DIY Property Fences

Fencing your property increases security.

Fencing your property demarcates and encloses the area and helps keep intruders out. The choice of fencing material and styles is countless and includes wood boards, vinyl lattice, barbed wire, chain link and mesh or welded wire. Keep the fence as low as 3 feet or as high as 6 to 8 feet, depending on the fencing laws in your jurisdiction. Consider the purpose of the fence when making the final selection so you decide the fence height and spacing accordingly.

Things You'll Need

• Stakes
• String
• Post hole digger
• Quick-dry concrete
• Wheelbarrow
• Wooden or steel post
• Level
• 16-gauge wire fencing
• Staple gun and staples
• 2-by-4-inch lumber
• Handsaw
• Hammer
• Nails
• Wooden pickets
• Metal brackets
• Screwdriver
• Galvanized screws
• Lattice or picket sections
• Lay-down clip
• Clip installation tool
• Barbed wire

Instructions

1. Mark your property using stakes and string. Insert wooden stakes at the corners of the area you want to enclose. Tie string to a corner stake and pull it taut as you tie it around the remaining corner stakes. Mark the locations for line posts on the ground, spaced 6 to 15 feet apart.

2. Using a post hole digger, dig holes into the ground over each marked spot that measure one-third of the post length.

3. Mix quick-dry concrete in a wheelbarrow with water, according to label directions, and pour several inches into a corner hole. Stand a steel or wooden post over the concrete in the hole and correct its level, if necessary, so it stands upright. Pour concrete into the hole around the post until 2 inches from the top. Continue installing posts into the remaining holes. Pack dirt into each hole when the concrete dries, which usually takes 24 hours.

4. Install the fencing material to the posts. Stand a bale of wire fencing against a corner wooden post and secure it with galvanized staples spaced evenly apart. Pull the wire taut to extend it to the adjacent post, and repeat the process of stapling it in place.

5. Measure the horizontal spacing between two adjacent posts and cut two lengths of 2-by-4 lumber to the measurement. Nail one horizontal rail to two adjacent posts several inches above the ground, and the other a few inches from the top. Nail wooden pickets to the horizontal rails, keeping a uniform spacing in between adjacent pickets.

6. Attach two metal brackets along the inner edge of each post if installing lattice, wood or vinyl fence sections. Space the lower one at least 2 inches above the ground and the upper one several inches below the tops of the posts. Slide the fence section between the brackets on adjacent posts, and insert a screw to attach the bracket to the fence section.

7. Determine the number of barbed wire strands you want to install along the fence line and the spacing between them. Grasp a lay-down clip between a clip installation tool and crimp it around the steel post at each desired location for the wire. Secure a length of barbed wire around a corner post and pull it taut as you extend it along the fence line. Wind the wire around the last corner post and clip excess off. Push the wire in the tab provision in each clip along a post and secure with a nail. Continue securing the wire to each clip, and repeat the process of attaching and securing lengths of wire to the posts.

Tips & Warnings

• Mark the locations of underground utility lines before you begin digging.

• Wear a face mask and gloves when building or installing the property fence.

References

• Unchain Your Dog: How to Build a Mesh Fence
• American Fence & Supply Co: How to Install High Tensile Barbed Wire, Field Fence and Double Loop
• This Old House; How to Install a Picket Fence; Jefferson Kolle
• Millard Lumber: Building Wooden Fences
• Ask the Builder; Fences; Tim Carter
• Lowe's Fence: Vinyl Fence