Fence design

Here in my area, the 3 wood privacy fences I've built or rebuilt, the holes were about 24" deep. The last two fences, I used the metal 8' poles in concrete. DSCN1986.jpg Not cheap, but you don't have the worry of the wood poles, PT or not, rotting away and breaking right at the ground level. There are special brackets that sandwich on to the poles that the cross braces mount to. DSCN1987.jpg So far this one has been up 3 years (almost to the day!) and is very sturdy. I know this is a little late for you this time, but thought I'd go ahead and add it to the discussion.
Oh, and next time, splurge on the digging machine. I rented a contraption that you tow behind your vehicle. When you get home, you take the towing tongue off of it, and you roll it around on the wheels. It is gas powered, but the engine runs a hydraulic pump, which in turn drives the the auger. It is a one man operation, except for getting it up hill :doh:. And I got the thing home, dug 29 holes, and back for a 4 hour rental. I did run into some rock and roots also, but this thing is a HOSS!! The demo bar was used a little, but not a whole lot. Well worth the 130 bucks it was 3 years ago. I tried to drive the lag bolts through the brackets into the wet 2 X 4s with a corded Makita 1/2" drill with no luck. My Ridgid 1/2" 18 volt never missed a lick on 230' (or so) worth of fence and I think I recharged the battery about 2 times doing the lags (3 full batteries worth of charge). Jim.
 
Bill,
The spiel about you and Doorlink out there working together was simply priceless. :thumb: In answer to the fella claiming otherwise about English Majors, literary composition is a very worthwhile endeavor (recollect that I am married to an English Major).

While the pros around here probably go a little deeper, I've replaced several posts for our 6 foot cedar fence as well as added some for a gate to isolate our compost bin area from the rest of the yard. I think that the post depth is somewhat dependant upon the dirt (term used very loosely in this case) into which they're being planted. Beneath the layer of sandy loam we put down in our back yard we have a very hard white clay and various sizes, from fist to football, of limestone rock. I went down 18" in each case and even with a 4 foot wide gate hanging on one of them, they are all holding up well. Concrete poured into each hole to nearly grade level.

Hopefully you were pretty careful on the 8 foot span between the posts so that a little way down the road (and you know Doorlink is gonna want it nicer :)) you can start replacing the livestock wire with premade cedar picket panels.
 
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Out of all the fences I've built/put up I have never gone over 24" deep even on corner or gate posts that I plan to stretch wire or hang a gate on. I have stretched horse wire to a gate post so tight that the post bent then snapped off at ground level instead of leaning or pulling out.

The depth of the post ultimately depends on the make up of your soil, the looser it is the deeper you need to go. If its tight packed earth, not too sandy, you should have no problems at 18" provided they are set in concrete and your stretch/corner/gate posts are a bit deeper.
 
:poke:

Well? How's it going, Bill? :wave:

Well, the posts are up, and set. 2x4 laterals are up. Wire bought, strung, and stapled up. Slats are up on the parts that face the street, although I haven't cut them off level yet. I'm trying to figure out a way to attach the festool fence to the slats, so I can make a nice, neat line. I was thinking about cutting them one by one to height *before* I put them up, but decided against it.

I put the wire across the gate openings, so it would be an effective barrier until I can make the gates. Got that done yesterday morning. So it's now an enclosed space: 5 feet all around, six feet towards the street. A lot of work.

So, of course, the first day, the border collie cleared it in one jump. :doh:

Back to the drawing board! :dunno:

Thanks,

Bill
 
Out of all the fences I've built/put up I have never gone over 24" deep even on corner or gate posts that I plan to stretch wire or hang a gate on. I have stretched horse wire to a gate post so tight that the post bent then snapped off at ground level instead of leaning or pulling out.

The depth of the post ultimately depends on the make up of your soil, the looser it is the deeper you need to go. If its tight packed earth, not too sandy, you should have no problems at 18" provided they are set in concrete and your stretch/corner/gate posts are a bit deeper.

Actually the post depth has more to do with the depth of the frost in your area then actual post holding power. If your frost depth is only 18" then you can get away with 20 inch holes,and use other methods to sure up the posts.

One of my favorite is putting a block of wood just below ground level in front of the post to that when the strain is placed on the post, the post pushes against the block of wood laid sideways in the ground in front of it and has amazing holding power.

Here in Maine the frost line is 4 feet so we have to really put the posts down deep. Concrete is not used because the frost grabs the rough edges and it pushes the post out of the ground. (ground expands 9% from frost) Instead we dig a deep hole and fill it with gravel around the post, in this way the frost has nothing to grab onto since the wooden post is smooth. The frost heaves but the post stay solid,that is because the frost is not getting under the bottom of the post and pushing it up. It would do that if the post was not down in the ground by four feet.
 
Great Story

I've been following the trials and tribulations of Bill's fence. It reminds me of digging holes for an outdoors clothesline my former farther-in-law and I put in his back yard.

There we were, hot and humid day, ready to dig the two holes, and he brings a hand-powered auger from the garage. I'm (living in clay-soil Northern Virginia), thinking "here's a day's work". But (and the secret to my story) the posts were 4 feet in the ground in about five minutes because he lived on a totally sandy island off the coast of New Jersey. The auger went into the sand like a hot knife through butter. :rofl:
 
The fence is NOT finished! But I thought I'd post some pics. I'm starting to think one gate is enough for now. Too many other things to do, as you'll see. :doh:

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The dogs are getting out by digging at weak points. Gonna work on that one today. Also, as you can see, I put up a *temporary* storage tent three years ago. It survived everything, but it didn't survive one week of a three year old. I guess I should have known what would happen if I left an unsupervised three year old to "explore" and "play" out there.:doh::rofl::eek:

Looks like there's some shed building in my very immediate future! :doh:

Thanks,

Bill
 
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