Ornamental fence · Yakima since 1974
Ornamental fence and gates for front walks and finished yards
Black ornamental fence runs and matching gates, set plumb and hung to swing and latch. The finished look for a front yard, garden or walk, built by a crew that has fenced Yakima since 1974.
Chapter 01
Where ornamental fence fits
Ornamental fence is the finished-looking one. It is what you choose along a front walk, around a garden, or across the open side of a yard where the fence is part of how the property looks from the street. The pickets are slim, the lines are crisp, and you can see the yard through it.
Ornamental is one of the things we specialize in, alongside chain link and custom gates, and it is what you see in the photo on this page: a black fence and gate crossing a sod path with the Yakima hills behind. Black is the colour that suits most houses and most landscapes here, and it shows off the planting instead of competing with it.
It is not the right answer to every fence. If you need height, a tough working perimeter or screening, a different build is better, and we will say so. When what you want is a finished edge to a front yard or a walk gate that looks like it belongs, this is the fence.
A black ornamental gate and fence across a sod path, the Yakima hills rising behind
How an ornamental run is set
A thin ornamental fence shows every mistake. The posts are set and plumbed first, at the spacing the panels need, with the line sighted along the run before anything is fastened. If the posts are off by a hair, the panels will not sit level, and a crooked top edge is the first thing the eye finds.
Panels are then fastened to the posts and checked against the line, stepped where the ground slopes so the fence follows the grade instead of leaving gaps under it. The Yakima valley is not flat, and a run across a hillside or a sloped front yard has to be laid out for that from the first post.
Chapter 03
Gates matched to the run
A gate is where an ornamental fence is judged. It is the part people touch every day, and the part that fails first if the post it hangs from is too light or not plumb. Our gates are hung so they swing freely, clear the ground and latch without a shove.
We match the gate to the fence beside it: same height, same lines, same finish, so the opening reads as part of the run and not as an afterthought. A walk gate for a garden path and a wider gate for the drive are different builds, and both start with the right posts.
L S Fencing is a Washington licensed fence contractor, STILEID830CL, building ornamental fence and gates in Yakima and across Yakima County.
Black chain link around a front yard: another way to get a dark, tidy edge.
The honest comparison
When chain link is the better choice
A dog yard, a long property line, a lot that needs height or a fence that has to take a beating is often better served by chain link, and black vinyl-coated fabric gives it a quieter look than bare steel. Chain link also takes privacy slats if you want to close the view later.
If you are weighing the two, tell us what the fence has to do. We build both, and the right one is the one that still looks right and holds up in ten years. For a gate that needs to open on its own, see our gates and gate operators, and for anything that has to be cut to an odd measurement, our custom steel work.