Anyone have any advice on building a fence and digging post holes?

I'm going to do this myself for the first time. I'm doing all the hard work such as digging post holes by hand. I've checked out a few books from the library that are really helpful but does anyone have any advice or know any great online resources I can use for help? I understand that getting the post holes right is the main concern when building a fence. I plan on taking my time with this project.





Questions I have at this point:





How far from the house do I dig the post holes?


How do I deal with a slight slope in my yard?(It goes up about a foot or two in the back right corner and then comes back down in the back left corner.


Any advice on the gate portion of the fence?Anyone have any advice on building a fence and digging post holes?
1) CHECK with your locality's code office about fences. Usually, side fences can be set on property line, back fences on property lines, front fences will have a setback requirement.


2) IF this is a big fence, strongly suggest going to rental center and renting a power post hole digger....it will take 2 people to use it, but it makes short work of digging the holes....allow one afternoon to dig about 30 -40 holes.


3) Place holes at 8' centers! I prefer a 10'; diameter hole...I want my fence to be very sturdy in the event of high wind. Dig holes at least 24'; deep, 30'; if in area of hard freezes...you do not want the posts coming out of the ground in freeze/thaw conditions.


4) Use Pressure Treated Post, CCA .4 DO NOT use further treatment...not necessary, these posts are good for at least 40 years underground...do not go for overkill...waste of money and time. Now, set posts into holes. Make sure you have at least 4'; taller than the fence will be height wise. Use premixed concrete in bags, pour into hole dry. Fill hole to about 2'; from top of soil. Use an accurate level, and plumb posts in both directions! ';Water'; the posts profusely to saturate the dry mix concrete. Make sure, after watering, the posts are still plumb. Allow to harden for one week, each day, saturate the ground around the post hole with water. AFter one week, the posts are ready to use.


5) USE Pressure treated 2X4's for the stringers...one at top, one at bottom, one in middle. Probably better to set 2X4's on 'edge' to prevent sag. Screw or nail into posts after trimming. These are the fence stringers. The stringers will follow the 'lay of the land..up, down, depending upon the grade. You cannot make a level fence around property unless the differences in grade are very minor. Hills, slopes, etc...follow the grade between the posts..there will be a happy medium to follow...your eye will tell you what to do.


6) After all the stringers are in place, apply fence boards, either inside or outside the stringers. IF you are a nice neighbor, the stringers will be inside. Set fence boards PLUMB...start with the first board, use a Level and screw in place...proceed about the fence, keep boards tight! (wood will shrink as it weathers, the seams will open some if you are in a dry area. IF the wood is really dry and you live in a high humidity area, be careful here...';age the fence boards'; by leaving them exposed to the are for at least 1-2 weeks...they will swell to meet the moisture in the air. You will loose a few to warping, but considering the consequences of a too tight set in wetter area, this is a small loss. Try to keep fence tight, each board plumb, remove as much warp as you can as you go around the fence. USE SCREWS (deck screws, not regular screws). Nails will 'pop' over time, so do not use them!


Now, trim each post to about 3-4'; higher than fence, cap each post with a metal or wood finial to make the fence sparkel. Stain with a wood sealant. Unstained wood will turn gray in a short time, but it will not turn gray evenly...A cedar tone is a good color. OR you can paint it if you like, just know that you will be painting for ever more if you apply one coat...paint does not hold up well on fences. Use either Cedar or PT lumber for the fencing...I prefer cedar, but redwood (expensive) can be used, not a great advantage over cedar..cedar will not rot above ground. Redwood available today is NOT what it used to be. IT is very soft, does rot in time.


I hope this helps.Anyone have any advice on building a fence and digging post holes?
Here's some opinions...





Posts should be as close to the house as you can get them but not touching. Posts are typically 4';x4';. Use sacks of redi-mix to set posts at least 18'; in the ground. Make sure posts are plumb in all directions. If you are going to have horizontal boards to nail ';pickets';, space your posts about 6'; less than the length of the horizontal piece. Yes, a bit of waste, but you wont have to ';stretch'; a board that doesn't fit. Depending on the width and the weight of the gate, you may want to use a 4';x6'; or a doubled 4';x4'; on the hinge side. You can level the ground as needed, stagger the height of a ';panel'; or stagger the height of each picket to compensate for the grade change or add a horizontal board cut on a taper at the bottom of the fence to compensate for the terrain. The pickets sit on top of the horizontal board and secured with a finish nail and are nailed to the stringers as well. Use a string line to maintain accuracy, placement and squareness and measure everything twice...at least.
You could try looking at some sites like lowes.com or homedepot.com to see if they have any project areas that might help you. I know Lowe's has a thing where you can lay out a plan for a garden and it will compile the list of materials and plants to buy. You may also be able to go into the stores themselves and talk to one of the people that work in the home and garden dept. Lowe's has Home Improvement clinics on Saturdays so you might ask if your local store is having any clinics this month or next month that pertain to your project. Buy a good post hole digger.


We have a chain link fence and the posts are right up to the house on both sides so there is no gap..... Our yard has slopes as well and the fence just follows the slopes...This may take a little more work with a wood fence, though. I am not sure what you mean about the gate.. It depends on how you use your yard.. If this is a back yard and you might have occassion to drive a vehicle into the yard, you will want to have a gate opening with double gates so it's big enough. And regular gates on one or two sides will make it convenient to get to other areas of your yard without having to go all the way around or through the house. We had the double wide gates put in on two sides (ends) of our fence and a regular one on the side. We have locks on them when not in use to prevent our son from getting out and the neighbor's kids from coming in when we're not home. Good luck on your project!
When setting fence post, always set them in the dark of the moon. If you set them in the light of the moon, they will lean 10 degrees over time. If you use wooden post, use treated ones, or rap the bottom with plastic or tar paper. Cut your stringers with a bevel on top to allow water to shed off them, your fince will last longer.
sorry, can't help with the digging info, but the BEST (and cheapest) preservative for a wood fence is old engine oil out of the car.





it stinks for a couple of weeks, but hey, so does Creosote.
Wow, a lot of questions here. I'll attempt to get through some of them.





If you’re in no hurry, I would dig the holes by hand. Now there is gonna be 10 people to tell you to rent an auger, and that’s fine to. But you described taking your time. If it is your intention to put this fence up a section or two at a time, then post-hole-diggers is the way to go. If you want to lay out the fence and install all of your posts, then find a buddy to hang on to the other end of the auger, lay out all your post locations, mark them w/paint and THEN go rent the auger. So many people attempt to build a fence and rent the auger. It then sits for a day or two while they lay out the fence and locate the posts.





Even if your intend to rent the auger, I would locate all the corner posts and install them first using a post-hole-digger. Then tie a string from one post to the other ON THE SAME SIDE OF BOTH POSTS. Use this string to locate the posts in the center. Once you have the posts holes marked, remove the string. After the holes are dug, replace the string so you can use it to aid in placement of the posts in a straight line.





If mounting the first post on the house (a 2X4 instead of a 4X4 will work on the house/building.) is not an option then I would want the first post as close as I could get to the house. Your first post, near the house may end up being a large hole. I would start near the house and use the hand diggers. If you hit the foundation of the house w/the digger, I would place the post on top of the foundation. The goal is to get the post below the frost line. The foundation is below the frost line. If you place the post on the foundation, you have accomplished your goal. Should you decide you do not want to put the post on the foundation, simply make the hole wider until you miss the foundation.





At the risk of opening up a can of worms with my DIY friends, one note here. I would not backfield the posts with concrete. Concrete has been proven to draw and hold moisture and causing the posts to rot much guicker. I would/do backfield all posts with gravel/stone and dirt for the top 6';. You may want to consider backfiling the hole totally with stone. This would keep grass from growing near the post and looks nice.





You have a couple different options in dealing with the slope in the yard. You could simply lower each section of fence between the posts an inch or two and keep the posts close to the same length or you could keep the top of the posts at the same level and make each fence section an inch to two longer. Without knowing the style of your fence, I cannot give you much more than that. Except for one piece of advice. Keep the posts level. Do not attempt to lean the posts in an effort to ';follow the slope';.





Pressure treated lumber has a very high moisture content. I would not attempt to apply any finish until the fence is up for a year. I would then decide about the finish. Do not concern yourself with the grey color the fence will turn. Should you prefer the fence to go back to its original color; a pressure wash will return it to its original luster.





The gate options are just too many to address here. I would place the gate posts 4’apart for a walk through gate. When placing gate posts don’t forget to consider what you intend to use in the yard. Don’t make the mistake of making a 4’ gate and then attempt to get a 48” lawn mower through it. It is simply too tight. You may also want to consider either a wide gate for vehicular access or installing one section of fence w/bolts so it could be removed in case of an emergency.





Good luck and enjoy your project.
a good wood preservative is to take pulverized charcoal and mix with boiled linseed oil until the consistancy of paint. then coat the entire fence timber.