Aside from adding some modern or rustic appeal to your landscape, a garden fence provides security, privacy, and peace of mind. It is important in protecting your vegetables and plants from stray animals. Maintenance is also easy and installation is affordable. With a quality timber, you fence will stay useful for many years.
To install a garden fence, first you’ll have to check your title deeds. You should be 100% sure that the boundary doesn’t belong to your neighbour. Then check the design and size of fence that best suits your needs and your garden.
Types of Garden Fencing
Featheredge garden fencing is composed of overlapping timber vertical boards. This is the heaviest and sturdiest type of panel, providing you excellent privacy. It’s also great for fencing.
Waneylap fencing is composed of overlapping timber horizontal boards, a less expensive fence that provide high level of privacy.
Trellis fencing could be used on its own as a decorative panel on top of a solid fence, or as an open screen fencing.
Palisade garden fencing provides visibility as well as good security in the form of a typical picket-style fencing.
Fence Posts
The next step to take is choosing the right fence posts. Concrete and wood fence posts both have their own advantages and disadvantages. Concrete posts ensure a sturdy fence, however they do require a lot of work, while wood fence posts are a lot easier to handle. But because they are buried under the ground, they’re prone to rot.
Fence Height
Next, decide on your fence’s height. Work out post length before you calculate the number of panels you’ll need. It’s best to treat your panels with some sort of all-purpose preservative.
Before building your garden fence, use a string to mark your boundary line. Treat the area with a weed killer and clear away any vegetation, and then lay out your fence posts evenly along the string.
After checking the location of power cables and water pipes, use a metal spoke, bar or rod to make a line of evenly spaced holes. The post holes must be three times as wide as your post and should be two-feet deep. Once your posts are in place, provide a support to the end of each post by packing brick or stone hardcore into the hole’s base.
Then fill each post hole with water halfway and then pour the concrete mix. When concrete reaches the level of the ground, slope the concrete away from the fence post so water will run off. With a spirit level, check is your post is vertical on both adjacent sides, and then prop it up with one to two wood battens in order to hold it in position while the concrete mix sets. Allow the concrete mix to harden for at least one hour, before you attach your fence panels.
Once it’s dry, screw your panels to your posts using two to three post clips for each panel. Add concrete gravel or treated fence boards along the bottom, or place a gap at least four inches to keep the panels off the ground and prevent rot. Finally, screw your fence panels to your posts using two to three U-shaped post clips on each post.