Fencing glossary

Post, rail, picket. Posts are the vertical members set in the ground and carry all the load. Rails run horizontally between posts. Pickets or boards are the vertical infill you actually see. Panels are pre-assembled rail-and-picket sections.

Racking versus stepping. On a slope, a racked fence follows the grade with the rails at an angle and no gaps underneath. A stepped fence keeps each section level and creates triangular gaps at the bottom. Racking is generally better where pets or small children are involved.

Setback. The distance local zoning requires between your fence and the property line or the street. Frost line is the depth to which ground freezes in your area; footings that stop above it can heave. Both numbers come from your local building department.

Shadowbox is a board-on-board style with pickets alternating on either side of the rails — semi-private and identical from both sides. A kickboard or rot board is a horizontal board at the bottom that takes the ground contact so the pickets do not. Post cap keeps water out of the top of a post, which matters more than it looks.

How to choose

Ask which style term the quote means

"Privacy fence" covers solid board, board-on-board and shadowbox, which look and cost differently.

Specify racked or stepped up front

On any slope this changes both the look and whether there are gaps at the bottom.

Ask for post depth in inches

"Set in concrete" is not a depth. Get the number and compare it to your local frost line.

Consider a kickboard on wood fences

It is a cheap sacrificial board that takes the ground-contact rot instead of your pickets.