AVS Blog Archive for June 2009

AVS Fencing Supplies are pleased to be offering our support to a stand at this years RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show (July 7-12).

The Tudor Rose Garden has been created by local garden designer Chris Burns. Chris an MS sufferer, has created this 'senses' garden with less abled people in mind and the stand (D40) will be used to promote three different charities - the MS Society, the RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind) and the NBCS (National Blind Children’s Society).

The stand itself has been cleverly designed so that it will look like a Tudor rose from above and the display itself uses different techniques so that everyone can enjoy it:

• The plants have been specially grown and chosen for their qualities of promoting the senses with scent, texture and sound.
• All the labelling is in Braille and has been printed by the RNIB, so even those without sight can experience the plants and read about them.
• Special non-slip paint has been used on the walkways and the raised beds show how disabled people can more easily tend plants that are higher off the ground.

AVS Fencing Supplies have been pleased to provide decking and timber posts for use on the display and we are sure the finished result will look fantastic.

For anyone intending to visit the show this year please ensure you pop over to stand D40 to lend your support and experience this great display.

The Best ways to secure your fence posts

In this post we look at ways to secure your fence posts amongst the areas that we will look at are using post mix, met posts, concrete and soil back fill so that next time you are choosing fence panels and want to understand the different methods of fixing the fence post in connection with the erection of your garden fence panel you will be able to make an expert choice.

Post Mix
Post mix comes in a polythene bag and is a ready mixed concrete product made with rapid hardening cement which is poured dry straight from the bag into the post hole to surround the post, water is then added to the top of the post hole and is then absorbed into the post mix allowing the concrete to cure supporting your fence post. It is a product which is growing in popularity as a method of securing fence posts particularly timber fence posts for garden fences.

Best bits - post mix is easy to use and works well it is an inexpensive product.
Worst bits - few.

Met Posts
Met post is a trade name for a popular range of post spikes and bolt down post shoes where a fence post is being erected into normal soil ground a spiked met post is chosen. The met post spike is hammered into the ground using a simple and cheap met post installation tool and once the met post is installed the fence post is inserted into the top of the metal met post fence post spike. The most popular met post grips the post using met posts wedge grip system there is another similar met post post spike product, system 2 which uses 2 nuts and bolts to clamp the to the bottom of the timber post.

Best bits - no hole digging is needed with met post.
Worst bits - met posts may not hold the fence post fully secure in wet windy locations.

Concrete for Fence Posts
This is the most traditional method of holding fence posts firmly into the soil and has been used for many years the fence post hole is dug and the fence post inserted into the hole and surrounded by concrete. Concrete is a mix of sand, shingle and cement normally the sand and the shingle is pre mixed and purchased as a product called ballast. AVS sell ballast in 40kg bags and cement in 25kg bags, the product can then be mixed together on a mixing board or in a wheel burrow by hand using a shovel or in a cement mixer a little water is added to the concrete before it is added to the fence pole hole. The concrete used in erecting fence posts is made to a firm consistency.

Best bits - concrete is cheap to purchase.
Worst bits - ballast and cement needs to be mixed together before use.

Soil backfill for fence posts
What we mean by this is that once the fence post hole has been excavated the arisings that have been dug out of the fence post hole are refilled around the fence post, this needs to be done gradually and the practice is to tamp and firm the soil in stages as the hole is back filled around the fence post. A piece of timber that will fit between the fence post and the edge of the fence post hole is ideal to ram and firm the soil into position, for this method to work the soil must be rammed home really hard this way it will support the fence post firmly.

Best bits – cheapest method for fence post installation.
Worst bits – only suitable for fences without wind resistance such as post and rail fencing not suitable for fence panels.

So in summary you can see there are 4 ways to secure your garden fencing fence post and we have looked at post mix, met posts, concrete for fence posts and soil back fill for fence posts, From he Best bits and Worst bits you will be able to choose the most suitable method for the installation of your own garden fence panels and fence posts.

Today I am going to talk about erecting a garden picket fence using the easy to erect ready assembled panels of wooden fencing. AVS Fencing also sell a type of loose picket fencing it is listed under palisade fencing in the on line shop.

How much fencing is required?
Measure your fence lines and divide by 1.80m, this will tell you approximately how many panels of picket fencing you will require. Panels can be shortened very easily by cutting if needed.

The Fence Posts
I would recommend erecting the picket fence on 75x75mm AVS Fencing 15 year Guaranteed treated fence posts with 900mm high picket fencing use a 2.4m long post cut into two and for the 1200mm high fencing use a 1.8m long post. When cutting the post make sure that the cut end is situated upper most and not buried in the ground and be sure to treat the tops of the posts with end coat this way you will maintain the AVS Fencing 15 year guarantee on the fence post and the posts will give you a good long life.

When building the picket fence the posts are set behind the panels, the panels are butted up and nailed or screwed to the front face of the post, I found that carpenters mate decking screws were an ideal product to fix the picket fencing panels to the fence posts allow 8 screws per panel.

To cut or not to cut?
If the panels are taken without cutting and are butted together it leaves just the right amount of room for one individual pailing to be fixed over the top of the joint in front of the post while AVS Fencing don’t currently sell matching additional loose fence pailings, you may well have some available from cutting down a panel or choose to purchase an extra panel. However if this is not the case don’t worry because the fencing works just as well when the ends of the picket fence panels rails are trimmed back by approximately 35mm each. This will ensure that the spacings between the panels are just right.

How far out of the ground will the posts be?
It is recommended that you allow 50mm between the ground and the underside of the picket fence panel and is also recommended you stop the post well short of the top of the panel in fact just above the top rail this will mean that for a 900 high picket fencing panel the posts are approximately 800mm above the ground.

The steps to erect a picket fence
Decide if you will be using the picket fencing panels at full length or trimmed back.
Lay the panels on the ground adjacent to the fence line to establish the positions for the posts.
Set up a string line if required to get the fencing straight.
Dig the post holes, concrete the first post into the ground using Post Mix
Fix the picket fencing panel to that first post, support the panel with a block of timber under to get the panel level and concrete in the next post in the right position for the panel and proceed along the fence line fixing one panel at a time.

Picket Fencing Gates
A matching gate for your picket fence can be purchased from the AVS Fencing on line shop the picket fence gate kit comes complete with all the necessary hinges, latch and gate stop, it is recommended that you use a 100mm gate post. The gate post is unlike the fence posts to the full height of the fence so for a 900 high picket fence use a 1.5metre long 100x100 post. The adjacent picket fencing panels will fix to the front face of the gate post and the gate will fix to the rear face of the gate post. Don’t forget to fit the gate stop timber batten to prevent damage to the gate latch.