Fence Installation and Repair in Troup, TX

A railroad town at a highway junction

Troup was platted in 1872 where the railroad split toward Tyler and Longview, and the old rail junction is still the center of downtown. State Highways 110 and 135 meet here, along with FM 13, FM 15, FM 346 and FM 347, and Arp is three miles north. The town had 2,006 residents in 2020, and the census classed all of it as rural. From Tyler the drive is about 19 miles southeast on TX-110, passing through Whitehouse on the way.

In-town yards near downtown and the schools

Inside the city limits, fence work looks like it does in most small towns: backyard privacy fences, picket fronts and replacement sections on lots around downtown and Troup ISD. These jobs go through City Hall, which handles every permit and inspection in town. A rotted post or leaning section on an older in-town fence is often a repair rather than a full replacement.

Pasture, timber and perimeter lines

Most of the land around Troup is farm, pasture and timber, and fencing there is a different trade from a backyard. It means long perimeter lines, cross-fences between pastures and wide gates sized for trucks and equipment. On those tracts, pipe fencing with a welded top rail is built to stand up to cattle and years of weather. Before any shared line is built or taken down, note that Texas law does not allow removing a jointly owned dividing fence without the neighbor's consent or six months' written notice.

Red clay a foot down

The Kirvin soil series, first described by the USDA at a site in Smith County off FM 346 southeast of TX-110, has a sandy surface over hard, firm red clay starting around 11 inches down. That site lies in the same stretch of country as Troup. Where a lot has that kind of profile, post holes pass from loose sand into dense clay partway down, which affects how a hole is dug and how water drains away from a post.

Digging on rural land

Texas law requires an 811 locate at least 48 hours ahead, not counting weekends and holidays, before powered digging 16 inches or deeper, which covers an augered post hole. Rural tracts may be crossed by buried pipelines or utility lines that leave little sign on the surface, so the locate is part of scheduling any Troup-area fence line, in town or out.

Troup fence questions