On 23/01/2018 20:18, newshound wrote:
On 23/01/2018 19:34, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Tue, 23 Jan 2018 18:34:26 +0000, wrote:

I need to fence a 70m boundary, mainly to stop a dog from straying but
also as a security deterrent. The land is reasonably flat for about 80%
of the distance and then slopes down at about 20 degrees. The fence will
run through trees so won't be visible. I haven't erected a fence before
so I'd appreciate some guidance.
My plan is to use 6ft galvanized stakes, with 2ft in postcrete and 4ft
above ground, and with suitable braces at the ends and changes of
direction or slope. The fencing will be 4ft (1220) galvanized welded
mesh, supported by 3 or 4 lengths of HT wire woven through the mesh and
tensioned between the stakes.

Is this sensible? Is there a better (i.e. easier, cheaper, or more
effective) way of doing it?

I'm no expert on fencing, but all that sounds a bit OTT to me just for
a dog. Why not use standard pig netting or similar stock fencing
http://bit.ly/2rzbHVl , strung between proper pressure-treated wooden
posts, driven in with manual post driver/thumper http://bit.ly/2n6AeMZ
or hire a portable mechanical driver like this http://bit.ly/2F5ByWS

That's exactly what I would have said. The magic name is stock fencing.
If it's a small dog, you can get "horse netting" where the verticals are
about half the distance apart of the generic sheep netting (so that a
horse can't get a hoof through the holes). And no need for high tensile
wire, the horizontals in this sort of fencing are already high tensile.
It is worth trying to tension the net properly, though, it will be more
robust and will look better. You can get a tool for this, it is (if I
recall) a bit of galvanised angle iron with hooks to engage the net.
After stapling one end of the wire to a post with a diagonal brace, you
tension the other end with a quad or 4x4. Normally done with two men,
but I've done it single handed by using a static vehicle as the second
anchor, and using a manual winch to tension lengths prior to stapling.

Get your stakes from a farm supplies place rather than a "shed", they
will be cheaper and almost certainly better. You can get "nice looking"
ones which are machined round, but "as grown" ones with just the bark
stripped off are half the price. At our local place these are described
as "2 to 3 inch" and "3 to 4 inch", the latter are quite substantial.

With the money saved, you could probably get a couple of farm
contractors to do it, they will use a JCB or similar (either with a
power thumper, or for a 3-series just using the bucket plus the 8 tons),
and probably make a much neater job of it in a fraction of the time.
Unless the ground is very rocky they would do it in a day.


I've been reminded that it's to keep (future) grandchildren in as well
as the (future) dog, which will be a Border Collie, so electrification
is not an option!

Thanks for making me investigate wooden posts again - some are
guaranteed for 25 years so that is probably a better option than T
section "angle".

Having thought a bit more about this I'm going off the idea of welded
mesh because of the downslope. I don't like the verticals not being,
err, vertical and the ends would also be odd. I need something that will
"lozenge" slightly to accommodate the slope. More research needed.