The Right Security Fencing to Protect Your Property

Fences can serve a variety of purposes from landscape design and privacy screening to safety and noise reduction. When it comes to choosing a fencing solution, many homeowners forget to consider security, after all, ‘a fence is a fence’ and ‘any fence is better than no fence’. If securing your home or commercial property is the most important thing there are different things to consider. We’ve put together these handy tips to help you choose the right security fencing.

Security Threat Level

The first thing to do is consider exactly what you want from your security fencing. What types of threats are you concerned about? Are you looking at security fencing to stop theft, vandalism, trespassing, or something else? Think about how your property looks to a burglar and what potential risks there are in your area. The level of security needed in a private home in a gated community compared to a business premise on a busy main road are vastly different.

Reduce Hiding Places

Your choice of fence can actually make you a target, which is the exact opposite of what you want from your security fencing. High walls and privacy fencing create places to hide making these properties more vulnerable. When it comes to security you want to be able to see any suspicious people on the other side of your fence, and you want anyone breaking into your property to be visible to (and reported by) passers-by. Being seen means being caught, so reducing potential hiding places immediately makes your property less appealing to potential burglars.

No Way Over or Under

Security fencing should be hard to climb over and dig under. To prevent climbing the taller the fence the better. Not only is it more difficult they’re also more likely to be noticed scaling a tall fence. Ensure your fence doesn’t have many horizontal beams, these can make your fence more like a ladder and easier to get over. Having spikes or other anti-climb solutions on top is also key to increasing security. Some fence styles like palisade fencing have spikes incorporated into the design but you can also add a variety of climbing deterrents to most kinds of fencing.

Depending on your circumstances the threat of someone digging under your fence may be less of a concern. Having your fence built with large footings creates a solid foundation that will increase the strength and security of your fence overall.

Strong & Difficult To Bypass

If a fence is easy to cut through or knock down it doesn’t matter how tall or difficult to climb it is. Security fence posts should have an appropriately deep foundation for their height and be secured in concrete so they can’t easily be knocked over by vandals. Chain link fences, especially poorly made ones, can be surprisingly easy to breach with just a pair of wire cutters. It’s important to consider the design and materials for your security fencing to ensure it stays secure.

A Fence Is Only As Strong As The Gate

When it comes to the security of your fence you can’t afford to overlook the gate. Security fencing should be difficult to get through making the gate the obvious target for easy access to your property. Make sure your gate is heavy-duty and has a secure locking mechanism. Your gate will also need strong hinges and be securely fixed to your fence so there are no weak points. Sliding gates are preferable to swing gates as they essentially need to be removed from their track to be bypassed making them difficult for anyone to brute force.

Electric gates are also great security options. Manual gates, especially for driveways and main entrances, can be cumbersome to use leading to people getting lazy and leaving the gate open. Electric gates make it easy to open your gate when you need to and keep it securely closed the rest of the time. If you prefer a good old padlock, do your research and make sure it is strong. To avoid catching the eye of opportunistic burglars and vandals, it’s also best to keep the lock concealed from the street.

Residential & Commercial Security Fencing

No matter what your protecting, Northside Fencing can help you with the security fencing solution that’s right for you. With a range of designs and options, we can help with everything from a simple chainwire fence to custom industrial fencing solutions with matching entry gates.