New Garden Fence

pmartin86

Not sure if this should be here, or in DIY, please move if required.

Long story short, I need to replace an old, practically disintegrated fence, any sort of rescue is well out of the question. I've had some quotes and they border on the ridiculous (£3000 plus!) It's quite a long stretch (30 meters ish), buts its fairly level and straight, and will be going into soft ground (Soil/mud)

Given the ridiculous quotes, I was wondering, how hard is it to build your own? I'm quite handy at DIY, perfectly capable of sinking posts and measuring/cutting/attaching. Due to being on a hill (wind hits us hard at times), Im looking at "hit and miss" panels, are these any good? How hard are they to put up? anyone have any other advice or suggestions?

Regards
Paul

SailorSam

There are plenty of sites giving advice on a Diy fence, it's a doddle of a job if you're a bit handy.
I've given this tip here before that may help in the future if you're in a windy position. What i did after my fence blew down.
On each of your panels drill six holes, top; bottom; and middle. 3 at each side. Then get some strong thin wire / rope / cord. What i've done is thread it through so every panel is tied to the post and also to the panel next to it. So the whole fence ends up tied together and around all the posts. There is no way the wind will ever take it down.

JP08

SailorSam wrote: »

There are plenty of sites giving advice on a Diy fence, it's a doddle of a job if you're a bit handy.
I've given this tip here before that may help in the future if you're in a windy position. What i did after my fence blew down.
On each of your panels drill six holes, top; bottom; and middle. 3 at each side. Then get some strong thin wire / rope / cord. What i've done is thread it through so every panel is tied to the post and also to the panel next to it. So the whole fence ends up tied together and around all the posts. There is no way the wind will ever take it down.

Have vivid memories of my father doing something similar when living on the edge of the fens. Panels good and secure to the posts. Posts well concreted in - we're talking a ball of concrete 2 feet deep and 18 inches in diameter. Stood well for several gales, then got a REALLY strong one.

The result was four fence posts snapped off at the base. :rotfl:. A real pain to get that concrete out then ...

zaax

Fences are one of these easiest DIY projects. I normally use concrete spurs and screw the posts to these. Use a don't forget its 6' between each post

pendragon_arther

I used the spike type of post holders, just hammered them in and the fence has stayed up for 20+ years.

Ken68

Hi pM.....where there is strong wind, you need something permeable, to let some of the wind through. Chestnut paling , very expensive or as I have here "hit and miss" and every so often a same height picket type fence.

Davesnave

I agree with hit & miss fencing, but I'd make my own with suitable boards and 4" posts. On a level site, the hardest job will be digging the holes. 2 feet is good and a little deeper is better still, but it will depend on your sub-soil.

cally6008

If you choose to do it yourself and order stuff to be delivered, make sure you check whether it is going to be a kerbside delivery or if the lads help unload the stuff and put it where you need it to be.

Also, make sure you have some helpers available to help lift heavy items

Speaking from experience and still aching a lot now after helping the neighbour on wednesday evening - we had to lug bags of concrete/cement , 8 ft fence posts and 6 ft gravel boards from the end of the driveway up to the garage.
For 2 females, not in good health, it was a long hard job. We had a few minutes help at the start and then fresh arms appeared half way through and helped finish it off.

pmartin86

Thanks for the comments all. I'ts made me a bit more confident at doing it myself! I'm definatly leaning towards a higher quality hit and miss, as I plan to live here for a good while and dont want to be patching up every year, I'm hoping with a decent start, some gravel boards and annual painting, i can get 10-15 years, not sure if this is reasonable?

I've dug a "test hole" and after a bit of grunting, got down to 2ft deep with 1ft width without too many issues, not counting my chickens, but the ground looks the same all along the required length so touch wood that should be doable.

With regards to delviery, I have a reasonably large drive at the front of the house (can hold 5 or 6 cars if parked "correctly") and anytime i've had things delivered in the passed its been dropped on there, whcih is fine as I can then easily shift it into the garage for storage until use.

With rgards to making my won, how does that compare with buying pre-built pannels? Its is cheaper/stronger etc? As I said, i'm handy with DIY and have a mitre saw etc so if the end result is better, im happy to put the work in. Im assuming something along the lines of 100mm x 25mm treated lengths alternated back and front over the support beam would work?

Paul

Davesnave

pmartin86 wrote: »

Im assuming something along the lines of 100mm x 25mm treated lengths alternated back and front over the support beam would work?

Paul

That's what I'm using on a 2.1 m fence. I tried a mock up of narrower boards, but the 150 x 25 looked more in scale. I toyed with the idea of alternating with the narrower boards for a less rustic effect, but it all got a bit complicated for simply disguising an oil tank!

pmartin86

Plenty of food for though, much appreciated, got a week of leave to use in January, so I suspect a trip to the local builders yard and an evening or 2 in the garage messing about might be in order before then to ork out what needs to be done!

Thanks all!