Fix Your Own Fence – How to Secure Your Garden
Whether you own your own home, or are just in a position to get creative with the home you are in, one thing us Brits cherish more than anything is our own privacy.
If you’re lucky enough to have your own back garden, you will know that having it fenced in not only helps with privacy, but security too; especially if you have pets or young children.
But getting someone in to fence your space can end up costing you a small fortune.
Luckily, if you have a few good friends and some sheer grit and determination, you can do it yourself fairly easily. After all, we do love to try our hand at DIY!
Just to show you how much you could save… I had two quotes for fencing my decent size garden. Both quotes were around £2,200. We ended up buying the fence panels, posts, kickboards and postcrete, and fitting them ourselves. Our total cost? Just shy of £900.
All you need are the following items: your crew, and enough tea, coffee, bacon sarnies and biscuits to keep them happy.
Fence Panels & Fence Posts
Fence panels and posts aren’t exactly cheap, although you can save some money if you buy in bulk. Some places offer this, meaning the more you order, the cheaper they are.
If you’re not in a huge rush, or have some time to prepare, keep your eyes open. Search on eBay, your local Facebook pages, and shop bulletin boards. People often over order, sell old stock, or good quality second hand panels; meaning you can get your panels even cheaper, or in some cases free! Just make sure you have means to transport them! Six foot fence panels don’t exactly fit in the boot of your car!
Fence posts are slightly harder to come by second hand – wooden ones are usually rotten towards the bottom when they are taken out, and concrete ones usually have to be broken down to get them out, especially as they are set in concrete. However, you may fall lucky – especially if you want a lower fence, as the wooden ones can be cut down.
You can also improvise, and use things like the wood from pallets to create your own boards. You can keep them at the height they come in, or get creative and make them to any height you’d like. Check out Pinterest to get some inspiration on how to create your new fence.
Setting Your Posts
Setting your fence posts is a vital stage to creating your fence. In order to have your fence stable and, well… Not looking like a drunk person put it up, you need to make sure of a few things.
- They need to be in a straight line. The easiest way to ensure they sit straight, is to set your first and last posts.
- Once you have done this, tie a piece of string around the two posts (only do this once your two end posts have fully set, so their position isn’t compromised by the string).
- As long as the string is tight enough, you should be able to position your remaining posts easily enough to see the centre line, and height – although it is always advised to measure the height separately, in case the string dips. You can assess the correct width by placing your kickboards now.
- Digging the holes for your posts work better if the holes are smaller; a specific hole digger works great for this, and saves you backache compared to using a shovel.
- Once you’ve determined the height and position of your posts, use Postcrete (Blue Circle is great, and cheap if you shop around), but you can just as easily make your own concrete mix, which may be cheaper, depending on how much you require. Add some small rubble to the mix to create an even stronger mixture.
Once the posts are in, and your panels are ready – simply pop them in (ideally while your posts are freshly in, so you have a small degree of flexibility to ensure a tight fit!) and there you have it – your own fence done on a budget!
