Fencing Help Needed Urgently

toby_puppy · 2 March 2009 at 11:01PM

Can someone help settle an argument please?

My mum needs a new garden fence, it's only about 4 x 6 ft panels. The existing fence was put in by a friend a few years back and to say it's a mess is an understatement. The fence is crooked and looks ready to collapse.

The problem is that the back garden is raised up a bit from the garden which backs onto hers. There is no retaining wall and behind the existing fence is a complete mess, someones shed, another bit of fencing and general rubble and shrubbery.

We had someone out to give a price yesterday and he quoted £450 all in for concrete posts, gravel boards and fencing. He was a general garden type/maintenance man.

Another firm has come to look at the fence today, this time purely a fencing contractor. He has been round the back into the neighbouring garden and said there is no way she could have concrete posts and gravel boards because of the difficulty in getting to everything. His suggestion is to put a feather board fence up on wooden posts which are double width to the existing wooden posts. He said something about digging a trench too??

He has also pointed out a tree stump (only 6 inches above ground level) which might get in his way (although the existing fence is behind the stump), he is suggesting bringing the fence a foot forward into the garden, therefore she would lose a bit of land. He said that the fence will last her 25 years.

Now, I've explained all the above to my hubby and he said there is no way he would go for wooden fence posts because they are going to rot easily with all the soil up against them.

He thinks the best idea would be having double gravel boards to act as a sort of retainer for all the soil.

My mum thinks the chap that quoted her today seemed nice and knew what he was doing and now she is convinced it's not possible for her to have gravel boards and concrete posts. My hubby thinks maybe the chap is suggesting his way because it would be a lot easier than lugging concrete posts etc.

Any opinions please?

swstevewil · 2 March 2009 at 11:52PM

I think the only reason he is suggesting wooden posts is to cut down on work. He says reason for not using concrete is because of access.
Wooden posts can be buried the same way as concrete ones, but access problem is the same. Other way is drive spikes into ground with a sledgehammer and sit posts in them which is easier and quicker.

If current fence is behind tree stump then there is no reason why he cant take old fence out and plant new fence there. To do this though he will have to dig out any concrete that may have been used to secure old posts which is more work.

I dont think his advice is based on anything other than the fact he doesnt want to carry out the work normally involved in fencing, If he is lazy then even if he is charming he will probably do a poor job.

smartpicture · 3 March 2009 at 12:35AM

He may be suggesting wooden rather than concrete posts because it's cheaper! Especially if he was told about the first quote and was trying to compete. It does sound like he put a lot more thought into the job than the first chap. If it was me, I would get a third quote and see if a consensus is reached of the best approach.