I just purchased a new home. I'm looking to fence the backyard. The fence will run about 200-250 feet to enclose the area. I'm looking to put up a 6 foot wooden fence.

I'm a pretty handy guy with friends to help. Anyone built such a fence before? Would you recommend hiring a company to do it or is it something you can easily do yourself?

What's the cost savings of DIY versus hiring someone?

The hard part is digging the holes and setting the poles. (FIFY protected) Hanging the boards is simple. You can even buy the pre-made sections and nail those up in a day.

The cost savings will be huge if you do this DIY. Fences aren't cheap when it comes to labor.

http://www.homerenovationestimate.com/fence-building-costs.php

Fence Construction
Materials + Labor
Pressure treated lumber (5" high
200 linear feet = $5000.00
250 linear feet = $6,250.00

If you're DIY'ing, order your lumber from a local yard instead of trucking it from HD/Lowes. They will typically have better material and can usually offer competative rates, including delivery to your driveway.

order your materials from a reputable fence supplier and have them delivered, use metal posts, only use 8' pressure treated runners, and preferably only use cedar pickets. fyi, if you order the pickets I would recommend separating them and letting them dry out for a week so you don't have huge gaps once they shrink.

rent a 2 man auger

I did about 100 feet of mine last year. Would not use the pre made panels again.

if your in North Austin area.

I could build ya 250ft for 3200/3400

4x4 treated post set in 18-24"
2 2x4 runners
1x4 or 1x6 true 3/4" western red cedar #2/#3 mix

say your from texags.
username @ suddenlink.net

I'm doing mine this weekend. Luckily the metal posts are in good shape. I'm doing 6 foot cedar pickets (180 of them). Be sure to get a nail gun. I'm renting mine for 25/day.

• Stake the corners (at the face of the posts)
• Pull string line.
• Dig holes at string line while a friend holds it out of the way.
• Set posts per string line, most people use some type of fast set quickcrete.
• Place lower and upper runners. 2x6 or 2x8 treated lumber with some good outdoor screws. I like the ones that come with the torx or square head in the package.
• Put up planks with 1/4 or 1/8 inch spacing to allow swelling. I use screws, but a nailgun makes it faster. It also helps to have some plastic shims to set spacing
• Spray fence with water sealer.
• Open cold beer and admire work.

Cody
Fightin Texas Aggie c/o 04

BTW, as a former homebuilder, beware of fence contractors. You get what you pay for with these guys.

No offense if anyone here is a fence builder, but those guys were the lowest of the low when it came to subcontractors.

They will quote a ridiculously low price, put up a shoddy product, and never be heard from again.

Go check on any subdivision built by a major homebuilder. 3 years after houses are up the fences are down.

Cody
Fightin Texas Aggie c/o 04

Anybody have any tips or know of a good online guide for building a double-gate? I have searched and have not found anything worthwhile.

Depending on width, it would probably be best to start with an adjustable metal frame and build off of that.

I have some linked, I'll see what I can find.

If you plan on being at the house for a while, one idea is to coat the base of your 4x4 with roofing tar at the line of concrete/air (essentially where the post comes out of the concrete in the ground). Helps keep moisture from puddling around the wood.

Another idea is to make L shaped brackets for the lower runner board. That way you are not trying to toenail nails into the wood. You have a flat surface to nail/screw together. Takes a little while with a table saw or hand saw, but worth the effort later. You can work on them at night or in the rain in the garage. Two per post.


Another idea is to get #1 cedar planks. That will have no knot holes. A bit more, but you don't have to worry about things forming later. Looks a lot nicer and when you put water sealer/finish on it, they will stay nice looking for a LONG time.

~egon

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use metal posts

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+1

A section of my fence has metal poles. They've been there for 42 years.

my fence came with the house New 6 years ago. when we moved in, I used left over exterior paint to paint the tops of all the landscape timber posts. The whole effing thing is pine, but still standing strong. I also sprayed my side of the whole thing with behr cedar colored wood stain/protector .

I did about 150 linear feet when I bought my house. Installed, it would've been about $5k. I did it for about $1250, and that was at Lowe's prices. It took four people three days worth of an extreme amount of work.

Two things I would do differently would be metal posts and buying a pallet of fence planks from a supplier instead of buying them retail at Lowe's. We actually used landscape timbers instead of 4x4s, and the fence has held up fine -- except for one post, which ruins the entire thing.

If you are buying in the south, consider a rot sill -- this is a 2x6 board that's along the bottom. You then replace just one board instead of replacing all the fence planks.

A couple of tips:
- Figure out where the holes should be ahead of time, and mark them thoroughly -- preferably with stakes. We had a few 'issues' with holes bored off center because the marking I'd used (spray paint) wore off.
- When you pour the concrete, mound it around the base of the post and make sure it ends up above ground level.
- Pouring the concrete is hard work. We had four people and it still took us three days of solid work, if I remember correctly... and that's even with several rockstar helpers who were used to daily farm or construction work.
- Use one of the gate 'kits' to build your gate. It won't warp that way. Consider digging and pouring a concrete 'sill'/curb for the gate, especially if you have dogs, while you're in the process.
- Put about two inches of pea gravel in the bottom of each hole before putting the post in, and then pour the concrete. This helps the water drain out the bottom if there's space around (wood) / inside (metal) the post.
- You need two or three 4' levels to make sure you get the post straight, and you need someoneS to stand there and hold it for about five-fifteen minutes until it sets up, depending on how you mixed the concrete.
- Don't use a long screwdriver to open bags of concrete. Use either a utility knife or rip the top.

All I have to add is make sure you have a top, middle, and bottom runner and make sure the runners are installed facing up/down (for a typ 2 x 4 runner you want the "4" face of the board parallel to the ground).

This will prevent your fence from "bowing".

My neighbor hired someone to replace their fence after Ike, I did my own with my dad. Their contractor only put top and bottom runners...and installed their runners the easy way (opposite of how I described above)...well their fence is bowing out of control, I can stick my fist through some of the gaps, while mine looks perfect.

Doing it yourself is hard work if youre able, but I sure as hell wasnt going to pay $22/ft to have a shotty fence.

quote:

---

BTW, as a former homebuilder, beware of fence contractors. You get what you pay for with these guys.

No offense if anyone here is a fence builder, but those guys were the lowest of the low when it came to subcontractors.

They will quote a ridiculously low price, put up a shoddy product, and never be heard from again.

Go check on any subdivision built by a major homebuilder. 3 years after houses are up the fences are down.

Cody
Fightin Texas Aggie c/o 04

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No entirely true... Big time home builders get what they asked for a "cheap azz fence" Most big time home builders will hire a big fencing company to come in and install "builder grade" fencing material such as Chinese cedar, landscape timber. Why because a home owners just see a fence and is happy to have a fence with the new home. It's kinda like Hey fence builder we wanna throw a fence up cheap so people will buy the house. We don't care just throw one up.

ps.... here in Austin you can order 79 cent builder grade pickets from Viking or you can by the good stuff for 2.89. Also I don't install cheap azz fences nor do I do shoddy work.

[This message has been edited by DrSocrates (edited 3/25/2012 6:42p).]

$15 - $20 a foot installed depending on type of material desired for standard 6 ft

If you do it yourself then roughly half the price depending on material desired for standard 6 ft


Landscape timbers are junk. Spend an additional $3 per post so your fence does not fall over in a few years after the base of the post rots out. Do some dd and read the tag on a landscape timber. There is a reason it says not for structural use and only carries a 1 year warranty.


When setting post use at least 80 lbs of concrete per post and on a 6 foot post make sure the post is buried 1/3 of the above grade length. On a 6 ' fence this is 60 inches above ground so 20" minimum deep hole.


Do not space the post more than 7 feet or your runners will sag.

3 runners is the only way I will build a fence.


Make sure you crown them up when nailing on post.

Treated pickets will warp from sun exposure and look like crap after a year.

I only use cedar pickets nailed with 2 inch ring shank nails.


Use 3 inch ring shank galvanized nails or 3 inch exterior screws to anchor runners to the post

[This message has been edited by JP76 (edited 3/25/2012 10:22p).]

I forgot the biggest thing I learned:

If you're DIY, build it with screws. If you don't own a nailer, a corded or cordless drill and a box of screws is way cheaper than a compressor, framing nailer, and nails.

The proper deck/fence screws don't have coating failures that cause them to rust, so you don't get unsightly stain marks.

You need a box of 2" or 3" deck screws for attaching the runners to the posts. Then you need a very large box of screws so that you can put two at the top, middle, and bottom. Don't cheap out and put one in; the plank WILL warp where you only put one.

If you, like I, used the cheap azz planks -- you can easily back the screws out a year later and replace the planks.

FWIW, I've seen fences last six to ten years on landscape posts if they don't get hit by wind and if the concrete was done properly so that water ran away from the post and not in towards it and if the people actually mowed their backyard, and I've seen others last a year with none of those things wrong. It's a gamble.