Wood Fencing in Connecticut

Two woods, two different fences

Pressure-treated pine is the workhorse of Connecticut fences: affordable, strong, and available everywhere. Cedar costs more and looks better — richer color, tighter grain, naturally resistant to rot and insects — but it asks more of its owner. Both are real wood, which means both move with moisture and both need care.

What wood fences cost

Installed, pressure-treated pine privacy fences typically run $25–$45 per linear foot and cedar $30–$55 per linear foot. For a typical 150-foot backyard run, that is roughly $3,750–$6,750 in pine and $4,500–$8,250 in cedar. Cedar's premium is in the boards themselves; the posts, concrete, and labor are the same job either way.

The maintenance bargain, stated plainly

• Pressure-treated pine needs staining or sealing every 2–3 years. Skip it and the boards gray, check, and split — Connecticut's wet winters accelerate the decline. Stay on it and a pine fence lasts 15–20 years.
• Cedar weathers to a silver-gray if left alone, which some owners love and some hate. Kept stained, it holds its color and lasts 20–25 years. Either way it needs attention on a schedule.
• Both fail first at the posts, not the panels. Posts set below the frost line in concrete, with drainage at the base and soil and mulch kept off the boards, last dramatically longer than posts set shallow in dirt.

Where wood still wins

Budget, first and foremost — a wood fence is the cheapest way to get a real privacy fence. Wood is also the easiest to repair (a damaged board swaps out in an afternoon), the easiest to customize (heights, caps, lattice tops), and for many homeowners simply looks like a fence should look. If you will stain on schedule, or you're building a fence you plan to replace in 15 years anyway, wood is a rational choice, not a compromise.

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