Want to add a natural and rustic looking border to your yard?  Looking for a wood fence that’s made to last longer than most wood materials?  Want something that offers a more elegant look than most wood fences?  If you answered “yes” to these questions, then consider these DIY cedar fence ideas for your home.

Cedar fence designs remain one of the top sellers in the residential fencing market.  While you can easily find cedar in among all parts of the globe, cedar that comes from the Pacific Northwest represents some of the best quality wood used for fencing.  In fact, if you’re ever lucky enough to visit Portland, Oregon; you’ll find many homes built with this highly durable and gorgeous wood- perfect for cedar fence ideas.

Why Cedar Fence is So Popular

Cedar fence designs are made from materials that are hydroscopic, which mean they can absorb and release moisture in such a way that they maintain their structural integrity among all kinds of weather conditions.  This means that cedar holds up well in extreme heat and cold and during wet weather.  This is why you’ll see homes in the Northwest made of cedar—this wood proves its value by withstanding the heavy rains found in this part of our country.

Homeowners love DIY cedar fence options because of its fungicidal properties – due to naturally occurring compounds in the wood known as thujaplicins – which means cedar is especially resistant to the fungi that cause decay. Unlike some other types of wood, cedar fence ideas make it less likely to rot. That’s important when you want a DIY cedar fence wood design—you want one that will last for many years and don’t want to have to worry about it becoming structurally unsound or unsightly as it endures the seasonal changes we face in the greater Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania areas.

Fence professionals love cedar fence designs because it’s a soft wood that’s flexible and easy to work with during installation.  However, never confuse softness for weakness.  This amazing material, while lighter than some, is quite strong and durable and lasts for years and is perfect for DIY cedar fence projects. In fact, its naturally straight grain, that lacks pitch or resin, allows adhesives to bond with it quite nicely, so you can maintain the natural look of cedar for many years should you choose to treat it with a stain or sealant.

At Frederick Fence, we tend to use 1X4 or 4X6 boards in cedar fence designs.  We also use boards that are a true ¾” thick, which is generally thicker than the 5/8” board offered by our competition.  If you’re considering a cedar fence, here are five cedar fence design ideas we recommend as we know they are ones practically any homeowner will love:

Five Popular Cedar Fence Designs

Cedar Privacy Fences

People use cedar fence designs because they want to create a comfortable space where they can relax and unwind outdoors without feeling as if they live in a fishbowl where everyone can see them.  Privacy fences provide both seclusion and comfort knowing that you can come and go in your yard as you please.  Cedar privacy fence creates a natural looking boarder that blends in well with any garden and offers a strong material that helps keep intruders out of your yard while also managing to keep your children and pets safe and sound inside it.

Some of the most popular cedar fence styles to choose from include:

• Stockade or Solid Fence— Constructed with cedar boards placed tightly against one another, giving you a solid panel.
• Sandwich Board Fence— Constructed solid panels like stockade fence, except we add an additional rail that runs across both the top and bottom of the fence panel for additional support to maintain the panels and extra visual appeal.
• Board on Board–Constructed with an overlapping pattern of vertical slats where every other board is attached to the opposite side of the fence rails. This creates a slight break in the fence where if you stand at an angle, you get a slight view of what’s on the other side.
• Board and Batten—similar to a stockade fence, but it has narrow battens (or bars) over the joints for a more finished look. This is also known as a tongue and groove fence.

Cedar Picket Fences

A final fence design, which makes great use of cedar, is the always-popular picket fence.  Drive through any residential neighborhood and you’re bound to see several picket fences that create a lovely perimeter for the property.  However, if you look closely at some of those pickets, you’ll see many install fences made of a lower grade of wood.  One reason why most homeowners prefer cedar instead of other types of wood materials as pickets is how strong cedar is.  A lower grade wood used to create a picket fence may warp or rot, meaning you’ll be replacing pickets after several hard winters or rainy spring seasons.

Ready to Design Your Own Cedar Fence?

If you’re in the market for a wood fence this fall, contact us today and we’ll send out one of our expert fence consultants to show you how a cedar fence can be the perfect fence solution for you and your family.

Have some questions about cedar fencing design?

Use our online chat feature by clicking on the Live Chat button on the left of this page and someone will answer your questions during normal business hours.  If you want to see some great samples of cedar fencing materials so you can build your own fence, I encourage you to stop by our showroom on Tilco Drive in Frederick, Maryland.