I'm quite excited about today's video
I've got 18 meters of fencing to
construct at the bottom of my garden and
with most of my projects I'm doing it
for the first time and I'm doing on my
own now there are lots of different
types of fencing like for example these
are closed board fencing panels that you
can see here but with over 18 meters to
fence I decided to go for this
traditional closed board fencing because
it's a really economical way to put up
an incredibly sturdy system and what
which on a gradually sloping garden like
mine you can seamlessly construct up the
hill in marked contrast to the panel
board systems where you have to step
them up the slope a fencer in short I'm
hoping is going to outlive my time in
this house now quick tip before we start
if you can buy from a local fencing
supplier rather than from online I
bought this lot online because I was
really impressed with the quality of the
system but I had a few problems with it
firstly they sent me the wrong length
feather boarding for this longest
section here they wouldn't accept
responsibility so I have to drive down
to replace the feather boarding sections
of myself secondly if you borrow it
locally you can chat through
over-the-counter everything you need and
keep popping back if you need extra
stuff they work for you actually bits
that I obviously couldn't get because
I'd bought them online and thirdly the
company if I bought from put the post
saver sleeves that I will come on to
shortly in completely the wrong place on
this longest section of posts here
resort which I've had to live with is
that I've got posts over sleeves much
further out of the ground than they
should be none of this would have been a
problem if I bought everything from my
local fencing supplier so basically I've
got to long climb into runs and then the
fence is going to turn it 90 degrees and
head over there into that place in the
corner so I've got a little bit of a
game plan which I come on tea involves
starting in this corner using the
original fence post here that's my
starting point
by taking out the original post I'm 90%
there on the first haul I've got a dick
okay step one I'm going to start by
marking out the perimeter of the new
fence putting a few guide posts in
[Applause]
and now without done and we stretched a
line across the whole lot they might
that on the ground so I know exactly on
offense place are going my good things
about doing a string line like this
before you start is it allows you to
work out exactly what your fence posts
are meeting out what angle your fence
post meteor I want this to be ninety
degrees and that is definitely not
currently ninety degrees so I just need
some justice fence boost out a little
bit I thought I've been paying Evan to
work around string on the floor while I
was digging so I bought this line bark
up and see how we going with it now with
the line of the first run marked out on
the ground with the line marker I can
remove the post and begin the process of
digging the holes for the first post
nothing I've done is mark the position
of the posts which are basically spaced
at three meter intervals to coincide
with the length of the Aris rails eight
pays five two point seven meters and
three two point four meters now as you
can see here another attraction of these
posts was that they were fitted with the
post safer system which is designed to
prevent rot at ground level for bound
braces that I decided uses bituminous
paint just to completely seal the post
and prolong their life now as you'll
have seen so far there's a slope on part
of the area that we're fencing so I
offer two point seven meter long posts
for this area and in their wisdom
they've gone and put the post saver for
those longer posts at completely wrong
point they put them at the same point as
they have for the shorter two point four
meter posts which is a complete pain I
couldn't take them back and what I ended
up having to do as well as coating the
rest of the
lower section with the bituminous paint
ended up buying some more pay saver
sleeves
I spoke to pay saver and they were
incredibly frustrated that this company
put the pace a was in the wrong point
because they'd only trained them a few
months earlier
but anyway it's one of these things I'll
have to live with and you'll see the
consequences of it later on in the video
so I've done a quick mock-up of the
fence as it will be constructed because
I wanted to make sure that I set the
fence place in exactly the right place
in the ground you see we've got this top
rail switch the finishing strip what do
you fix it to like that
and looking down to the bottom we've got
our chunky gravel boards and then below
that that is the ground level and if you
look at the post savers there is a
dotted line which marks the ideal ground
level which is pretty much in exactly
sort of five seven mil above actually
where I've got that so I'm going to mark
that point by screwing a grabber board
to the fence place so that when I put it
in the ground I'll have it in exactly
the right place at the time Bayon I'm
going to excavate my whole two foot
basically six hundred mil plus a bit of
space for the for the gravel I'm going
to use a bit of sacrificial leftover
[Applause]
now there's lots of debate as to whether
you should put gravel at the bottom of
the hole to help with drainage I've
decided to come out and do this ever the
mountain braces approach is best so I
bought some of this 20 millimetre gravel
from my local building merchants
I'm gonna shove a bit at the bottom of
the hole quick point but something I've
been mulling over quite a lot during
this video I put my gravel in the bottom
and then plonk the post down on top of
it and then concrete on top of that
probably to assist with the drainage I
should have continued to put a bit more
gravel around the post before concreting
it that way the post is truly sunk into
the gravel rather than surrounded by
concrete the reason why people use
gravel is in theory because when if a
post shrinks water can get down between
the post and the concrete and rot the
bottom of the place but I don't know
whether there's anything in that
personally most of the ground what
happens at ground level where you've got
oxygen and some people say that the
problem with gravel is it produces a
sponge for all the surrounding water to
go into anyway so anyway I'll leave you
to decide yourselves in a comment
section below what your views are on
that but in the meantime I would say
that probably don't need the gravel if
we've done what I did which is coat the
bottom of the post in the bituminous
paint without specialist tools the first
hole itself dug out with my demolition
bar and a good old fashioned trowel
[Applause]
that's it with a post just to check why
start surfing
[Applause]
yeah and please this little tool because
the other thing is going to enable me to
do is to make sure that my fence post is
nicely parallel to the line when I set
it the concreting I'm using this remix
dry mortar and it sets a little bit
slower gives you a little bit more time
to set the place ten minutes and it's a
little bit cheaper as a result
everyone's got a different view on how
to set posting concrete so I decided to
keep things simple by following the
instructions on the back of the concrete
bag itself so I'll fill the hole with
water has taken a sort of builders
bucket
[Applause]
the instructions say you've had the post
mixer obviously uniformly around the
post until it's above the level of the
water then had additional water if the
dry powder is showing for me I think
this could create quite a sloppy mix
because when you start prodding the
mixture with a stick even after the
powder is above the water you actually
realize has quite a lot of sort of gaps
or voids or areas within the water where
the concrete hasn't actually gone into
so what I like to do is keep running the
hole with a stick adding extra concrete
until you've got yourself a really
lovely strong sturdy mix end up using
nearly two bags in here and I've made a
couple of spikes putting the ground to
hold the paste in position while it's
setting but it's already so firm I've
been able to adjust the post get it
exactly plumb without actually putting
any of these supporting spikes in right
for my next place I've got these two
really amazing old-fashioned looking
pave stickers that I borrowed from my
father-in-law now there are lots of pay
stickers on the market and provided the
your soil isn't too full of roots and
stones and you've got enough fencing to
do to justify it I really recommend
buying one of these because I have found
digging the holes it's so much quicker
with my old-fashioned posting er so I'm
gonna try this corkscrew first and see
how I get on
[Applause]
I've hit something the answer is not
great so I'm going to have to resort to
a good old-fashioned Spade make a bit of
more headway now I had to get my angle
grinder out to remove this
so now I've got this tool out actually
and now suddenly getting a bit of depth
into my hole because I was using my
trout and that was getting me nowhere
so I am loving this tool now look at
this check it out
lift the collar and out it comes old
tools are always the best guys I also
found my demolition bar to be the
perfect companion to the holding tool
because every now and again you hit
something like a hidden stone or brick
or a root so that needs to be moved out
of the way before you can put the
digging tool back in the ground you ever
say I really like about this little
piece I've got the bottom as it gives me
the ability to just want the post into
the ground and leave it and so it's
always number two now get me the right
amount of water in the hole is quite
important three quarts of a black
building bucket is more than enough for
a hole like this by ends like putting in
a little bit too much I think making
sure the holes half-full of water with a
post in rather than when the post is out
is more likely to give you the right
sort of quantity of water
[Music]
right you see I put a little but just on
this one just to keep it up exactly
plumb whilst it's setting what I've
learned on this particular one is I've
put a little bit too much watering
initially ignore these surface water
I'll just put a little bit more on top
at the end but because I put too much
water in I ended up having to put too
much cement in I would say fence post
number one is the perfect amount because
I've got enough I've got a few inches
now 70 or so mil to perfect surface a
bit of a bit of topsoil on top of the
concrete whereas on this one I haven't
got that much I still put a bit of
topsoil on but was not sort of like
they're thinking about it the less top
saw you've got around the post the less
likely it is to rot okay the fence posts
are shaping up quite nicely the two
corner posts are in this is quite
crucial base this one because being the
corner posts they're taking a lot of
wind resistance so I'm really pleased
with the solidity of that
and also in quite chuffed about this
looking at spirit level it's exactly
plum I decided in the end to buy some
new posts over sleeves and apply them at
the right point that the fencing company
should have done themselves I didn't do
a brilliant job because my pipe burn I
think has to focused a flame I will
probably be doing another video to talk
about the pros and cons of these post
savers but anyway I managed to get them
on and they did the job sadly you can
really see the point I was making about
the pace savers being far too high build
the grounds stay three following
Saturday we've got a lot of rain this
week so things are gonna get muddy first
time I got to do is put in these little
mini Eretz rails which the fence
suppliers designed to sit midway between
each three meter run to support the
gravel boards so I've got my string out
again and I've stretched it between the
posts talking about where these supports
are going applying a bit bitumen to my
little board posts she'd done this last
night really but I have a really busy
week and I just couldn't face it and it
was cold and dark and all the rest of it
so I'm going to leave that soak in for a
couple of hours while I dig the rest of
the holes I know it's ridiculously
over-the-top [ __ ] meaning these but you
know what guys if we're doing a DIY job
like this why not take it higher than a
level that any tradesman would ever go
to that way you know you've done the job
properly and you know it's going to last
[Music]
at this point it's important to get the
gravel balls in the right position so to
do that I start from the top with the
counter rails I can then put two feather
boards in place and work out the exact
position of the gravel boards and I
should probably point out at this stage
that all the screws you see we're using
in this video our site mates premium
decking screws 4.5 by 75 millimeters or
8 by 3 inch from that point I can then
fix the Aris rail into place and fix a
mini Irish rail in position so that it
can be concreted I cut this additional
v-shaped notch into my longer two point
seven meter posts because I wasn't happy
with the gap between the bottom of the
Aris rail and the gravel boards this
pointed more into line with the gap that
I've got on the 2.4 meter place
now my new v-notch woodcutter after the
tunnel izing process and I wasn't
particularly pressed with how much the
tunnel izing had sunk into the timber so
as a precaution to protect my post I
ended up applying more bituminous paint
to the freshly cut notches with all the
bottom areas rails supporting pieces and
gravel boards in place it was then a
really straightforward quick process
getting all the remaining Harris rails
screwed to the pace now the fences like
this or for fences of any particular
length you really want to think about
hiring a now gun using just a normal
hammer and nails is going to take you
far too long and all that hammering
could end up destabilizing the fence
place you just put in this is now gonna
borrow from my friend John you can hire
one of these for anything from 25 pounds
a day up to 35 pounds for a week from my
local hire shop what you'll need to get
with the nail gun is a pack of nails you
can get packs of a thousand with a gas
canister which is this from about 18
pounds plus VAT which is a pretty good
deal considering the canisters
themselves in two packs can range from
anything between 12 and 36 pounds it's
basically the three parts of gun you've
got a battery that you need to charge up
that goes in there
[Applause]
canister gas canister slots in the end
there
[Applause]
and finally you laid your nails like
that not to say of course you have to
use it now gum but as you can see from
the images here if you do use a normal
hammer and nails you'll find it's a much
slower process now the other thing
you'll see quite a lot of debate about
on the internet is where to position the
nails in from the edge of the feather
board now I found an optimal position
when doing my fence of about thirty
millimeters in from the edge of the
feather board we've obviously got a 25
millimeter overlap on the feather board
so placing the nail thirty millimeters
in allows you to drive a nail home
without splitting the feather board but
it also gives you the ability to
potentially to remove a damaged feather
board should you need to do so to
replace it if you drive the nail in too
far away from the edge of the board
remember you're using a nail gun rather
than a hammer like this the danger is as
a now gun drives the nail home you end
up cracking the feather board buying a
beer here for hours if I measure out my
25 mil overlaps for every single feather
edge so I've got my old track circular
saw track saw a guide rail guide here
which is almost exactly the right width
to make a perfect jig it's a little bit
too long so what I'm doing
putting a screw there so I can get it to
exactly the right depth so every now and
again I'm checking that the feather
boards are still perfectly vertical with
my spirit level just in case one of the
feather board slips on the jig
[Music]
when you get four or five boards away
from the corner it's a good idea to
check how much space you've got left and
adjust the overlap of the feather boards
accordingly so that you don't have to
cut any feather boards down all right in
the cooler down here where the ground
slopes down I was just gonna fill that
with gravel boards but that's not gonna
look good when you've gone to this much
effort by as I'll do the job properly so
a little bit of a rethink and I'm going
to reconfigure this section of the fence
[Applause]
now how much better does that Garmin
board just needs to dry out and blend in
first you straight guys just putting the
capping rails under it's all about
screwing the top rails on but Ashley
found this to be the best solution using
some galvanized roofing house
[Music]
[Music]
so that's the everyone the fence is
finally finished I'm sorry you've had to
sit through a marathon over 20-minute
video today I wanted to post everything
in one video I don't know a big fan of
drip-feeding
video projects in sort of bite-sized
chunks that's all I hope you can
actually fits sit through the whole
thing I've got to say this is one of my
proudest achievements today I knew
nothing about building fences before I
started this I did quite a lot of
research to decide which fencing system
I was going to work with and then all
the processes that went into
constructing it and I think I've ended
up with a really good really good
solution I really didn't know that I was
going to be able to achieve this over a
year ago I struggled to put up the two
fence panels that you saw at the start
of this video and I had to get my mate
John over to help me this time immensely
the whole thing on my own so I think
what this shows is there are really no
barriers to what you can achieve if you
do the research and you put your mind to
it and you get the right tools for the
job
as ever details of all the tools and all
the fencing materials and the price of
all those things will be in the
description at the end of this video so
check that out if you want to know what
I did how I did it and how much it costs
so thanks again for watching today's
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