Fence & Gate Installation in Kemah, TX

What we install in Kemah

We build the same range of fencing and gates in Kemah that we build across the rest of our Galveston-area service area:

• Wood and cedar privacy fences, like the 31-foot run below.
• Vinyl in open-picket and solid-privacy styles.
• Chain link - one of the two materials the City names for a front yard fence on the Bay.
• Aluminum and ornamental iron, the other named bay-side material, like the gate below.
• Gates: walk gates and driveway gates, with electric operators and access control if you want them, plus commercial fencing and gates for the Boardwalk-area businesses that need the Sec. 18-1 property-line barrier.

Financing is available through the providers on our financing page, subject to credit approval.

Kemah’s fence rules are about where the fence sits, not a single number

Kemah is a small city - about 1.8 square miles - but its Code of Ordinances treats fence rules by location rather than by one townwide height. A “front yard waterfront fence” is defined specifically: on a residential lot next to the Galveston Bay shoreline, it’s the fence in the yard between the shoreline and the house itself. That fence is capped at 4 feet and must be wrought iron, chain link, or another non-opaque material the City approves - and a permit, with a site plan or survey showing location, height and materials, is required before any work starts, for a $50 fee (Ch. 66, as amended by Ordinance 1202 in 2022). Swap in the same material after storm or salt damage and no new permit is needed; replace 50% or more of the fence and it is - the City treats that like building new.

A pool fence in that same front yard is a different, separate fence: it doesn’t have to stay at 4 feet, because Texas’s own pool-fencing law can require more, but it can’t substitute for the waterfront fence itself. On the other side of the lot, side and rear yards don’t carry a published height or permit number in the chapters we checked, and the City’s Permits and Inspections page doesn’t list one either - it just points applicants back to the Code of Ordinances. We tell customers to confirm that case directly with the Building Department, (281) 334-1611, rather than assume either “no rule” or borrow a number from a neighboring city.

A third rule applies where a commercial lot sits next to a home (Sec. 18-1): the barrier there must be solid - masonry, steel, or treated wood - continuous from grade to at least 8 feet, running the full length of the shared line, with a drainage plan for runoff. It’s the opposite of the open, see-through material the bay-side rule calls for, which is exactly why the checker above asks where the fence sits before anything else.

Same lot, three different rule sets

Where a Kemah fence sits changes which rule applies - the diagram below lines up the front (bay-side) yard against everywhere else on a residential lot, plus the separate commercial-property rule:

Recent work in Kemah

Four jobs so far, each with its own write-up:

• Seamless Gate Installation for Ramsey Horton in Kemah, Texas
• Crafting a Stunning 31-Foot Cedar Fence for Malorie Barbee in Kemah, Texas
• A Successful Fence Repair for Joe Dirico in Kemah, Texas
• A Fencing Journey with Irrell Vanyan in Kemah, Texas

Questions we get about this