THREE ESSENTIALS FOR A GOOD FENCE:
- Get professional guidance
- Buy quality materials
- Build according to the manufacturer's recommendations
PLANNING
- Make sure you know where the property line is as existing fences may or may not be on the line.
- Never fence across easements like gas pipelines and power lines without notifying the necessary authorities.
MATERIALS
- Always use Class 3 galvanized T-post clips, pipe post clips, and staples.
- Galvanized pipe or tubing makes the best cross members.
- Used pipe requires a lot of maintenance.
- Never use landscape timbers or 4x4s for braces or line posts. Always use round posts; they will not warp.
- Holding the fence down in dips or up on crowns requires longer, bigger line posts.
- If shade cloth is going to be used on the fence, additional posts will be required for wind load.
- Use heavier post for gates. Most gate manufacturers trim 4” for hardware.
- We recommend a minimum of 1.33 weight t-posts for use with fixed-knot fence.
- Galvanized t-posts will last a lot longer than painted t-posts.
INSTALLATION
- Always set staples so that the wire under it can move on impact, distributing the load over the entire fence.
- A full brace is required for every pull of wire regardless of the length of run.
- Set posts 4’ to 6’ deep. Hi-Tensile wire will not stretch and loads are constant on braces.
- Driven or tamped wood posts hold better.
- Always place the fence fabric between the stock and the posts whenever possible.
- Brace spacing can be up to 1320’
apart.
Make sure you know the actual length of the gates BEFORE setting the gate posts - On steep terrain posts should be set perpendicular to the soil.
- Brace alignment is VERY important as poor alignment will result in brace failure.
- Concreted posts should be belled at the bottom if you are building in clay soils. Double bracing may be necessary in light sandy soils.
- Use straight lines between braces. Curved fence lines will not stay tight.
