Why no fences between American houses?

We don't have a fence, and I loathe it.

If I can ever afford my own home, I'll be erecting the tallest, fattest, heaviest...most glorious wall a neighborhood has ever seen (the outside of). Mmmmm locking iron gates that reach the sky.

ahgawdgetmeoutofhereplease.

Kako si Susjed

Yeah I kept noticing the same thing moving here! Depends which town/area, but it does stand out to someone not born here.

Some neighborhoods have them. Some do not. I prefer NOT having them, but we live in a city at this time and so we have them from necessity. Up in Connecticut we didn't have them and it was much nicer.

Where I am, it's about an 80/20 split on fences, with most not having one. I'm the only one on my block who has one and it's one of 3 in the whole neighborhood. I mean, we're talking 6 blocks in any direction. Of course, I have very big, white, long haired dogs and sometimes people want to walk up and pet them. Out on the street, that would be fine and the dogs would love it. On the property, they know this is their's to defend and trying to walk up and pet on them would be a massive mistake. So....the fence.

a reply to: croatianguy

everyone has a fenced back yard. if they don't its because they either bought a cheap home, or couldn't afford to replace oe that broke.

But in America, outside of the east coast, we have sprawling neighborhoods. I only fenced in a small piece of my yard. The vast majority of it is unfenced.

Keeping an animal tethered is cruel. Its against the law in our community, and one of the very, very few things I will actually call to report to the police.

originally posted by: croatianguy
I could have asked this in my previous homes thread but I think this deserves its own thread. Seriously, I dont know how Americans live without a fence between neighbours?

- This is at least the second house I've lived in that was less than 4 feet from my closest neighbor. After living more than half my life like that, it's just normal. I've been lucky enough to have great neighbors that whole time though, they're practically family at this point.

How do you guys have backyard parties without worrying about strangers just walking across to your yard?

- Strangers walking into our backyard is sometimes how those parties start. Small town though, so a 'stranger' is generally just a friend of a friend.

How do you guys keep medium to big dogs - do you always have to have them tied up on a leash outside?

- Pretty much, it's technically required by law even for small dogs. Again, it's a small town so you can get away with letting them run free if they're trained and obedient. We actually keep our cat on a leash because our property borders a major highway.

And do you have to worry about perverts taking down your girlfriends, daughters, wifes panties from the clothesline?

- Clotheslines? What century is this? Oddly enough, even though nobody actually does that any more, it's still against the law here to burn anything on Sundays because it's officially 'laundry day'. Not that the cops here do much other than watch the highway...

It seems the smaller the lot, like you'd find in housing developments, fences are more common. We've usually lived on 1-2 acre lots and I never thought of putting up fences. We've just recently moved to Portland and live in a rental for the time being. Houses are built on top of each other with very little yard. Almost all of them have a fenced in back area at least.Hopefully we can find a house with a little more space and breathing room.

originally posted by: croatianguy

originally posted by: Passive

originally posted by: croatianguy
I could have asked this in my previous homes thread but I think this deserves its own thread. Seriously, I dont know how Americans live without a fence between neighbours? How do you guys have backyard parties without worrying about strangers just walking across to your yard? How do you guys keep medium to big dogs - do you always have to have them tied up on a leash outside?
And do you have to worry about perverts taking down your girlfriends, daughters, wifes panties from the clothesline?

Where are you getting this information from? Most neighborhoods I've been in have fences. Cities not so much. The outlying suburbs though, they're definitely plentiful.

Again I am just talking about the suburbs, and what I have noticed from American movies, news broadcasts, docos, whatever. So are you saying its only minority of suburbs in US without fences?

It's a personal preference thing. Some house have them, others don't. Also, not every house has a pet, and we don't use clotheslines anymore. So someone stealing our clothes off the clothesline isn't something we worry about.

Not many people up here have fences, the backyards arent really that big anyways, and with that many bears that come to town, fences dont really stay standing up long

What are you talking about? Not only do we have fences but that also happens to be my sister's business. What ever made you think this. Fencing is big business here. From cheap chain link to brick walls.

a reply to: Hushabye

im with you.
i rent and my yard has no fence and it sucks.
over the past few years my neighbors have become more and more of a pain in the ass.
on the one side they have a big ass dog and they let it out and it goes to my yard to drop a load.
the husband is always gone and the wife is all gimped out and cant walk well.
still, not my problem.
i thinking dont have a big ass dog then.

i was going to put a fence up even though i dont own the place but i decided its best not to spend a few grand when i dont own.

my lease is about up and i think im going to tell the owner that i will sign if he at least fences off out property line. i dont need the whole yard fenced in even though i would like it. i need a division though.
been here 3 years. never been late with the rent.

i will leave it up to him if he wants us to stay.
if he decides not to put the fence up i will go somewhere else.

lots of places around here for rent. affordable too

Well where to begin... In America we have medium to big dogs, but we keep them leashed up. To many, this makes a fence unnecessary. But look at all the pitbulls, rots, and otherwise large dogs that have escaped and chewed on little Jimmy resulting in death or severe injury.. It would seem that fences would be a good idea in addition to a leash. Now that you mention it, I don't see fences except in different neighborhoods which are extremes. It's either really upper class homes, or extremely poor neighborhoods (older houses).

I assume the OP lives in a country where fences are common. I wonder if their dog mauling's are lower than in the US??

a reply to: croatianguy

This is a joke rt? Every city in every state has neighborhoods with fences?

Really...your kidding, rt?

a reply to: croatianguy

I grew with fences in the suburbs all over the place. Where I live now there are fences. Most places do have fences here.
second line

originally posted by: kef33890


I assume the OP lives in a country where fences are common. I wonder if their dog mauling's are lower than in the US??

Yeah, in West Australia everybody has the same aluminimum fence. There isnt one single house without a fence. Same in the whole country too. The only dog maulings we worry about is when the owners walk their pitts and rotts without a leash, otherwise they have no chance of escaping their backyard.

originally posted by: croatianguy
I could have asked this in my previous homes thread but I think this deserves its own thread. Seriously, I dont know how Americans live without a fence between neighbours? How do you guys have backyard parties without worrying about strangers just walking across to your yard? How do you guys keep medium to big dogs - do you always have to have them tied up on a leash outside?
And do you have to worry about perverts taking down your girlfriends, daughters, wifes panties from the clothesline?

Do you have any idea how big America is?
For that matter do you have any idea how a big city like NYC, Philly, LA , others are?
If so , like anything in life, you will find some people have fences between houses and just as many dont..
It all depends on where you live , zoning laws or preference.

Lots of people in Australia use clothelines, since we have a lot of sun it dries better and uses no energy. The only people who use clothesdryers are either lazy or dont have much time in their lives. I just assumed in the sunnier areas of US they would have clotheslines.
In the movie, Halloween, every single house on that street had no fence and it looked like a decent suburb. So are some of you guys saying that was just for "show"? They just removed all the fences for that movie?
Another example I just recently noticed is the street where the kidnapper Ariel Castros house was on in Cleveland. Again, none of the houses there had fences between their houses, only the front yard had fences.

originally posted by: opethPA

originally posted by: croatianguy
I could have asked this in my previous homes thread but I think this deserves its own thread. Seriously, I dont know how Americans live without a fence between neighbours? How do you guys have backyard parties without worrying about strangers just walking across to your yard? How do you guys keep medium to big dogs - do you always have to have them tied up on a leash outside?
And do you have to worry about perverts taking down your girlfriends, daughters, wifes panties from the clothesline?

If so , like anything in life, you will find some people have fences between houses and just as many dont..
It all depends on where you live , zoning laws or preference.

But dont all zoning laws enforce the fences?
When you talk about preference - whats the case where two neighbours want a fence between them but then wait for the other neighbour to install it? Or do the neighbours usually split the cost of the fence?

originally posted by: croatianguy

originally posted by: opethPA

originally posted by: croatianguy
I could have asked this in my previous homes thread but I think this deserves its own thread. Seriously, I dont know how Americans live without a fence between neighbours? How do you guys have backyard parties without worrying about strangers just walking across to your yard? How do you guys keep medium to big dogs - do you always have to have them tied up on a leash outside?
And do you have to worry about perverts taking down your girlfriends, daughters, wifes panties from the clothesline?

If so , like anything in life, you will find some people have fences between houses and just as many dont..
It all depends on where you live , zoning laws or preference.

But dont all zoning laws enforce the fences?
When you talk about preference - whats the case where two neighbours want a fence between them but then wait for the other neighbour to install it? Or do the neighbours usually split the cost of the fence?

WHY on Earth would neighbors split the cost of fencing??? Outside of maybe neighboring farmers fencing the back forty off and possibly working together on that for livestock purposes (and I'm really reaching on that one) I don't see how this is ever a reasonable expectation. If you want it, you pay for it & install it on your property. It's that simple. If you can't afford a fence, you suck it up & either deal with it, or figure out how to finance/save for it.

a reply to: Nyiah

Sorry, dont know how it works. But Im just saying if a neighbour was planning to get a fence but his neighbour ended up getting one installed anyway before him, would he be grateful then he wouldnt have to worry about paying to get a fence anymore?