Brick Wall Instead of Wooden Fence Makes Lasting Impression

Even the three little pigs would likely approve of Len Berkstresser’s new fence, which shows why brick is sometimes the preferred building material.

About 14 years ago, the Angie’s List member had a cedar fence built around his Fallbrook, California home. The homeowners association painted the fence every five years, but the paint would start to peel or look bad after two years, he says. “My home and fence wall is the first thing people see when they enter the neighborhood, and I wanted to give people driving by a good first impression of our complex,” he says.

Berkstresser accomplished that after he hired highly rated Parker Concrete of San Diego to build a wraparound masonry wall. “I noticed how good some of the masonry walls looked,” he says.

Although it took Parker Concrete’s five workers three weeks to build the wall, it took Berkstresser over a decade to save the nearly $23,000 needed to pay for it and a year to decide what materials to use.

The new wall had to allow a view of the park-like area next to his home, he says. So he chose simulated wrought-iron fence panels. During one of several search excursions, Berkstresser says he found a display that used three colors of split face block, and knew instantly that was what he wanted. “I worked for about 400 hours over the course of a year designing and making changes until I felt confident that I would have a very successful result,” he says.

Berkstresser says he liked the pride Parker Concrete’s builders have in their work. “Each morning when they came to work, I saw them standing some distance from the wall to admire their previous day’s work. Seeing a workman who is proud of his work gave me a lot of warm fuzzy feelings,’ he says, adding. Total strangers who don’t even live in our complex stop and compliment me on the wall.”