strenghening feathered edged fence,

[mickjbud]

Hi all

I have recently installed a 6x6 feathered edged fence with 3x3x8ft postcreted 2 foot below ground with nails hammered in. The panels are held on the fence with 8 metal brackets each.

We recently experienced high winds and noticed that the fence was swaying quite a lot. I put some 3x3 offcuts and wedged them at an angle against each panel in the middle under the second slat. This stabilized the fence a lot, in fact it was a lot more rigid.

To permanently reinforce I am thinking of dropping some more 3x3x8ft posts in between the original posts and screwing the panels directly to these. However I might also put diagonal slats on the panels to make them more rigid as you would a gate and maybe add some stronger 2x4 across the top and bottom of each panel.

I could also put some angled 'lean to' supports that sit on concrete and support the fence on each fence somewhat like I did as a temporary measure in the winds, but fixed to a concreted grounding and to each panel, centred.

I am in a bit of a dilemma of which way to go for this. The fence is new and replacing or rebuilding is not an option.

Any advice or help is welcome and highly appreciated.

Kind regards

mick

 

[cleggy]

posts should have been concrete not wood.

then slide a gravel board in then a wooden panel

if done correctly they will never budge

we had same problems with old fence replaced with concrete posts gravel board and wooden panel no more probs even in strongest winds

 

[digdilem]

Er, cleggy - if the posts were concrete it would not have made any difference here. Given the extra weight they would probably have moved more.

If closed-board fence moves, the posts aren't in deep enough. 2 foot for an 8' post is not the third recommended. You can get away with 25% footed if the ground is stony and hard, but clearly here it isn't.

Options:
Remove some slats to let the air through. Reduce the height or in some other way reduce the wind effect on the posts.

If that's not an option, you can brace permanently at regular intervals. Ground-anchor these braces properly and they'll hold the fence back too, so you won't need to do them on both sides.

If that's not an option - without re-doing completely the only solution I can think of is to expand the hole and add a LOT more concrete, bonding to the existing small bit of postcrete. Eventually you'll enough enough mass so that even in soft ground it won't move, but you'll certainly be in the 2 or 3 wheelbarrows per post region.

 

[sjroberts1]

when i did my fence we used 4x4 posts 2 foot into the ground whacked in with plenty of concrete, 3.5x1.5 inch rails and then featheredge on to that, the fence runs north to south in a large exposed open space and hardly moves an inch in any winds

 

[foxhole]

Could you clarify what fence type you have, feather edge panels, or feather edge fixed to arris rails.?

 

[big-all]

did you have a v shaped hole at least 12" across and a bit off hardcore rammed round the post to give support??

 

[sjroberts1]

feather edge fixed on to rails, dug roundish holes put post in hole, whack in 3/4-dust mixed with cement checking that post is upright and in line, keep going till hole is nearly full, you can add a bit of water or just let it draw moisture and set on its own when done use a bit of the turf you dug out of the hole to put around the post and hide the concrete