Illinois Valley fences that hold their line.
Xcel Outdoor Living designs and installs vinyl, aluminum, chain-link and wood fences across the Illinois Valley. We build out of Spring Valley, Illinois and serve Bureau, LaSalle, Putnam, Marshall, and Lee counties. Posts go in below the frost line, and every gate is hung to swing true for years.
Vinyl privacy install · Illinois Valley
Vinyl privacy fencing
Shuts a yard off, then leaves you alone.
Solid panels with no gap to see through, locked into routed posts so the run reads as one continuous line rather than a row of separate sections, and the whole of it comes back to new with nothing more than a garden hose. Family yards, pools, pets, wind: it takes all of it in stride.
What you are really buying is the years you do not spend on it, because there is nothing to stain and nothing that rots where the post meets the ground, so the time a fence would otherwise ask of you goes back into the yard it encloses.
The color runs all the way through the panel rather than sitting on top of it as a finish, which is why the white stays even down the length of the run and why a brush from a mower never turns up a different shade underneath.
Vinyl in year tenAluminum fencing
Draws the line and lets you see past it.
Powder-coated aluminum picket, usually in black, is what you choose when the point is to draw the property line without giving up the view across it, and because the finish is cured onto the metal rather than brushed over it, the fence will not rust and it will not ask you for a weekend every spring to keep looking the way it did the day we left.
It is also the material that handles ground the others have to fight, because the panels rack: the rails pivot with the grade while the pickets stay plumb, so a run that would otherwise march down a slope in stair-stepped jumps instead follows the shape of your yard as one continuous line, tight to the ground the whole way.
If it is going around a pool, say so on the walkthrough, because pool barriers answer to rules your own village or county sets, and those rules, rather than any fence catalogue, decide the height, the spacing between the pickets and the hardware on the gate. Raising it early lets those numbers shape the layout from the first pass instead of after the posts are ordered, and the approval itself stays in your name.
Aluminum up closeTwo ways a fence takes a hill
Aluminum racks, and on a yard that rolls that is the difference between a fence laid along your ground and one laid across it.
Chain-link fencing
Holds a big perimeter, and holds it dead straight.
Galvanized or black vinyl-coated chain link, stretched tight between posts set in concrete. It is the working fence. Dog runs, big perimeters, shop yards, anywhere the job is keeping things in or out without fuss. Built straight, it lasts for decades.
On chain link the corners do the work. The end and corner posts carry the tension of the whole run, and everything between them is only as true as they are.
A chain-link run is built to contain a yard rather than to screen it, which is exactly why people choose it: the sightline stays open, the yard keeps feeling as big as it is, and in black vinyl-coated the fabric reads as a dark line at the edge of the lawn rather than as a wall around it.
We fence commercial property as well as homes. Same walkthrough, same free estimate.
How chain-link stays tightWood fencing
Takes the shape of the yard it is built in.
Built board by board on site rather than hung as finished panels. That is why a wood fence follows your yard exactly: custom heights, custom gates, stepped or racked runs on slopes. Stain it any color you want, now or in five years.
Neither warranty covers wood. Not the manufacturer’s, and not ours. Worth knowing before you pick it rather than after.
Wood is also the only one of the four you can change your mind about. A single board comes out and a new one goes in with the same tools that built the run, which is not something a manufactured panel lets you do.
Finishing a wood fenceWhat holds it up
- The holeDug below the frost line. Ground that freezes and lifts is what pushes a shallow post out of plumb a few winters in.
- The postSet plumb and lined to the run before a single board goes on it.
- The railsHung post to post, stepped or racked so the run follows your grade instead of floating over it.
- The boardsCut and fit on site, one at a time, to the line the posts already set.
Everything you can see about a wood fence is decided by the part you cannot.
Those four are what we build most, and they are not the whole of it. If you have something particular in mind, a material we do not stock, composite among them, it can be special ordered. Bring it to the walkthrough rather than assuming the answer is no.
The gate is where a fence is judged.
It is the part of the run your hand is on every single day, so it is the part worth building properly, and everything below is how ours are put together.
- Framed, cross-braced leaves so the gate carries its own weight instead of hanging on the latch.
- Adjustable hinges, so a quick tune keeps the latch catching clean in year ten.
- Double drive gates sized for mowers, campers, and trailers, not just wheelbarrows.
- Every gate cycled and adjusted before we leave, with Jake on the job to check it himself.
You pick the fence. We handle the build.
The estimate is free, and Jake is the one who comes out. He walks the line with you and reads the ground while he is there. The number comes after, and it already has the rock in it.
From there, materials, scheduling, the build and the cleanup are ours.
Your only other job is enjoying the yard.
Get a free estimateWe recently had Xcel Outdoor Living install a 6′ clay-colored vinyl privacy fence in our backyard, and I couldn’t be happier with the results.
Asked at almost every consult.
Which fence is right for my yard?
It depends on what you want it to do. Privacy, pets, a pool that needs a barrier, curb appeal: each one points at a different material. The estimate is free and it happens at your place, so bring the question to the walkthrough and you will get a straight recommendation.
What happens if you hit rock in my yard?
Parts of the Illinois Valley are rocky, and a crew that does not know the ground finds that out mid-dig and comes back to you with a cost. Jake reads the ground while he walks it with you, so rock is priced in before you are given a number. The number you were given is the number.
How deep do the posts go?
Below the frost line. Ground that freezes lifts a shallow post and never sets it back down, which is the single most common reason a cheaply built fence is leaning by year three. The depth in inches belongs in your scope of work, the written description of what a contractor will actually build, rather than on a web page. Ask for it there, and ask whether it clears the frost line.
Do I need a permit or HOA approval?
Many towns and HOAs want a sign-off before a fence goes up, and those approvals stay in the homeowner’s name. Once you have the green light, the build is all ours: materials, scheduling, installation, and cleanup.
My yard slopes. Can you still run a fence?
Yes. We step or rack the panels depending on the material, so runs stay level to the eye and tight to the ground. Aluminum racks with the grade. A rigid panel steps down it instead. Jake reads the slope while he walks the line and tells you which one your yard gets.
How long does an install take?
Two answers, and the first one matters more. We are usually booking a few weeks out, so the wait to start is the part worth planning around. The build itself depends on the run, the material, and what the ground gives us. Jake sizes it while he walks the line with you, and that estimate is specific to your yard rather than a figure off a chart.
What does the warranty cover, and what does it not?
Two separate things, worth keeping apart. There is a limited lifetime manufacturer warranty on non-wood fence materials, and it is backed by the manufacturer rather than by us. Our own craftsmanship warranty is narrower: it covers defects in how we installed it, and not settling, weather, impact or ordinary wear. Wood is excluded from both.
Let’s walk your fence line.
The estimate is free. Jake comes out and walks the line with you, gate to gate. The number comes after, built on what he saw.
Monday to Friday, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PMCall any time.We’re usually booking a few weeks out.
Limited lifetime manufacturer warranty on non-wood fence materialsCraftsmanship warranty on our deck builds and non-wood fence installsFully insured & registered