Arched Vinyl Picket Fences, Curved to a Crown and Installed

What an arched picket top is, and how it’s shaped

An arched picket top is a run where the top line curves upward, rising to a peak at the center of each section. The pickets stay separate and capped; it is the line across their tops, taken as a whole, that forms the crown.

The curve is cut, not bent: each picket is made to a graduated length, short at the ends and taller in the middle, so the capped tops step into an arc. On our Sheffield panel that is ten 7/8 by 3 inch pickets under dog-ear caps across a 69 inch section. Board spacing and the rest of the picket basics work the same here as on any vinyl picket fence.

Why an arched top lifts a plain picket line

An arched top is the formal move that makes a picket line stand out on a street of flat-top fences. The same white boards read as an ordinary boundary when the top is level, and as a designed feature once it rises to a crown, which is why arched runs land at entries, front walks, and garden beds. Because each panel is shaped on its own, our crew can bend the whole run to a gently curving property line.

Arched, scalloped, and straight tops compared

Arched describes the top line across a section. It climbs to a peak dead center, a convex curve. Scalloped is that same curve turned over, concave, sinking to a low point in the middle. Straight holds level end to end. The picket itself never changes: in all three it is the same plain rectangle, running up through the top rail and finishing above it under a dog-ear cap, so the only thing that shifts is the line those tops draw.

Through-rail style	What the top line does
Straight	Level the whole way
Arched	Rises to a peak mid-section
Scalloped	Falls to a low mid-section

Dog-ear is just the cap that comes standard on those exposed tops. Others fit the same picket, though: External, Gothic, Internal, Internal Flat and Spade will all seat on it, and any one can go on instead.

Closed-top vinyl is another family altogether. On those panels the picket ends at the rail and never rises past it. Nothing stands up there to cap. Which way the boards run is a separate choice between vertical pickets and horizontal pickets.

Decorative and open, and the ‘arched privacy’ mix-up

An arched picket is open by design: the pickets are spaced, so the crown is decorative and the open gaps still frame the view behind. Search results blur this: ‘arched top’ also pulls up tall privacy panels and arched gates, each a different fence for a different job.

This style is the decorative, open arched picket. Want that curved crown over a solid, no-gap screen? That is a different build, an arched-top privacy fence we also make, so tell us which one you picture and the quote stays clear.

The arch peak is the height a city measures

Because the crown is the tallest part of the panel, a front-yard height cap is read at the peak, not the shorter ends of the arc. If a city holds a front fence to 42 inches, the top of the arch is what has to sit under that line, which quietly saves a permit surprise.

Our Sheffield arches stand 3.5 and 4 feet, but the exact cap is your city’s to set, so verify yours locally, and we build the arch to sit under it. And at 3.5 to 4 feet a spaced arched picket stands under California’s 60 inch pool-barrier minimum, so it cannot act as one.

Fabricated to your run, with a matching gate

Every arched run is measured and shaped to your yard, so the odd heights, curved lines, and small jobs others wave off often land in our shop. The Sheffield line stands 3.5 and 4 feet as standard, and we build taller or custom heights to order. Where a panel needs it the bottom rail takes a steel insert: the Clay and Tan arches carry it, the lighter White panels do not.

The gate that hangs in an arched run is fabricated to match, on a vinyl-skinned metal frame, in single, double, or rolling form, and it stays hand-operated. The vinyl carries a transferable limited lifetime warranty, and our labor a separate 5-year workmanship warranty.

A curve in three solids

The arc is what your eye lands on, so choose for the top line first. A pale panel keeps the curve legible against planting or a wall behind it. A warmer tone lets the crown sit quieter in a garden. Hold a swatch up at eye level and sight along the bend.

• White

  

• Tan

  

• Clay

  

Shaping is only part of the job

Shaping a top is shop work, and so is everything under it. We cut panels to the length of your run, set the posts, and hang whatever swings in the line. If a second stretch of the property wants another style, we build that too.