Fence laws in Fulshear, Texas
What the Fulshear municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Fulshear sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Fulshear, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Where a multifamily or nonresidential use in Fulshear is contiguous to an ER, SR, MH or SU district, a solid wall, fence or opaque landscape screen of six to eight feet goes up on or near the property line dividing them, and the nonresidential side is the one that builds it. The figure is 8 feet, for tallest a required boundary screen may be.
- How tall
- Eight feet above grade in a Fulshear rear or side yard, in the SR, SU and MH districts and along the boundary between a residential and a nonresidential district, and the answer turns on which yard the fence is in, the district, and whether it is a required screen. The figure is 8 feet, for fence or wall in a rear or side yard.
- Permits
- Texas has no fence permit rule of its own.
- Pool barriers
- Texas requires a 48 inch fence around some pools, measured from the ground on the outside of the fence. The figure is 48 inches, for pool yard enclosure at a multiunit rental complex or property owners association pool.
- Spite fences
- Fulshear has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- A Fulshear corner lot platted with two front yards keeps both of them.
- Corner lots
- Fulshear writes the street corner rule as a distance of approach rather than as a triangle: nothing may block the view of a driver coming within thirty feet of any street intersection, and the rule gives no height band, so a barrier of any height is caught if it obstructs. The figure is 30 feet, for distance of approach to a street intersection.
- Retaining walls
- Fulshear leaves retaining walls to the International Residential Code as it existed on May 1, 2012, published by the International Code Council, plus any local amendment a city adopts by ordinance.
- Materials
- Fulshear names no fence material, allowed or forbidden, in its screening and fencing section.
- Livestock
- Texas says what a farm fence has to look like. The figure is 4 feet, for minimum height of a sufficient fence under the stock law. It reaches counties and areas that have adopted the local option stock law under Subchapter B only.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Fulshear?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Fulshear answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Where a multifamily or nonresidential use in Fulshear is contiguous to an ER, SR, MH or SU district, a solid wall, fence or opaque landscape screen of six to eight feet goes up on or near the property line dividing them, and the nonresidential side is the one that builds it. The same six to eight feet is required where a multifamily, civic, institutional, commercial, industrial or mixed-use lot turns a side or rear yard toward a public street.
Where a multiple-family or nonresidential use is contiguous to an ER, SR, MH, or SU district, a solid wall, fence or opaque landscape screen of not less than six nor more than eight feet in height shall be erected on or near the property line separating these districts.
8 fttallest a required boundary screen may be
Also on fences on the property line in Fulshear
- set in state lawTexas sets no statewide rule for splitting the cost of a fence on a boundary. What the Agriculture Code does say is that a joint owner of a dividing fence cannot pull it out without the other owner agreeing, and that a person who wants to detach a fence from a neighbor fence has to give six months of written notice first. The notice goes to the owner of the attached fence or to that person's agent, attorney, or lessee. Agric. Code 143.122Texas · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Fulshear?
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Fulshear answers this, but the answer changes depending on which yard the fence is in, the district, and whether it is a required screen.
Eight feet above grade in a Fulshear rear or side yard, in the SR, SU and MH districts and along the boundary between a residential and a nonresidential district. In a front yard the limit drops to three feet and the code attaches an opacity figure of fifty percent to it. A manufactured home park gets four feet. Where a multifamily or nonresidential use touches a residential district, or turns a side or rear yard toward a public street, the required screen runs between six and eight feet, so there the number is a floor as well as a ceiling.
No fence or wall shall exceed a height of eight feet above grade.
The answer turns on which yard the fence is in, the district, and whether it is a required screen.
- a rear or side yard in a residential district
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a front yard
- Three feet, with a stated opacity of fifty percent. 3 ft
- a manufactured home park
- Four feet. 4 ft
- a required screen between a multifamily or nonresidential use and housing
- Six to eight feet. 6 ft
Also on fence height in Fulshear
- no rule, documents checkedTexas does not limit how tall a fence at a house can be. The only heights in state law are for farm fences, such as the five foot fence required around cropland. For a fence at a house, the city sets the limit. Agric. Code ch. 143Texas · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Fulshear?
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Texas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Texas has no fence permit rule of its own. Instead it made one national code, the International Residential Code as it stood on May 1, 2012, the building code for every city in the state. So the permit rule for a fence comes from that code and not from a Texas statute. Cities can then change it, which is why the answer differs from one city to the next.
This one is Texas law, not Fulshear law. All Texas findings
To protect the public health, safety, and welfare, the International Residential Code, as it existed on May 1, 2012, is adopted as a municipal residential building code in this state.
Pool fence requirements in Fulshear
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Texas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Texas requires a 48 inch fence around some pools, measured from the ground on the outside of the fence. It does not cover most homes. Section 757.002 applies the law only to a pool run by the owner of an apartment complex or by a property owners association. A pool at a single family home is not covered, and the city rule applies there instead.
This one is Texas law, not Fulshear law. All Texas findings
The height of the pool yard enclosure must be at least 48 inches as measured from the ground on the side away from the pool.
Health & Safety Code 757.003(b)
48 inpool yard enclosure at a multiunit rental complex or property owners association pool
Spite fence laws in Fulshear
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Fulshear law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Texas has no law about spite fences. Both chapters that could hold one were read start to finish. The fence chapter of the Agriculture Code covers livestock and farm land. The building chapter of the Local Government Code covers permits. Neither one mentions a fence built to bother a neighbor. That leaves a nuisance lawsuit or a city ordinance.
This one is Texas law, not Fulshear law. All Texas findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Agric. Code ch. 143Texas Legislature
- Local Gov't Code ch. 214Texas Legislature
How fence height is measured in Fulshear
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Fulshear answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A Fulshear corner lot platted with two front yards keeps both of them. Building the house facing one of the two does not convert the other into a side yard, so the three foot front yard limit applies along both street frontages rather than only the one the door faces. Many codes answer this the other way and let the orientation of the house decide.
Where a corner lot is platted with two front yards, and a house is constructed facing one of the front yards, the second front yard shall also be deemed to be a front yard.
Also on how height is measured in Fulshear
- left to the townTexas gives two fence heights and never says where to measure from. A farm fence around cropland has to be five feet tall. A farm fence under the stock law has to be four feet. The word ground does not appear anywhere in that chapter. For a fence at a house, Chapter 211 of the Local Government Code lets the city set the height rule, so the city decides how it is measured too. Tex. Loc. Gov't Code 211.003(a)(1)Texas · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Fulshear
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Fulshear answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Fulshear writes the street corner rule as a distance of approach rather than as a triangle: nothing may block the view of a driver coming within thirty feet of any street intersection, and the rule gives no height band, so a barrier of any height is caught if it obstructs. Where an alley meets a street the code does draw a sight visibility triangle, and there the limit is thirty inches.
No fence, screen, wall, or other visual barrier shall be located or placed to obstruct the vision of a motor vehicle driver approaching within 30 feet of any street intersection.
30 ftdistance of approach to a street intersection
Also on corner visibility in Fulshear
- left to the townTexas has a whole chapter about seeing around corners, and it does not reach fences. Chapter 255 lets a county set the sight distance at an intersection on a county road outside city limits, and ban anything that blocks the view. But that ban covers plants, loose dirt and other items, not a building or structure fixed to the ground. A fence is fixed to the ground, so a county order under this chapter does not apply to it. Inside a city, the city decides. Tex. Transp. Code 255.002Texas · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Fulshear
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Fulshear does not set this. It leaves it to the International Residential Code as it existed on May 1, 2012, published by the International Code Council, plus any local amendment a city adopts by ordinance.
Texas has no rule of its own for a wall that holds back earth. It made the International Residential Code, as that code stood on May 1, 2012, the building code for every city in the state, and it does not print any of that code's text. So whatever that edition says about a retaining wall is what applies in Texas. Cities can change it after a public hearing, which is why the rule differs from one city to the next.
This one is Texas law, not Fulshear law. All Texas findings
To protect the public health, safety, and welfare, the International Residential Code, as it existed on May 1, 2012, is adopted as a municipal residential building code in this state.
Tex. Loc. Gov't Code 214.212(a)
The code hands this to the International Residential Code as it existed on May 1, 2012, published by the International Code Council, plus any local amendment a city adopts by ordinance, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Fulshear
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Fulshear answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Fulshear names no fence material, allowed or forbidden, in its screening and fencing section. What it does set is a finish rule that removes the usual argument about which neighbor gets the good face: a required screening wall is finished equally on both sides. The code also treats an opaque landscape screen as an alternative to a wall or fence wherever a screen is required, so plants can do the job.
All required screening walls shall be equally finished on both sides of the wall.
Also on materials in Fulshear
- set in state lawTexas only says what a fence has to be made of inside a county or area that has voted to stop animals roaming loose. There a fence works if it keeps out the animals that are still allowed to roam, and the law gives four ways to build one. Barbed wire takes three wires on posts no more than thirty feet apart, with a stay between each pair. Pickets go no more than six inches apart. Boards take three boards. Rails take four. All four have to stand at least four feet tall. Barbed wire is allowed outright, and voters in an area can decide that three barbed wires on their own are enough. Tex. Agric. Code 143.028Texas · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Fulshear
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Texas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Texas says what a farm fence has to look like. It has to be at least four feet tall, and there are four ways to build one. Barbed wire takes three wires on posts no more than thirty feet apart, with at least one stay between each pair of posts. Pickets have to be no more than six inches apart. Boards take three boards, each at least five inches wide and one inch thick. Rails take four rails.
This one is Texas law, not Fulshear law. All Texas findings
In order to be sufficient, a fence must be at least four feet high and comply with the following requirements: (1) a barbed wire fence must consist of three wires on posts no more than 30 feet apart, with one or more stays between every two posts; (2) a picket fence must consist of pickets that are not more than six inches apart;
4 ftminimum height of a sufficient fence under the stock law
Also on agricultural fencing in Fulshear
- depends, see the pageTexas has no single answer for who has to build the fence. Each county votes on it, and an area inside a county can vote on its own. The vote decides whether the animals it names are allowed to roam loose, and it only applies where the vote was held. Agric. Code 143.024(a)Texas · Statute
- set in state lawIn a county that has not voted, the farmer builds the fence, not the animal owner. Anyone farming or gardening cleared land has to put up a fence at least five feet tall that hogs cannot get through. Agric. Code 143.001Texas · Statute
Documents behind this page
6 documents, of which 1 was published by Fulshear itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- City of FulshearCoordinated Development Ordinance, Chapter 28, Article III Site Development, Division III-3, Section 28-3-28 Screening and Fencing
- Texas LegislatureTexas Local Government Code, Chapter 214, Municipal Regulation of Housing and Other Structures
- Texas LegislatureTexas Health and Safety Code, Chapter 757, Pool Yard Enclosures
- Texas LegislatureTexas Local Government Code, Title 7, Chapter 211, Municipal Zoning Authority
- Texas LegislatureTexas Transportation Code, Title 6, Subtitle C, Chapter 255, County Regulation of Sight Distances
What this page does not cover
A city ordinance is not the only rule that reaches a fence. The zoning district a parcel sits in can change the height allowed on it, and so can an overlay district, a recorded easement, a fire hazard severity zone or a coastal zone. A homeowner association can be stricter than the city and nothing in the municipal code will say so. None of those appear here.
The rules above are the ones Fulshear publishes, plus the Texas rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Texas has the state layer in full.
This is general information drawn from published government documents. It is not legal advice, ordinances are amended, and the date beside each finding is the date the document was read. How findings are made · What the terms mean