Fence Rules in Lenoir City and Loudon County, TN
We have been building fence out of Lenoir City since 1973, and the question we get most from people here is the one the internet answers worst: how tall can my fence be?
The answer surprises almost everyone. Neither Lenoir City nor unincorporated Loudon County sets a fence height limit in its zoning. There is no six-foot rule here. What there is instead is a corner-lot vision rule — and if you are just outside the city line, the area it covers is two and a half times bigger.
The corner-lot rule, side by side
Lenoir City, § 11-307. On a corner lot outside the C-2 Central Business District, within the area formed by the center lines of the intersecting streets and a line joining points 30 feet from their intersection, there may be no obstruction to vision between 3½ feet and 10 feet above the average grade.
Unincorporated Loudon County, § 3.050. Same 3½-to-10-foot band, same geometry — but measured 75 feet from the intersection, and it applies in any district.
That is the trap. Two houses on corner lots a mile apart, one in town and one just outside it, have very different amounts of yard they cannot fence solid. Seventy-five feet along both centerlines is a large triangle, and people routinely build into it without knowing it exists.
Both ordinances carve out the same exception in the same words: the rule “shall not be construed to prohibit any necessary retaining wall.”
Two practical notes. The measurement runs from street center lines, not from your property line or the edge of the pavement — so the triangle reaches further into the lot than people expect. And an open fence is not automatically fine: the rule bans obstruction to vision in that band, not privacy fences specifically, so a dense hedge or a solid-panel gate counts too.
Pool fences: build to the code, not the county minimum
Loudon County § 4.070.B requires a pool area to be walled or fenced with a latching gate, at least four feet high, with the latch on the inside of the gate at least 40 inches from the ground.
That is weaker than the building code. Tennessee adopted the 2018 IRC effective July 16, 2020, and its pool barrier provisions call for 48 inches and a latch release at 54 inches (or pool-side, at least 3 inches below the top of the gate). Build to the stricter numbers and you satisfy both. We do not install a 48-inch pool barrier in this county and call it done at 4 feet.
Worth stating plainly, because national pool-fence vendors get it wrong: Tennessee has not adopted the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code statewide. Residential pool barriers fall under IRC Appendix G, which is only enforceable where a jurisdiction adopts the appendix.
The rest of what the county ordinance actually says about fences
- Dog kennels and boarding (§ 4.125.D): opaque fencing of at least 6 feet may be used to screen adjacent residential property.
- Salvage and wrecking yards (§ 4.110.C): outdoor storage must sit inside an opaque fence, screen or wall 8 to 12 feet high.
- Landscape screening and buffering (§ 4.160.B): not less than 6 feet from grade upward.
That is the whole of it. There is no general residential height cap anywhere in the resolution.
How this compares to the rest of our service area
The four jurisdictions we work in most all handle this differently, which is why a number you read on a national site is usually wrong for your address:
- Lenoir City — no height limit; 30-foot corner sight triangle, 3½ to 10 feet
- Unincorporated Loudon County — no height limit; 75-foot corner sight triangle, 3½ to 10 feet
- City of Knoxville — privacy fences capped at 42 inches from five feet behind the front building line forward; open fences have no front-yard limit; no cap in side or rear yards
- Unincorporated Knox County — no height cap; a 3½-foot front-yard vision rule under § 3.20.04
Lenoir City is a municipality inside Loudon County and regulates under its own ordinance, so county rules do not automatically apply to a city address, and the reverse is equally true.
Your HOA is the real height limit
Everything above is a government rule. A subdivision covenant is a private contract that runs with the land, and Tennessee has no statewide act that overrides covenants for single-family homes. A seven-foot privacy fence in a Loudon County rear yard is fine under zoning and can still violate your covenants. Get written architectural approval before we schedule.
Permits and who to call
Confirm permit requirements for your specific address before you build — they are separate from zoning and they change.
- Loudon County Planning & Codes: (865) 458-2055
- Lenoir City: contact the city directly for addresses inside the city limits
Before anyone digs: Tennessee 811
Tennessee's Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act requires 3 working days' notice before excavation. The ticket is good for 15 days and the tolerance zone around a marked line is at least 4 feet wide. Penalties run to $2,500 per incident for a repeat violation and $5,000 for gross negligence, separate from the repair bill. The obligation sits with whoever digs — if you hire us, that is us. Private lines (irrigation, invisible dog fence, power to a dock or outbuilding) are never marked by 811.
And then there is the ground
Depth to bedrock across Loudon and Knox County swings from about 7 inches on a Montevallo soil to more than 60 on Corryton, sometimes between neighbors on the same street. Subsoil runs 35 to 60 percent clay and the area takes nearly 52 inches of rain a year. That is why we will not quote a fence off satellite imagery, and why “what happens to my price if you hit rock?” is the first question worth asking any contractor here. More on what the ground does.
Talk to us
We are at 5482 Hwy 321 N in Lenoir City and have been building fence across East Tennessee since 1973, under Tennessee Unlimited Contractor's License #54371 — verifiable at verify.tn.gov.
📞 (865) 988-9935
🌐 Fence installation in Lenoir City
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Ordinance citations verified September 2026 against the Lenoir City Zoning Ordinance and the Loudon County Zoning Resolution. Confirm current requirements with the jurisdiction that governs your address before you build. Not legal advice.
