Yes. There are two ways to run a fence down a slope. Racked panels lean to match the grade while each picket stays vertical. Stepped panels stay level and drop in stages at the posts. Racked panels leave less open space at the bottom.
Racked or stepped: which is better?
- Racked: the rails follow the ground. Best for mild to moderate grades and for yards with pets.
- Stepped: each panel is level and lower than the last. Needed on steep grades and for panels that will not rack. It leaves a triangle of open space under each panel.
- Stick-built wood: pickets are nailed up one at a time and trimmed to the ground. The closest fit on rough or rolling ground.
I have a dog that digs and a yard that drops. How do I avoid gaps?
Use a racked or stick-built fence and then deal with the bottom edge. Options are a treated board fixed along the ground, pickets cut to follow the grade, or welded wire buried under the line and bent toward the yard. Jackson clay shrinks in a dry summer and can open a gap that was not there in spring, so look along the bottom in August.
My yard is steep and rocky and two companies turned the job down. Who does this?
We will come and look before answering. Solid rock is uncommon around Jackson. Hard jobs here are more often steep creek banks, bluffs above the Pearl River bottom, gullies in the wind-blown silt west of town, and yards full of large tree roots. Those call for hand digging, adjusted post spacing and sometimes longer posts. It takes more time, and the quote will show that.
Do installers dig by hand or with a machine?
We use both. A powered auger makes quick work of open ground. Hand tools are used beside foundations, near utility marks, between roots and in tight side yards. Yazoo clay is hard as brick when dry and sticks to the auger when wet, so the weather on the day often decides which tool finishes the hole.
We cannot price a fence without seeing the yard, and the visit is free. Call (601) 476-1207 or text a photo of the fence line to the same number.