From the Editors

Experienced carpenter George Nash traces the evolution of the American wooden fence from Colonial times to the present. Along the way, he discusses the various types of fences and explains how to design a fence to meet every conceivable need--including how to be a good neighbor. The book also gives practical information on how to build a fence, from laying it out to digging postholes, anchoring the posts, and installing gates. An inspiring and useful book for homeowners and landscapers alike.
Product Description

Customer Response

dissapointed
Has a nice history and it's a pretty book, but I didn't get much out of it, or even good design ideas. Fence Bible book is better, but even it's only fair.

A Great Cure For Insomnia, but Still An Excellent Resource
I bought this book as I had about 250 feet of fencing to put around my yard that needed to look good as well as keep kids and a large dog in.

I am no Bob Vila, but I can hold my own when it comes to building things and home improvements. I purchased this book looking for idea on unique infill ideas, designs, and patterns. I was looking to built something different, but tasteful enough to fit in with yuppie suburbia.

If you need a good guide on how to build a fence, history of fencing, or how to repair a fence, this is an excellent resource. The author does a wonderful job explaining how to build a fence from beginning to end. He goes over many considerations including boundary lines, neighbors, the purpose of the fence, budgets, and pretty much anything else you can think of. The book contains some beautiful photos of fence designs, common fence problems, and photos/drawings on the actual construction of the fence.

The one weak point of this book is the area of the infill (essentially the area between the fence posts). I was looking for design ideas and patterns. However, this book gave next to nothing when it came to patterns or how to build certain infill designs. As I said before, there are some beautiful photos of some really cool fence designs, but very little guidance on how to actually build that portion of the fence.

I would highly recommend the book to the building novice who is not very familiar with construction and/or fence building techniques. The book is an excellent resource on building a fence and can be a invaluable resource to your project. I thought I knew what I was doing yet I still learned quite a bit. The book reads much like a text book and is about as fun to read as the dictionary. If you are familiar with how to build a fence and are looking for design ideas, I'd pass on this book.

A must for newbie and seasoned fence builders!
My husband and I have found this book to be most helpful with ideas and step by step instructions. We do not want a fence that looks like every body else's. This book could be a coffee table book it is so beautifully illustrated!

Excellent reference book
Provides a wide range of answers to common and not so common questions regarding building fences.

I fell for the other reviews - again.
This book offers a nice glimpse at some very basic traditional fences. It's mostly a guided pictoral journey showing some colonial, old traditional and farmland fencing - NOTHING remotly contemporary.

NOT PRACTICAL for someone looking for a reference of fence designs or construction techniques. Sure the author gives good information about basic design factors but does not offer much help to develop and build a finished product.

A great book if you have some time to kill and you enjoy hearing about and looking at pictures of old-fashined fences. - Mine's going back to Amazon in exchange for something more practical. In fact, I wish Amazon would do a better job in reviewing these books to save me a lot of time.

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