Silt Fence & Sediment Control in Salt Lake City, UT

Silt fence & sediment control keeps soil from leaving a construction site in Salt Lake City and washing into streets, storm drains, creeks and eventually the Jordan River. As silt fence contractors, we install the perimeter fence, protect inlets, maintain both through the job, and remove them once the ground is stabilized with seed. We work for home builders, remodelers with large grading jobs, commercial contractors and developers.

Who needs it

EPA rules call for construction stormwater permit coverage when construction disturbs an acre or more, and also when a smaller site is one phase of a bigger development that will disturb that much in total. Clearing, grading and excavating all count. Those permits require sediment controls, and the city or county inspecting your site will look for them. Smaller projects outside those thresholds still benefit: a single graded lot can send a lot of mud into a gutter in one spring storm.

How silt fence actually works

Silt fence is a woven geotextile stretched between stakes, with its bottom edge buried in a trench on the uphill side. It does not filter muddy water so much as slow it down and pond it, so the soil can settle out before the water seeps through. That only works when the fence follows the contour, the toe is trenched and backfilled, and the fence is not asked to handle more drainage area than it can. Fence run straight down a slope, or simply laid on the ground, becomes a channel.

Placing fence where it can work

A fence that is overloaded or undermined lets muddy water straight through, and fine particles settle slowly in the pond behind it. We place fence where water spreads out rather than concentrates, add J-hooks or extra rows on long slopes, and switch to stabilized, wire-backed fence on stretches expecting heavy sediment. Where water concentrates, a fence is the wrong tool and we use a check or basin instead.

Inlet protection

Storm drain inlets near a site, both on the property and in the street, need a barrier so muddy runoff is filtered before it reaches the pipe. Options include silt fence barriers around field inlets, gravel and mesh filters, sandbags and drop-in filter devices. The right choice depends on whether the inlet is in a traffic lane, how much flow it gets, and whether ponding at the inlet would flood the street.

Maintenance is part of the job

Sediment control fails most often between installation and closeout. Fence gets driven over, knocked down, or filled with sediment until water spills over the top. Spring is the hardest season: airport normals put April as the wettest month, and most of the year's moisture falls between October and May. We inspect after storms and on a set schedule, clean out sediment, re-stake and re-trench fence, and replace damaged inlet filters, so the site stays in compliance with its plan.

Removal and final seeding

Once the site is stabilized, the fence comes out and the trench is backfilled and seeded so it does not become the next erosion problem. Because we also do hydroseeding, slope work and grading, sediment control and stabilization are planned together, and the last step of the job is green ground rather than a muddy line where the fence used to be.

Fence placement mistakes we avoid

We see the same problems on many sites: fence that runs straight downhill, fence set across a ditch or channel, fence too close to the toe of a slope with no room for sediment to collect, and long uninterrupted runs that gather water toward one low point until it blows out. Each one turns a sediment control into a water conveyance. Setting fence a few feet off the toe of a slope, curling the ends uphill and breaking long runs keeps the water spread out and slow.

Pricing

On one state transportation department's January 2025 erosion-control price list, plain silt fence is $378 per 100 feet, the stabilized version is $748 per 100 feet, and inlet protection runs $102 to $172 an inlet depending on type. Your site's length of fence, access and maintenance needs set the actual price. Get a free estimate