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updated 4/22/22
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They say that “good fences make good neighbors.” Along those same lines, however, it is important to mention that bad fences can certainly anger a neighbor as well. According to recent statistics, almost half of homes in the United States have some sort of fencing in the backyard.
Another 5 percent of homeowners have a fenced-in front yard as well. Fences don’t just mark property boundaries, but they can also offer a sense of security and privacy, and also help to keep pets (and young children) from wandering away from the home. Furthermore, a quality fence can also drive up a property’s value.
According to one real estate website, “privacy wood fences and solid fences like concrete or cast iron can net a profit of at least 50% of the material and installation costs on resale. So fencing materials play an integral role in determining the overall home value during appraisal.”
Despite all of these obvious advantages that come with installing a fence around your home and yard, every type of fencing material does eventually wear down and needs to be replaced. Wooden fences are prone to rotting, while chain link fences can quickly begin to rust if not properly maintained. Even stone, concrete, or brick fences may eventually need to be replaced once they fall into disrepair.
An Old Broken Fence Is Bad For Your San Diego Property
Fencing that is broken, dilapidated, or otherwise poorly maintained can be an eyesore on an otherwise beautiful home and property. If you are currently listing your home for sale on the local real estate market, an old and run-down fence will often be the first thing that potential buyers notice and will often make buyers reconsider making an offer.
Also, ragged and unkempt fencing may anger your neighbors and might even warrant notice from your local homeowners association. For businesses and other commercial properties, a decrepit and unmaintained fence is also a great way to turn away customers before they ever enter your business.
Though you may very well be able to restore or repair an old fence, in many cases a shabby fence is best torn down and thrown away to make room for a newer and more refined enclosure for your property. No matter how many coats of varnish you put on, rotting wood will eventually succumb to the forces of nature and eventually break down.
Fencing Material Can Be Difficult to Dispose Of In San Diego
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Unfortunately, fencing materials are notoriously heavy, bulky, and hard to get rid of. Trying to move thousands of old bricks or hundreds of wooden planks is several days of the job. Even if you have a huge pickup truck that you can use to haul away your broken-down fencing materials, many local dumps simply will not accept large amounts of old fencing materials because they are classified as construction and demolition (C&D) debris.
In fact, the city of San Diego has recently revealed new C&D debris diversion requirements. According to the City´s Environmental Services, “for projects with permits issued on or after July 1, 2016, the diversion requirement will increase to 65 percent by weight of the total C&D debris generated by the project.
The diversion requirement for projects with permits issued through June 30, 2016, will remain at 50 percent.” This essentially means that if you try to haul your old fencing materials to the local dump, you may be required to find ways to recycle or reuse up to 65 percent of what you intend to haul away.
So how exactly can homeowners, business owners, and other individuals in the San Diego area get rid of old and dilapidated fencing materials efficiently and cost-effectively? Enter Junk King San Diego!
Can You Recycle Your Old Fence?
While the more traditional approach of simply “dumping” old fencing material may be difficult and a bit more challenging than you may have anticipated, it’s not all bad news. In fact, there is a far better alternative for disposing of old fence components and hardware: recycling.
For most people, the term “recycling” immediately brings to mind cardboard waste and old soda cans. Although there is certainly a huge recycling market for these materials, recycling of waste products encompasses far more than cans, bottles, and plastic.
A significant number of residential fences in San Diego are constructed of wood. This may be redwood, cedar, or even pine. Depending on the condition of the wood fence materials, some of these boards, or pickets, can even be reused either by the homeowners for new projects, or by organizations such as the Habitat ReStore. Sometimes, depending on their condition, even the metal hardware can be reused, as well.
And for all that old wood fence material that is in such bad shape that it can’t be reasonably used again, there is recycling.
In fact, according to one source,
“Scrap lumber from home improvement projects and other untreated wood has a number of uses for recycling. It can be chipped and used in compost or mulch. It can also be turned into particleboard or chipboard lumber.
Where you can recycle wood varies from community to community. New York City residents can bundle lumber with tree limbs for curbside pickup. In Berkeley, CA, and Chattanooga, TN, wood can be dropped off at municipal recycling centers. Many private companies that create home and garden products will also take untreated lumber.”
The one type of wood product that cannot be recycled nor disposed of in landfills in California is pressure-treated wood.
This wood is officially known as ‘treated wood waste’ or TWW. It is considered hazardous waste by the state of California and is only permitted in Class III non-hazardous waste facilities in compliance with requirements in Section 25230 of the Health and Safety Code.
In San Diego County, these landfills are the Otay and Sycamore facilities.
Recycling Old Fencing Can Mean More than Just Wood
But what if your fence was more of a wall? And the debris that you have now that it’s been taken down is mostly brick or masonry rubble?
No worries! It turns out that concrete, brick, rock, and masonry is all recyclable, too.
In the industry, masonry is a general term for material made as blocks, usually stone, brick, or concrete. However, it can include gravel, concrete rubble, and even sand. The concrete is often crushed and processed to create recycled concrete aggregate, or RCA. And most landscaping blocks are actually made of concrete, so they lend themselves well to recycling.
Got bricks? According to one article,
“Bricks can be recycled in two ways. First, they can be cleaned and reused in another building or project. Alternatively, they can be crushed into brick chips (for use as a landscape material) and/or finer particles (for use in manufacturing road-base, track and drainage material, fill sand or new bricks).”
So, the great thing about all your old fencing waste and debris is that it is almost all recyclable – even the metal hardware and fasteners. And if you aren’t keen on figuring out how to make all that happen yourself, the team from Junk King will take care of that part of the process for you when they clear out all your fencing debris for you.
How to Dismantle Your Fence in 4 Simple Steps
Depending on the size, construction, and material of your residential fence, dismantling or “deconstruction” can be a fairly simple task. In fact, it is quite likely that it’s a project you can do on your own or with very little help.
Since most residential fences tend to be built from wood and are, more often than not, some variety of picket and post construction, we’ll focus on that.
Here is a basic overview of the four essential steps for tearing down your old fence:
- Plan and Prepare: Before you start removing anything, you should make the following calls.
- Utility companies: Find out if any utility lines run under or near the fence before you start digging. This can be done by dialing 811 and have locators come and provide markings where gas pipelines or electric lines are located and indicate pipe material and diameter.
- Local government: You may need to get a permit if your fence is going to be more than six feet high or is for the front or side of your property.
- Your neighbors: Let your neighbors know about your project. They may need to make changes to their yard space use, especially if they have outdoor pets or need to move things for you.
Also, you will want to plan for where you will stage your fencing debris and waste ahead of time so that it is easy to get to, to work around, and does not present a safety hazard.
Remove the Gates
Start your dismantling with the gates.
- Unscrew the hinges from the gate posts
- Lift the gate away from the fence and put it aside
- Remove any remaining hardware from the fence posts
Detach Fence Panels or Boards
If your fence was built with pre-fab panels, it may be easier to remove them as one piece. If you do not plan to reuse the entire panels, then you can simply cut them off at the posts.
- Cut the rails with a reciprocating saw or hand saw as close to the fence posts as possible
- Saw or break the fence panels into smaller sections if needed
- Stage each panel in your debris area
If your fence is made of individual boards or pickets,
- Unfasten the boards from the rails by using a power screwdriver if they are attached with screws or, if they’re nailed on, you may need to pry the boards loose with a pry bar before using your hammer to remove them
- Stack the boards in your debris staging area
Pull Up and Remove Fence Posts
If your fence posts were simply buried and not set in concrete, simply doing a bit of digging and rocking the posts until they come loose will often do the trick.
If, however, the posts are in concrete footings, you may have to winch or lever them out, if possible. Depending on the amount of space around the posts, you can also simply dig down and around the footing until you can tilt the post and concrete enough to pull it up.
The Top 3 Reasons to Hire Junk King San Diego for your Fence Removal Needs
With the San Diego real estate market seeing home prices increasing by 6 percent from June to July of 2020, renovating your yard with a new fence is a great way to take advantage of the boom in real estate prices and to add quick value to your home and property.
Junk King San Diego is the top-rated professional junk removal company in the San Diego region serving Alpine, Bonita, Chula Vista, Dulzara, El Cajon, Jamal, La Mesa, Lakeside, Lemon Grove, Ramona, Santee and Spring Valley; and can help individuals, homeowners, and business owners quickly and efficiently get rid of their old fences so that you can get started with whatever landscaping renovations you have planned.
Bruce Stone, the owner of Junk King San Diego says that
“the demand for high-quality San Diego junk removal services only continues to grow. Consumers and businesses turn to Junk King to receive the most professional and affordable junk removal services in the industry. Plus, we provide green solutions that people can feel good about.”
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Below, we briefly outline the top three reasons why Junk King is your best bet for fast, efficient, affordable, and environmentally-friendly fence removal in San Diego.
Junk King San Diego Has Upfront and Transparent Fence Removal Pricing:
We believe that all of our clients have the right to receive a fair and transparent price for all of their junk removal needs. For this reason, we offer four ways to get an upfront quote for any size job.
You can either call us at 1-888-888-JUNK to get a quote over the phone, text us a picture of the fencing you want to be removed at 1-737-888-5865, book online your fence removal service or ask us to come and visit for a free, on-site price estimate. In many cases, we may be able to remove the fencing the same day we give you the quote.
A Commitment to Environmentally Friendly Junk Removal:
We are also 100 percent committed to ensuring that your old fencing materials are not simply sent to the nearest dump. Our junk removal teams are in full compliance with all local codes and ordinances regarding diverting construction and demolition debris from local landfills.
We are proud to say that at least 65 percent of all the junk we pick up is either donated, refurbished, or recycled. In the specific case of used fencing materials, we have developed an extensive network of relationships with local non-profit organizations, recycling centers, and donation centers where many old fences can be refurbished into new and useful items.
When you hire Junk King San Diego, your old fence boards may eventually end up as reclaimed hardwood flooring sold at a discount price to underprivileged families looking to upgrade their own homes!
Top of the Line Customer Service:
Lastly, we offer the absolute best customer service in the region. We here at Junk King San Diego can help individuals and businesses with any size of fence removal job, ensuring that your fencing materials get disposed of properly, safely, efficiently, and in the most environmentally friendly way possible.
Our junk removal professionals will do all the heavy lifting as you simply need to let us know what you need taken away. Once you agree on a price and a date, our team will call you 15 to 30 minutes before your scheduled pick-up for the quickest and most efficient service.
If you have an old fence that needs to be taken off your property, or for whatever junk removal needs you to have, call us today at 1-888-888-JUNK for the most efficient and most environmentally friendly junk removal service.
