and its subsoil compacted by machinery before the house went on it, and what is under the sod is often a thin layer over that pan. An auger meets a different material a foot down than it met at the surface, and on some lots it meets refusal.

Compacted Cecil clay bores cleanly and then holds water like a bucket. The hole is frequently full the morning after a storm, and concrete placed into standing water is not the concrete on the bag. We open the hole wider than the minimum bore that would take the post, clear the water and run the mix the full depth. Frost is not a factor in the Upstate, so depth here is a wind and soil question rather than a freezing one.

Pool barriers behind a subdivision house

Once there is a pool behind the fence, the code sets the specification and the architectural committee only reviews how it looks. South Carolina builds to the International Residential Code: a residential pool barrier stands at least 48 inches, and the gates serving it are self closing and self latching.

On a graded lot the height is rarely the thing that fails. The gaps are. A barrier measured from a pool deck instead of from the ground on the outside face comes up short, and a stepped run crossing a swale or a berm leaves an opening at the low end of each section. Racked panels follow that ground and close it, which is most of why aluminum is the default around water here.

The gate is the rest of it. It should swing away from the water so a child pushing on it moves it shut, the latch goes high and out of reach rather than at handle height, and the whole thing has to close and catch on its own from a full open swing rather than from halfway.

What a aluminum fencing job in Simpsonville includes

A Simpsonville aluminum quote is written from the plat and the grade as much as from the tape measure.

• A check for recorded drainage easements across the back of the lot before the line is set
• The fall recorded across each panel length, so the rack angle is planned rather than improvised
• Utility locate request placed before we dig, with irrigation heads flagged by hand
• Holes opened wide in compacted subsoil, water cleared, concrete run the full depth
• Powder coated posts, panels, caps, brackets and gate frames in black, bronze or white
• Panels racked so the bottom rail bridges a swale instead of sitting down in it
• Self closing hinges and self latching hardware on any gate serving a pool
• The grade of the aluminum system written on the quote so bids compare on the same basis

The full breakdown of materials, process and pricing factors lives on our aluminum fence installation page. This page covers what changes in Simpsonville.