Building a fence is the easiest way to give your property some
extra safety, security, and privacy from the road or from
your neighbours.
Everyone will see it too.
So it's a good reason to make sure it's built well
and looks good.
The fence we're building here is a simple post rail
and paling fence.
Follow these instructions and with a good plan,
you'll be able to do it yourself.
Now there's a few things you need
to be aware of before you get into it.
Firstly, you can build a fence up to 2.5 metres high
without a building permit.
But it's always best to check with your council
before starting.
And if you're building on a boundary line,
your best to talk to your neighbour about what sort
of fence you're building, it's costs, and your start time.
Also download a copy of the Fencing Act
to make sure you're in the know.
Next, you'll need to establish your boundary.
If you can't find your boundary pegs, get a copy of your plans
from the council or get a surveyor in to help you out.
Also it's important to check your council plans to see where
all your pipes are located.
You certainly don't want to hit any of those.
And also, you'll need to call your electricity provider
for info on underground wires because these may not
be shown on your plans.
So now it's time to decide what your fence is going
to look like and what materials you're
going to use to build it.
In our situation, we're just going
to match the existing fence with a rough sawn post,
four by two rails, and rough sawn fence palings.
You could also get dressed or glue laminate posts
and a variety of paint finished palings in different sizes.
So now you can measure up, draw yourself up a plan,
and get your materials ordered a few days
before you start the job.
OK, the site's been cleared so I've got a nice clean canvas
to work with.
The first thing I have to do is establish
exactly where my boundary is so I can put up my string line.
OK.
I've got my string line up.
Now, not only does this represent exactly where
my boundary line is, it also represents
the center of my post holes.
Normally when I build a fence, I put my posts
at no more than 2 metres apart.
You can go up to 2.4.
In this situation I've measured out,
and two metres is exactly where the existing fence was
and I can see there's still concrete in the hole.
I don't want to dig all that concrete out.
So what I'm going to do is actually
space my posts a little bit closer together.
At the moment, I've got five posts.
I'm going to put one extra post in.
So that's going to give me six posts, which
will mean I can get away from all that existing concrete.
Using my tape measure and dazzle,
I'll measure and mark the center of each post
along the boundary line.
Then I'm ready to dig my holes, which
need to be a minimum of 250 millimetres in diameter
and 600 millimetres deep.
You can use a spade to dig them by hand
but I've hired a posthole borer to make the job nice and easy.
So I measure and mark the required depth on the auger
so I know when to stop.
I'm using the two piece and posthole borer,
so I've got a mate in to help.
And make sure to clean the hole out
before you drop your posts in.
Ok, all my postholes are dug.
They're looking great.
I'm just about ready to throw my posts in, ready for concrete.
Now, I've moved our string line, which was
the center of our postholes.
I've moved that over 100 millimetres.
I've got to 100 because our post is 100 mil thick,
so I'm coming in half that, which is 50.
And I'm just going to keep our string line 50
millimetres off our post.
The reason for that is, most of the time
these rough sawn posts have a few dags on them
and that could affect our string line
if the string line was to be hard up against it.
I've also put a string line at the top.
That's 100 millimetres away from our center as well.
Now I've got two different fence heights.
I've got one here that I'm starting from and one
down the other end that's 200 millimetres higher.
So I've set the string line up using my laser
to shoot a nice straight line and I'll
keep my post full length then cut
them to height down the track.
Now I'm just about ready to put my posts in.
I've got a bit a concrete in the bottom
for my posts to sit on because we don't want
our posts touching the ground.
Now I've also got myself an off cut, of four by two here,
which is 50 mil thick.
So I'm going to use that in between the post and the string
line just to use as a rule.
And I've also got a couple of braces
here with screws already in the end ready for me
to screw into my pegs that I've already plonked in the ground.
Because I'm working on my own, I just
have to get myself set up to make it easy.
So what I'm going to do is put my brace up against my peg.
And it's going to make sure that I'm 50 mil away, which
is the thickness of our block.
It's pretty good down there.
And that's about five mil away.
So it says I just need to tweak that bottom over a tad.
And come back and check that.
So that's looking good.
So what we'll do is put a screw in our brace.
And we'll put one down here.
So I'm just going to pick up my brace
and put that on the other side of the peg.
I'll do a quick check for plum and secure the second brace
at the top and the bottom.
That's looking great.
So what I'm going to do now is set up my next post.
Use the same peg, come back on to that,
process is exactly the same.
And that's all my posts braced, ready for concrete.
I've mixed up all my concrete as per the instructions
on the back of the bag.
All I have to do, plonk that in the hole about 100 millimetres
from the top.
Work out any bubbles and let it set for 24 hours.
It's been 24 hours, concrete's nice and set.
The posts are looking good.
Next thing I have to do is take our braces off.
Rightio.
So I'm just about ready to start marking out
my fence post for where my rails are situated.
I'm just going to match in with my existing fence here.
We're 50 millimetres down from my string line
here, which indicates the top of my paling.
Now normally you could go a maximum of 150 millimetres
from your top of your rail to the top of your paling.
So we're just going to copy in here what's here, 50 mil down.
So we're going to keep that line all the way through.
So on my first new post, I'll mark 50 millimetres down
from the string line.
Do the same on my last post.
And then run a chalk line between the two,
indicating the top of my first set of rails.
And to match the existing, I'll do the same
for the middle rails.
Now for my bottom rail, ultimately, I'd
like to match up with what's existing,
but I can't do that because my ground level here
is slightly higher than over there.
So what I'm going to do is just take our ground level
and come up 50 millimetres, and that measurement there
will be the bottom of our rail.
If I wasn't working in with an existing fence,
I would mark the top of my top rail
150 millimetres down from the top
of the fence, the bottom of my bottom rail
150 millimetres up from the ground,
and then split the difference for the middle rail.
So that's the bottom of my bottom rail
marked on all my posts.
Now there's a couple of different ways
we can fix our fence rails.
One is to the face like that spanning over three posts.
Or what we're going to do, is take our fence rails
and fix it in between our posts.
Now when you start measuring out for your rails
in between the posts, take the measurement at the bottom
and use that for all three rails.
I've already squared my mark around.
I've got a nail sitting on there that's going to help me out.
So I just sit that in there nice and flush with the front.
Now, you could use four inch nails
or 90 mil galvanized nails to fix that to the post.
What I like to use is these 100 mil galvanize bugle screws.
Reason for that is, it's going to reduce any twisting
or warping of our posts and our rails
and it's just going to hold everything
together nice and strong.
Now, if you are working in a high wind zone,
I'd recommend you use something like 100 mil by 10 mil coat
screw.
That'll fix it in nice and strong as well.
And it's best practice to use three screws per rail
on each end.
For the top rail, what I will use
is my strop to make sure I tighten those two posts
and really nice and tight.
My fence rails are up.
They're looking fantastic.
Now when we put our palings to our rails,
we want to keep them off the ground about 20 odd mil.
So I've just laid a board down there.
And we're just going to drop our paling on top of that.
Now I've left my line on here.
That's always been our level line.
And our boards are going to stick above it because we're
not staying to this height.
We're staying to our height on the other end of the fence,
which is 200 millimetres down.
So I'm going to use the string line
to get a nice straight line later and then
come back, cut those off, and then cut our posts off.
Because I'm using a 25 millimetre thick fencing
paling, I'm going to use my 65 mil galvanized fencing
nail to fix these.
And I'm going to be using my nail
gun to apply the nail through.
Now obviously you can use a hammer and nail to do this.
Couple more little tips before you crack into it.
When we put our boards up, we're going to use a hammer
and chisel, get it nice and tight,
because nine times out of 10, these boards have
got a lot of moisture in them.
When the sun hits them and dries them out,
more than likely, you'll get a little gap.
So we'll try and avoid that.
And then fix them with two nails per paling on each rail.
And about every six or seven boards,
we're going to throw our trusty level on
there just to make sure we're staying plum the whole way.
Another wee tip is to use a spirit level
to give yourself a straight line for your nails to follow.
A few rails from the end, measure the remaining space
as you may very well need to rip your final paling down to fit.
Simply measure and mark each end, ruler line along,
and cut it down using your circular saw.
Then fix them in place, and that's all our palings on.
I've flicked the chalk line on the wall
here for me to cut the top of my palings off.
Now I'm just going to use my trusty circular saw to do that.
Just going to set that just the depth of the palings.
And you could put a board underneath here
if you don't trust yourself with a nice straight freehand.
But however, I'm just going to freehand that and give myself
a nice straight line.
Finally, cut the posts off at an angle so the water runs off.
So there's our new fence.
Just stick to the plan and it'll be easy as.
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