How to Install Any Wood Fence
You can install any wood fence the old-fashion way or with the benefit of equipment that saves labor and speeds things along. If you are installing a small fence, digging by hand can suffice, but doing a large area by hand is hard work and very time consuming. If you don't have the equipment, rental stores are a viable alternative.
- Buy the number of fence posts you need. To figure out that number, divide the total feet of the perimeter of the area you are fencing in by the number of feet apart you are spacing the fence posts.
- Dig your holes one by one as you go and bring your posts with you on the back of a truck. Dig down 18 inches by hand with a shovel or manual post hole digger, use a post hole digger/auger attachment on the back of a farm tractor or a gas-powered post hole digger that you hold up and control manually. You'll need the holes a bit larger than your posts.
- Place the post in the hole. For rot prevention, use locust posts and pack 2-B gravel in around the post inside the hole. Tamp the gravel in well inside the hole. This allows water to wick away from the wood into the surrounding soil and extends the life of the post underground.
- Spread a shovel full of dirt around the top of the post and tamp it in well with your feet. Do this for each post.
- Decide how you will close the spaces between the posts. You can use wood, wood composites or wire. Consider the purpose of the fence, the desired appearance and how maintenance-free you want it to be to decide which option fits the best.
- Attach wood or wood composite slats or wire between posts as needed. You can use nails, u-nails, wood screws or fence post staples depending on the material you are attaching.
- Paint the wood if that is what you used. That will extend its life but needs to be redone periodically.