# Need fence help..! Total noob.



## DatacomGuy (Jan 19, 2016)

Building a new home on five acres. I have never installed my own fencing before.. Wheeew. Scared. Here is my plan.. Looking for advice, help, suggetions, etc. the property is sloped and heavily wooded.

Going to fence in the "back yard" (roughly acre or 3/4 of ac) with a cross post style wood fence with a welded wire fence attached behind it. This area is for kids, dogs, guests, bbqs etc. no livestock. Possibly will have greenhouses and or compost area, etc. not sure.. Likely to have multiple gates depending on how i lay out the rest of the property.

Id also like to fence the entire perimeter of the property using metal posts and welded wire fencing. I will use a gate at the driveway recessed to allow me to get off the main road enough with my truck pulling our 32ft camper. Its a ~500ft driveway. Ill use the same type of fencing for livestock areas, but i think all were currently planning on is goats, chickens, and possibly pigs.

The property goes roughly 1500feet back and 500 feet or so across if i remember correctly. Ill have the survey soon.

So where i am coming up short is the material list. Unsure what length posts (wood and metal) to get, what height wire fencing to get, what configuration of wire fence (spacing), what type of wood to get for the backyard fence, when i need to use concrete or not, do i need gravel? Can i get by with a 6" auger on a "handheld" auger powerhead? Lots of questions.

So 6.5 foot steel posts, 4ft high welded wire fencing.. Assuming im burying 2feet of post, leaving 5" above the fencing. I read i should H brace every 100 feet or so with wooden posts, as well as bracing at corners and gates, correct? What wooden posts would yall recommend? 6.5 ft as well? 4" or 6" or?

Do i need to brace for elevation changes as well.?

Are there any good how to threads or links i can bury myself in to, to get more prepared?


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## Steve_S (Feb 25, 2015)

Your fence design & installation really depends on the land/soil you have and the lay of the fence line you intend. You do not mention where you are, so you must consider that if you are in an area that suffers frost in winter, your posts need to be below the frost line, lest they heave out on you.

Wood Posts like Cedar or Locus will last as they are more impervious to bugs & moisture issues compared to pine or others... Your region & lands again will guide you for materials to use.

If you cut trees from your own bush to use as posts, be sure to de-bark them... Bark provides shelter & food for bugs and a place for moisture to collect & rot your posts.

There are a few things to consider & plan for and you'll find both articles below discuss much of this in detail and the things to consider & plan for depending on your intended use. 

Here is a good article from Oregon State EDU: http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/nning_and_Building_Fences_on_the_Farm_PB1541.pdf and also another good article from University of Georgia Cooperative Extension http://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.cfm?number=C774


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

I'd consider renting a post pounder on a tractor, or buying one. That's a fair amount of fence to build.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Woven wire won't keep chickens contained and doesn't work real well for goats unless it's combined with an electric fence so I wouldn't bother using fencing higher than 4'.

H bracing every 100' seems overkill.

I would just go with metal T posts for the runs and wooden posts for the corners. I've never heard of anyone driving T posts 2' deep. Usually they are only driven deep enough to bury the 'spade' a few inches.

What kind of soil do you have? Is the elevation change over the length of the fence or does it go up and down? How much?


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Good treated round posts, round posts have taper to keep them from lifting and a round post holds a lot better, square posts have flat sides that hold nothing, just the 1 flat side, round post wedges in. 6" for corners, 5" for brace posts, 3' in the ground. 7' for 4' fence will work, I usually go with 8' for corner posts and bury near 4'. I like 2"x4" non-climb fence, not the welded type, Many call it horse fence, great for mixed livestock. Chickens don't crawl through and it keeps many critters out. Easier to stretch and install. Don't like welded fence at all Make the corners of long runs very stout, you do not want the corner post to move at all. I use gravel in the holes, 6" in bottom and tamp hard, then tamp 6" layers all the way up. Concrete holds water and the posts rot. H brace, and an N brace from top of brace to near bottom of second brace post, both with brace wires both ways, keeps posts in the ground and straight. I like 2 barb wires on top, one on the bottom and a hot wire on extended insulators at shoulder height for all animals enclosed. Top wire heavy, smooth, hot for horses, no extended insulator. I like this for all fences. No horses, hot barb wire keeps many critters out when they hit the hot wire, good if dog population, bears or big cats. Cattle down about 3' or so on extended insulator, hogs a foot off the ground, goats about 2'. Thus the 8' posts with 4' non-climb, 2 barb above. Braces at any fenceline direction change and any sudden low spot, T-posts pull up easy. I like to get 6" longer T-posts so I can drive them 18" in the ground. We have loose soils here, otherwise fence will lean, over time. I like a H brace with brace wires both ways at each roll of wire change, with wire wrapped around post. Over kill but keeps a great fence. Do it right the first time, I say....James


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

My place is 6 acres and was all forestry in the beginning. When it was cleared I kept the cedar posts for fencing purposes. (Didn't know to debark them so within 10 yrs most rotted at base and had to be replaced.) Replaced some with metal T-posts (the heavy duty ones) and drove them about 6" past the ... ummm flat part extended at one end ... I strung "woven" field fencing all around the parameter of these 6 acres, starting it 6" up from the ground. (I prefer the "rounded" treated fencing posts!)

Some of my "inside" fencing I used "welded" wire (4' tall). Since I raise "goats" I learned the hard way they will ruin a "welded" fence; so had to replace some of this.

Goats will also stand on field fencing if there is a tree/bush on the other side they can reach; and this will damage even the woven field fencing. Thus, I learned my posts needed to be 4' apart. Yes that close works great! (If I'ld of had the money, I would have put a 2"x 6" post all along the top of this field fencing as this would have kept the fencing better. However, having this fencing *tight *between posts works fine.

My soil is "sandy loam" and that meant it was best for me to bury the posts rather deep and stabilize them well. My frost line is 18" so I buried each post 2 ft into the ground and stabilized them with large rock except at the corners and gates. There I stabilized with concrete.

MY place has a 5% slops and some trenches toward the back. This means I had to string the fencing tightly and then cut it *diagonally* at some of the posts, which meant I had to wrap the fencing around more of the posts than I would have had to had the land been level. However, this also meant the field fencing was the same height (48" plus 6" from soil) everywhere.

The field fencing will *not *keep chickens in; however, even though all my fowl free-range, only the guineas have wondered past this parameter fencing and they would have flown over it no matter what type of fencing it was.

I might add here, since you stated you're thinking of raising goats (and pigs) you might want to consider some stronger fencing in strategic areas. Some people keep their herd "bucks" in separate pen. I did for a few years. For that I used cow panels and connected them to posts quite differently than with the regular field fencing. Also, I've never had pigs yet have considered the American Guinea Pig; and if I ever do decide to go ahead and get those, I would create a different fending for them because they will go *under *fencing.

Hope this helps.

Oh I might add: If you're going to attach any of your fencing to existing *trees *do so with rubber conduit or in time the wire will dig into the tree trunk.


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## BohemianWaxwing (Sep 13, 2014)

Our back half acre is 4 foot woven wire fence on wood posts (approx. on 30' intervals) with metal-ts between at 10' intervals. I did the corners with uprights in each direction 8' away and a horizontal post between these, then a wire cross-brace with a tensioner. The fence is super sturdy, looks decent and was fairly cost effective. We've had no problem containing chickens (Buff Orps), goats (Nigerian Dwarf) and a pig in this set up. Our ground is pure sand so I just dug 5' deep by hand and put in 10' posts in and filled it back up with the original dirt. 

The chicks, obviously, can walk through the wire fencing when small, but they stay close to mom and soon outgrow that. We don't have a lot of predator pressure around us (live in town), but I would sure love to add some fencing to my garden area to keep out rabbits... 

Enjoy planning and setting up the new place! That's such a fun stage.


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## DatacomGuy (Jan 19, 2016)

Thanks for all the input all! Keep it coming!

Im in GA.. In a rocky area but not sure yet what the soil consists of or what the frost line is. 

The chickens will be contained. Not concerned with them in regards to fencing.

Im equally concerned with keeping things out in addition to keeping livestock, children, snd dogs in.

Have so much to learn.. Seems like this is going to be quite the project.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Our frost line is 4' and I've never heard of anyone putting posts in that deep even on the corner and we are in sand country.

I've seen some farmers to the south use 3-4' diameter cylinders made of fencing and filled with rocks for corner posts.


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

Frost line shouldn't be an issue in Georgia.
I would look around, ask around others in the region to see what type of fence posts they've had best success with. Rocky conditions are tough, you can't pound in posts as you hits rocks, so you typically have to auger holes then backfill which is a much slower process.

Ask a nearby neighbor / farmer what they are using.


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## ihuntgsps (Mar 10, 2008)

1500' x 500' = over 17 acres.


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## fordy (Sep 13, 2003)

.............Wire mesh rolls will usually be 330 feet.........DONOT purchase 100 foot rolls of wire , BECAUSE , you will have too SPLICE every ---- one of those 12 or 13 individual wires on each 100 foot roll !!!!!!!!!!! Splicing one roll of wire to another is a PAIN in the A__! You don't need Hbraces except about every 330 feet !
..............Posts for Hbraces , T's , etc. for cross fencing should be 30 to 36 inches deep , made from 3 inch OD used oil field pipe ! 9 inch diameter holes work just fine , 12 inch is even better . 9 inch holes 30 inches deep take 2 , 80lb. sacks of sackcrete , a 12 inch hole will take about 3 sacks . 
..............Teach yourself how to weld , you'll save tons of money and you'll be surprised how much fun it really is , once you become comfortable 'burning rod ! , fordy


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## DatacomGuy (Jan 19, 2016)

ihuntgsps said:


> 1500' x 500' = over 17 acres.


Yeah was reading the map wrong. Hope to have the survey back soon.


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

We are frugal and aren't that worried about looks so. . .

We use 6X6 or 8X8 treated timbers for corner post then use treated 4X4s for line post. They are 8' long and 3' is buried. To that we attach 5' tall chainlink using fencing staples. Its has kept every critter we have ever needed to contain contained. We did need to add a hot wire for the hog and we put one along the top to keep climbing critters out (*****, possums, etc). 

If you watch craigslist or ask around a lot you can usually get used chainlink fencing for the cost of taking it down. Its easier to find 3 or 4 foot stuff than the 5 foot but for most things 4 foot is plenty tall. You can also sometimes find cheap treated 4X4s as well but usually only a few at a time.

FYI if we could find a place to buy them cheap and in bulk we'd use round post but we use what we can get.


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## JawjaBoy (Jan 21, 2013)

Fencing in about 2 acres right now in southeast GA. This is my first fencing rodeo as well, so I feel your pain.

I would recommend woven wire over welded. Cost is not much different and the woven holds up much better. 

I used 8" posts at corners and gates with 6" posts bracing them. H braces at 100-125 foot intervals. 6.5' T-posts every 10 feet driven so only about 4-6" of post is above fence.

Good luck to you! Hope everything goes smoothly!


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