# The point of picket fences **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 9, 2006, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-point-of-picket-fences/339209 "2006-01-09T20:37:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-point-of-picket-fences/339209/1 "2006-01-09T20:37:44Z")
Get it… the Point! ok… sorry. Anyway, what is the point of picket fences? I mean it’s obvious that today they are trictly ornamental, but did they ever serve a valid structural purpose? Why are they pointed? Why the spaces between the slats? Just somethign that came up while driving around Saturday. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-point-of-picket-fences/339209/2 "2006-01-09T20:43:20Z")
To give you yet another damn thing to paint. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-point-of-picket-fences/339209/3 "2006-01-09T20:49:06Z")
Keep rabbits/varmints/small dogs in or out. Keep people from trespassing or cutting across your yard. Have spaces between slats so the view is not totally obstructed. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-point-of-picket-fences/339209/4 "2006-01-09T20:49:51Z")
Picket fences allow you to demarcate your property, but still maintain an open viewshed unlike a stockade fence. I believe the pickets are pointed so water doesn’t collect at the top and soak into the grain. This would reduce the possibility of a picket splitting down the middle in a freeze/thaw cycle. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-point-of-picket-fences/339209/5 "2006-01-09T20:53:16Z")
Gaps in fencing helps prevent snow drifts building up ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-point-of-picket-fences/339209/6 "2006-01-09T20:55:54Z")
> [@BurnMeUp](#): > > I mean it’s obvious that today they are trictly ornamental, but did they ever serve a valid structural purpose? Picket fences served a valid structural purpose, once, in 1960, for 20 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-point-of-picket-fences/339209/7 "2006-01-09T21:00:45Z")
A neighbor of mine up one up so that his (then) small kids could play in the front yard but not get into the street. His kids are older now and the fence looks like crap. ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-point-of-picket-fences/339209/8 "2006-01-09T21:08:41Z")
> [@fetus](#): > > Picket fences served a valid structural purpose, once, in 1960, for 20 minutes. While at the same time, defying gravity. Man, those must have been some kick ass drugs! Pickets were originally used as defensive devices. Large, sharply pointed, wooden stakes driven into the ground, often at an outward angle, around the perimeter of an area to deter intrusion. Not unlike the way pike poles were used, primarily against cavalry. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-point-of-picket-fences/339209/9 "2006-01-09T22:03:45Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > I believe the pickets are pointed so water doesn’t collect at the top and soak into the grain. This would reduce the possibility of a picket splitting down the middle in a freeze/thaw cycle. I think this is correct. Plus, it gives a little bit of a decorative end, and discourages hurdlers. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-point-of-picket-fences/339209/10 "2006-01-10T08:07:48Z")
Picket fences are quite functional, and serve the same purposes as most other fences: demarcate the boundry and make entry onto the premises more difficult. The pickets at the top make the fence last longer without damage (as elmwood said), they might appear to make it more dangerous to try to jump the fence (resembling the original military pickets, as A.R. Cain said), plus now they are seen as aesthetic – that’s the very traditional american yard fence. The spaces between slats serve an economic purpose – it only takes about half as much wood to construct the fence. Plus they make the fence more open, for viewing & breezes, and more resistant to bad weather (tornados, floods, snowdrifts, etc). No more ornamental than any other fence. ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-point-of-picket-fences/339209/11 "2006-01-10T15:49:03Z")
I have always used them to keep my prize winning pickets from wandering too far. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-point-of-picket-fences/339209/12 "2006-01-10T16:13:02Z")
> [@BurnMeUp](#): > > Get it… the Point! ok… sorry. > > …what is the point of picket fences? Raw material for picket signs? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-point-of-picket-fences/339209/13 "2006-01-10T16:54:19Z")
Defense against vampires. They find the things to be bloody dangerous, I tell ya. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-point-of-picket-fences/339209/14 "2006-01-10T17:05:56Z")
> [@BurnMeUp](#): > > Anyway, what is the point of picket fences? Why are they pointed? To keep bums from parking there. > [@](#): > > Why the spaces between the slats? Reasone of economy and assure one point in each bum. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-point-of-picket-fences/339209/15 "2006-01-10T19:18:32Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Gaps in fencing helps prevent snow drifts building up snow will drift against a solid fence, but a large drift will still form on the lee side of a slotted fence. Drift fences are erected along many highways, to cause a drift upwind of (rather than across) the road. One style is a fair approximation of a picket fence. Another style has horizontal rails, with wide slots between them. The slots slow the wind so the snow drops out. Another reason for a picket fence, is that if you don’t have ceder or treated lumber, then you can never paint the edges to protect from weather if the boards are touching. Though it is a pain to paint each picket, it is more of a pain to rebuild the fence if it rots. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-point-of-picket-fences/339209/16 "2006-01-10T20:00:54Z")
All of the above, plus they are the best noise makers in the world. Just ask the kid who runs down the sidewalk with a stick against a picket fence. ---
**Author:** ![Nickrz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-point-of-picket-fences/339209/17 "2006-01-10T20:20:35Z")
Picket fence threads are good for generating revenue for the good ole SDMB via gooooogle adsense fence-seller and painter and sitter type ads.