Fence laws in Sherman, Texas
What the Sherman municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Sherman sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Sherman, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Where a Sherman single-family development backs onto a major or minor arterial, a masonry fence of at least six feet is required along it, and the developer builds it rather than the homeowners. The figure is 24 feet, for spacing of masonry columns along a public street.
- How tall
- Four feet in a Sherman front yard, residential or not, and the fence there has to be decorative with at least half its area open, and the answer turns on which yard the fence is in, and whether it stands inside the main building area. The figure is 4 feet, for fence, hedge or screening device in a front yard.
- Permits
- Every fence and screening device in Sherman needs a building permit and a city inspection, with no height floor and no repair exception written into the section.
- 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
- Sherman has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Sherman leaves the measuring rule to the governing body of a municipality.
- Corner lots
- Sherman keeps a twenty five foot triangle at a street intersection, measured between the right of way lines, and a ten foot one where a street meets an alley, and the answer turns on whether the intersection is street to street or street to alley, and what the engineer decides. The figure is 25 feet, for leg of the sight triangle at a street intersection.
- Retaining walls
- Sherman 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
- Metal panel fencing is prohibited in every Sherman district with no exception written next to it.
- Livestock
- A Sherman line fence, meaning one used to hold farm animals or to mark a boundary, is allowed on land over two acres that is in active agricultural use, and it may be built of the materials customarily used in agricultural landscaping. The figure is 20 feet, for setback from the property line for a vehicle gate.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Sherman?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Sherman answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Where a Sherman single-family development backs onto a major or minor arterial, a masonry fence of at least six feet is required along it, and the developer builds it rather than the homeowners. A multifamily development or manufactured housing community gets the same six foot minimum next to a public street, in masonry or wrought iron with masonry columns twenty four feet apart, and none of it is required where a water body, a floodplain or a similar natural buffer more than sixty feet wide already separates the properties. Six feet of solid screening also goes in wherever multifamily, commercial or manufacturing land touches a single-family district.
A minimum six (6) foot masonry or wrought iron, with masonry columns, perimeter fence shall be provided adjacent to public streets to surround a multi-family development or manufactured housing community. The masonry columns along a public street shall be separated at 24 feet on center.
24 ftspacing of masonry columns along a public street
Also on fences on the property line in Sherman
- 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 Sherman?
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Sherman answers this, but the answer changes depending on which yard the fence is in, and whether it stands inside the main building area.
Four feet in a Sherman front yard, residential or not, and the fence there has to be decorative with at least half its area open. Along a required side or rear yard property line a screening fence goes to eight feet and has to be completely solid with no openings. Ten feet is reached two ways: a patio screen or wall standing inside the main building area of the lot, and a security fence in a commercial or manufacturing district, also inside the building area.
No fence, hedge or screening device shall exceed a height of four (4) feet within a front yard in a residential district.
The answer turns on which yard the fence is in, and whether it stands inside the main building area.
- a front yard, in any district
- Four feet, decorative, at least fifty percent open. 4 ft
- along a required side or rear yard property line
- Eight feet, and completely solid. 8 ft
- a patio screen inside the main building area, or a security fence in a commercial or manufacturing district
- Ten feet. 10 ft
Also on fence height in Sherman
- 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 Sherman?
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Sherman answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Every fence and screening device in Sherman needs a building permit and a city inspection, with no height floor and no repair exception written into the section. A detailed site plan goes to the Development Services Department for review before the work starts.
Fences and screening devices as defined above shall be required to have a building permit, be inspected by the City and meet the requirements of this article.
Also on permits in Sherman
- set in state lawTexas 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. Local Gov't Code 214.212(a)Texas · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Sherman
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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 Sherman 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 Sherman
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Sherman 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 Sherman 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 Sherman
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Sherman does not set this. It leaves it to the governing body of a municipality.
Texas 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.
This one is Texas law, not Sherman law. All Texas findings
The governing body of a municipality may regulate: (1) the height, number of stories, and size of buildings and other structures;
Tex. Loc. Gov't Code 211.003(a)(1)
The code hands this to the governing body of a municipality, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence rules for corner lots in Sherman
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Sherman answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the intersection is street to street or street to alley, and what the engineer decides.
Sherman keeps a twenty five foot triangle at a street intersection, measured between the right of way lines, and a ten foot one where a street meets an alley. The figure is a floor rather than a fixed rule: depending on how the roads curve, the City Engineer may require a larger triangle, and the Director of Engineering may grant a variance against engineering criteria such as design speed and traffic control. So the same corner can end up with a bigger triangle than the code prints, or a smaller one.
At all street intersections, the triangular area formed by the street right-of-way lines and a line connecting them at points twenty-five (25) feet from the intersection of the right-of-way lines.
The answer turns on whether the intersection is street to street or street to alley, and what the engineer decides.
- a street meeting a street
- Twenty five feet from the intersection of the right of way lines. 25 ft
- a street meeting an alley
- Ten feet. 10 ft
Also on corner visibility in Sherman
- 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 Sherman
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Sherman 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 Sherman 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 Sherman
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Sherman answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Metal panel fencing is prohibited in every Sherman district with no exception written next to it. Chain link, woven wire mesh and similar materials are not decorative fencing and so cannot be used in a front yard. A screening fence on a side or rear line is wood, stone, brick, concrete block or another material customarily used in residential landscaping. Barbed wire may not be built along or adjoining any public street, alley or public ground, or laid along the top of a fence beside one, because the code calls it dangerous to the traveling public, and the Director of Development Services may allow it only for factories, livestock or the protection of utilities.
Prohibited Materials. Metal panel fences are not permitted in any district.
Also on materials in Sherman
- 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 Sherman
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Sherman answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A Sherman line fence, meaning one used to hold farm animals or to mark a boundary, is allowed on land over two acres that is in active agricultural use, and it may be built of the materials customarily used in agricultural landscaping. Two of those are then ruled out by name: poultry netting, and welded wire on t-posts. An electric fence is prohibited along any public street, alley or public ground and along any common property line, and comes back in an agricultural area only with the Development Services Director’s approval and only inside a protective enclosure. A vehicle gate stands twenty feet back from the property line.
Poultry netting or welded wire on t-posts is not permitted for the use of line fences.
20 ftsetback from the property line for a vehicle gate
Also on agricultural fencing in Sherman
- set in state lawTexas 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. Agric. Code 143.028(b)Texas · Statute
- 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 Sherman itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- City of ShermanZoning Ordinance, Chapter 14, Section 14.04.004 Fences and Screening Devices, dated 5 December 2022
- 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 Sherman 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