Wood & Cedar Fences

Wood fences are built from pressure-treated lumber or cedar, as board, picket or privacy styles. Privacy screens that stand on their own at grade count as fences under Ottawa's Fence By-law, so the same height rules apply to them.

The by-law (No. 2003-462, as published on ottawa.ca) caps a residential fence at 1 m in the front yard and 213 cm in any other yard. Height is measured from the grade at the base of the fence, and where the ground is higher on one side, from the higher side. A berm does not raise the limit. The by-law also requires the finished side to face the street and the neighbouring properties.

Cedar, redwood and treated wood are the exceptions in the by-law's upkeep rule: other fences must be protected by paint, preservatives or another weather-resistant material, but those three woods are not required to be. The fence still has to stay in good repair, stable and vertical.

No building permit is needed for a residential fence in Ottawa unless it encloses a pool. Before any post hole is dug, a locate request is required, and locates are free.

Published Ontario installer pages put pressure-treated fences at about $30 to $65 per linear foot installed and cedar at about $45 to $85. Ask how deep the posts go and how the holes are set, since no Building Code number exists for fence posts.