Every owner wants his plot country house or cottage was surrounded by a beautiful fence. Now there are many options for fencing, you just have to choose the one that suits you best both in appearance and affordability.
The golden mean in choosing can be a wooden picket fence, which you can easily make with your own hands, without using the expensive help of a specialist. With the help of a picket fence you can beautifully outline the territory of a country house or cottage and at the same time save a lot of money. Making a wooden picket fence with your own hands is quite simple, you just need to know a few basic rules and features, which we will consider point by point.
A country house or cottage is a place that you want to make especially beautiful and cozy. This is an area for rest, privacy and relaxation. You can achieve the necessary harmony with the help of small details: plant beautiful flowers, make a gazebo, a swing, build a nice decorative fence. And if you do all this with your own hands, then it will be much more pleasant to admire all this beauty later.
Why picket fence?
A wooden picket fence made by yourself has so many advantages that it is probably simply impossible to count them all, but making a wooden picket fence with your own hands and installing it is quite simple.
Here are the main advantages of such a fence:
- This fence is universal. A wooden picket fence simply fits perfectly into almost any design and can add color to the landscape of the area.
- The picket fence is quite reliable. Everything, of course, depends on the wood you choose, the height of the fence and the width of the picket fence.
- Cheap materials and their availability.
- This type of fence is very easy to maintain. You just need to periodically coat the surface with paint or varnish to prevent the possibility of defects.
It is also equally important that the wooden picket fence does not shade the area near the fence, which means that beautiful flowers or other plants can be planted near the fence. And such a fence will perfectly emphasize the rustic style of the territory or the no less popular country style now.
The picket fence is very easy to work with and different original options the appearance of the structure - in the form of waves, semicircles, triangles and other patterns.
Types of picket fence designs
A wooden picket fence can be of two types - with or without a base. In order to make a wooden picket fence with your own hands with a base, you need to make a foundation for the support pillars and strip foundation under the fence itself. Foundation under wooden fence the picket fence is made in the form of a trench using an ordinary shovel with your own hands, and it is better to make recesses under the pillars using hand drill.
The depth of the foundation should be about one meter. At the bottom you need to fill and compact a cushion of sand or gravel. The support pillars are concreted strictly vertically into the recesses, and formwork must be installed in place of the foundation under the fence. After pouring the foundation, you need to wait about 7 days for the solution to dry and set. After this line has been completed, you can proceed to the next work.
Such a fence is more durable than a picket fence without a foundation, since the base of the picket fence is additionally protected from moisture from the soil. The foundation of such a fence can be covered with torn stone or other material.
A fence without a base is simpler in its design. To construct it, you only need to make holes for the support pillars and, after installing them, compact the soil tightly. The post should go more than a meter into the ground.
If the fence is high and heavy, then a metal plate must be attached to the posts, which will additionally ensure the stability of the post. The plates rest tightly on the ground.
Required materials and tools
To build a wooden picket fence with your own hands, you need the following materials and tools:
- Wooden pickets. They can be from different tree species - pine, cedar, larch and others. Pickets are made from narrow edged boards.
- Support pillars. Usually these are metal or asbestos pipes, as well as thick beams.
- Cross members. Do-it-yourself wooden picket fences use metal or wooden blocks as crossbars for a wooden picket fence.
- Hammer.
- Nails or screws.
- Screwdriver or screwdriver.
- Level.
- Wood treatment product (paint, varnish, stain).
The bottom of the support pillars (if they are wooden) must be treated with a special protective agent from rotting. This will extend the service life of the fence.
Pickets can be purchased ready-made in special stores, or you can make them yourself. This process does not require special knowledge or skills. Surface wooden slats it is necessary to thoroughly clean, file and sand the tops. Decorative tops on the fence look beautiful. These can be semicircles, rectangles, triangles, you can also make decorative shapes with a pattern.
The wood must have a certain moisture content. If used for construction wooden picket fence If the wood is damp, then the fence will not last long; soon after installation, defects and distortions will appear.
In order to begin installing a wooden picket fence, you need to prepare and clean the area through which it will pass and cut the grass with your own hands. Next you need to mark the perimeter. To do this, you should drive wooden stakes along the line of the future fence and pull the cord. The wooden picket fence will be installed with your own hands according to these markings.
The next stage will be excavation. Using a hand drill or shovel it is done required type foundation, as described above. The foundation for the pillars must be done after accurately measuring the distance between the future support pillars. After completing the development of the foundation, support pillars can be installed. The pillar is installed on a prepared cushion of sand or gravel and concreted (a ball of concrete can be alternated with a ball of soil). Metal poles must be painted before installation to protect against corrosion.
When installing support posts, it is necessary to adhere to strict verticality, since violation of this rule can lead to the fence collapsing. The building level will help you with this.
Next, cross members are attached to the support posts. If the posts or crossbars are wooden, then you can fasten them using bolts, self-tapping screws or ordinary nails, and if they are metal, then you can use electric welding. Usually two crossbars are designed, at a distance of about 20cm from the bottom and top of the fence. Good mount crossbars are very important for the stability and durability of the fence, since they are the ones who take the load from the fence. When selecting crossbars, it is necessary to take into account the weight of one span of wooden picket fence.
After all the crossbars are attached, you can proceed directly to the installation of the fence pickets. The pickets are attached to the crossbars using self-tapping screws and a screwdriver or simple nails and a hammer. In order for the pickets to be attached at the same level, after installing the outer pickets, you can stretch a cord along their top. The distance between pickets is usually equal to the width of one picket. To make the distance equal, you can install another picket between the nailed and nailed pickets, which will act as a distance template.
It is better to nail one picket fence with 4 nails (screws), 2 for each crossbar at the top and bottom. This will ensure the tightness of the fastening.
The wooden picket fence is ready! All that remains is to coat it with a protective agent. As such a product you can use paint, varnish, stain, or lime. Wood covered with stain and varnish looks very beautiful. Using this processing method, you can imitate different types of wood. It is necessary to periodically treat a wooden fence. This will ensure its durability and strength.
Not a single territory can exist without a fence. These are not necessarily high and impenetrable walls. Metal bollards around a supermarket parking lot or hedge from bushes in a park are also artificially created obstacles, the purpose of which is not only to delineate the boundaries of the site, but also to separate zones of use.
The most versatile and affordable of these fences has been made from wood for centuries. Not only accessibility, but also ease of processing, durability, and environmental friendliness have made wood an indispensable material in any construction. Nowadays, any man can build a fence from a wooden picket fence with his own hands, having at his disposal a minimum of tools.
All wooden fences are divided into solid and clear. It is precisely the skylight structures that are called a wooden picket fence. There are many varieties of them. According to the main differences, a wooden picket fence can be divided into the following types:
1. According to the location of the slats
- Unilateral
- Double sided
2. By type of installation
- Horizontal
- Vertical
3. By laying the picket fence
- Palisade
- Convex (one-sided and two-sided)
- Concave (one-sided and two-sided)
- Cat ears
- Peak
These are only the most popular types of installation; in practice, you can also find barriers with mixed ways stuffing elements, and using additional decorations in the form of rhombuses, carved inserts, combinations with other materials, etc.
Material calculation and tool preparation
The acquisition of all materials requires careful calculation. After all, there will simply be nowhere to put the surplus, and the money will already be spent on it. The shortage will entail the need for additional trips to hardware stores and the selection of wood that is similar in texture, species and quality of cutting. Moreover, purchasing this material in compliance with all the listed parameters will be very problematic.
1. So, the first thing you need to decide is the height of the fence. The frequency of installed poles will directly depend on it. After all, the heavier the sections, the more often you need to install pillars. Typically, they are installed every 2-3 meters to a depth of 1 meter. Based on these parameters, you can calculate how much material is needed for supports.
2. A wooden picket fence for a fence includes the picket fence itself and the bars (another name for their bars or veins) to which it will be attached. When calculating, you need to take into account:
- A picket fence will be mounted on one or both sides
- How wide will the planks be and at what intervals will they be installed?
- The length and number of veins that will be attached to the posts
The size of a wooden picket fence can be from 3 to 25 cm in width and up to 2 meters in height. The supports, ideally, should have a length that is a multiple of the distance between the pillars, so that their joints fall exactly on the body of the support.
3. From the necessary tool you will need:
- Tools for digging holes (shovels or hole drills)
- Tools for screwing self-tapping screws (screwdriver or screwdriver)
- Equipment for sawing wood and cutting metal (hacksaw, grinder with different disks and attachments, jigsaw)
- Equipment for mixing concrete (concrete mixer or hoe with a trough)
- Containers for transferring slag, stones, water and solution
- Brushes, trays, rags for painting
- Level, threads, marker
Selection and preparation of material
Wood species
Having selected a suitable type of arrangement of the elements of the future structure, you need to start purchasing the material. There are many types of wood. Each region has its own more or less accessible breeds, both in terms of availability and price. There are elite types of wood that have high cost, regardless of the place of purchase, but they can also be used to build a fence. It should be noted that, in addition to the price, the density of the wood should be taken into account.
Not every expensive brand will definitely be durable for outdoor use. Therefore, if you can afford it, it is better to buy oak. The most classic and most acceptable would be to choose one of coniferous species. Such wood, due to the content of resin in its structure, will not rot for a long time, and the price, for example, pine board, almost everywhere is at the lowest levels. For support materials other than wood, metal or concrete are suitable.
Preliminary processing
The fence consists of posts and intermediate sections. Preparatory work includes:
Processing of racks
In the described design, supports can be used from wood, metal or concrete. The latter do not require any special preparation before use. Wooden racks it is necessary to dry it, and cover the part that will be buried or concreted, and the upper end with bitumen mastic. Metal supporting elements should always be coated with at least a primer, and best of all, also painted. The end that will be facing the sky should be welded with an iron plate, cleaned and also covered with anti-corrosion materials.
Preparation of spans
All planks and bars that will be components of hanging structures need:
- Plan
- Saw down the tops
- Soak in antiseptic and coat with primer
Installation of a wooden picket fence
Installation of support pillars
As with any other fence, the first thing to do is install the load-bearing supports. Here the factor of unevenness of the landscape should be taken into account. If the owner of the future fence wants to build along the level of the top line, then you need to think about how to seal the uncovered gap at the bottom of the picket fence. This could be the foundation or longer boards of the picket fence itself. Just keep in mind that the boards can be increased by no more than 25 cm. For larger figures, more frequent installation of pillars and additional veins will be required.
All these components will require significant expenses. Therefore, with large differences in height in the trajectory of the future structure, it is preferable to install it in the form of steps. That is, each subsequent flight will be higher or lower than the previous one. So, to install the support:
- A hole is dug, 1 m deep
- A pole is installed in it, leveled in all directions
- The pit is filled with large stones so that they do not disturb the dislocation of the support
- The pit is filled with concrete or mortar (depending on the size of the rubble material)
- From installed pole the guide thread is tensioned and the next support is installed at the required distance
Attaching the log
The next stage is attaching the crossbars. They, as mentioned earlier, must be attached directly to the pillars. If this is not possible due to a discrepancy between the sizes of the veins, then the joints of their upper and lower rows must be separated into different spans. Docking occurs by making L-shaped cuts on each of the ends being fastened and then aligning them and fastening them with self-tapping screws.
Pay attention to the range of brackets on the construction market for fences. Above, you can see an example of attaching logs to poles using special brackets. Thus, you can reduce the installation time of the fence and achieve an aesthetic appearance.
Others are simpler, but less aesthetic option There will be screwing from above and below from the joint of the bars. Using concrete pillars for a Eurofence, the veins are simply placed in the grooves, and to separate them, a beam 40x40 mm thick and a length equal to the required distance between the legs can be placed in the groove between them.
Attaching a wooden picket fence
The wooden picket fence is attached to the fence using nails (depending on the material of the log), or better yet, self-tapping screws at a distance of at least 15 cm from each other. An exception may be a wooden checkerboard fence, where vertical elements barriers are mounted in a checkerboard pattern on both sides of the cross beam.
In this case, the distance between the picket fence on each side will be equal to the size of the elements placed on the opposite side, or as indicated in the schematic picture below.
If the veins were attached to posts with outside, it makes sense to calculate the installation of the picket fence in such a way that one of its elements covers the junction of the crossbars. Additional screws screwed through one board, but into different veins, will make the structure stronger.
Painting a wooden picket fence
After completing the installation of all structural components, painting can begin. As already mentioned, priming of all elements should have been done just before assembling the fence, since the area of contact between the transverse bars and vertical boards cannot be coated with paint, and the constant moisture that will accumulate there can quickly render the wood at the joints unusable. Almost always, improper painting of the picket fence is the main cause of loosening of these types of fences.
You can use special wood paints, universal enamels, and nitro paints for painting. It’s beautiful when the wood is varnished, but it’s worth considering that in order to keep the fence in a presentable condition, it will have to be completely stripped of the old coating every two to three years and a new one applied.
Video on installing a wooden picket fence
This video talks in detail about the entire technology of building a wooden picket fence with your own hands.
Photos of beautiful wooden picket fences
Below you can see the photo beautiful fences from a wooden picket fence. Please note that every craftsman and home owner tries to make his fence unique and inimitable, using various laying techniques and picket color combinations
- The picket fence should not be mounted below 15–20 cm from the ground surface. Splashes of dirt and water during rain will accelerate the deterioration of wood, but the most dangerous thing is snow drifts. Because it has not only a corrosive, but also a physical effect on any fence. The question arises of what to do with such a gap through which there will be constant migration of animals in both directions. One of the options would be fastening with staples, a strip of galvanized mesh with a cell size of 50x50 mm. Anti-corrosion coating this material will allow it to last long years, A grey colour will make it invisible against the general background of the fence structure. Possible distortions caused by vegetation and snowdrifts can be easily corrected without the help of any tools.
- No matter how well the ends of the entire structure are processed, the presence of a ridge made of metal profiles can serve as a more reliable protection for them. It can be ordered from companies engaged in the manufacture of similar products. Such an element will not only create additional protection for the entire structure, but will also significantly decorate it if you choose the shape and color creatively.
- If a wooden barrier is located close to a highway, then to preserve it, it is worth planting a continuous strip of low bushes in front of it, which will absorb splashes from passing vehicles.
If all stages of constructing a wooden picket fence are approached responsibly, all work is carried out efficiently and safely, then the result obtained will be able to bring benefits and delight the eye with its appearance for many decades
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All owners of country houses or personal plots the time comes when it is necessary to decide on one or another type of fencing of the territory. There are a lot of design options: wooden fence; metal; concrete; brick. Each fence has its own advantages and disadvantages. We will not dwell on them, but will choose the simplest and most affordable wooden picket fence for the implementation of our project.
How to make a picket fence with your own hands
Wooden fencing is quite widespread. Not least due to its advantages:
Preparation of materials
Before you begin manufacturing and subsequent installation of a wooden picket fence, you need to decide on the final design of the fence.
The final decision must be made taking into account the requirements of the overall design of the site. The appearance of the fence should echo the exterior of the house.
- A house built of red brick will initially look impressive as an organic architectural ensemble, with a fence where the pillars are made of the same material and the inserts are made of wooden picket fences.
- A wooden dwelling made from timber usually involves the use of a completely wooden fence.
- A building with a stone foundation based on rubble looks good with a fence having a similar foundation.
You can choose from the following options:
- completely wooden fencing;
- metal posts and logs in combination with a wooden picket fence;
- stone or brick pillars with a wooden picket fence.
Once you have decided on your preference, you can calculate accurately number of required building material. Knowing the outer perimeter of the site, we accept the distance between the pillars as 3 meters. Based on the chosen design, we calculate the need for the number of components.
Regardless of what the pillars in the structure are, the length is calculated this way. To the height of the fence we add the desired distance between the lower end of the picket fence and the ground and plus 1.3 meters on which supports will be buried. Typically, such a recess is necessary to ensure high strength of the entire structure. Preparing wooden poles for installation usually comes down to treating them with antiseptics, especially the underground part.
The total length of the logs to which the picket fence is usually attached for a wooden fence is equal to two spans between the posts. The veins may not have rectangular profile, and round is transverse diameter ranging from 6 to 10 centimeters.
All wooden crafts before installation is inevitable are subjected to planing. Treated surfaces are easier to finish with impregnation, painting, and varnishing. Metal parts are cleaned of rust and a penetrating primer is applied to the outer surface.
Fencing installation
We usually start installing a fence by laying out the location of the structure. Using a cord, we measure the dimensions of the area, marking the installation points for the pillars. Using a manual or mechanical drill, we drill holes with a diameter of about 20 centimeters to a depth of 1.3 meters.
Wooden or metal we put the poles in the holes, align the straightness along the cord. We check the level vertically. We fill the empty space between the pillars and the pit sand-cement mixture with addition crushed granite or broken red brick.
If freezing of the soil is noticed in a given area, then to avoid squeezing out the main supports during frost, pillars instead mortar, filled with small fraction rubble and compacted.
Before installation wooden poles the entire length of the underground part is wrapped from below with a wide layer of roofing material with an overlap of at least 15 cm for waterproofing.
After the solution has set, make installation of veins. Rectangular or round wooden logs are attached to the posts with nails or self-tapping screws. Splicing them is done by sawing them to half the thickness. It did not hurt to position the splice seams so that they were in different places.
In case of use metal poles and prozhilin rigid fastening is used by welding or through special brackets with galvanized hardware. The logs are joined by welding or using metal plates using fastening bolts and cap nuts. Now the power structure of the fence is considered completely ready.
Let's move on to an equally responsible picket fence installation stage. The variety of ways to place it determines the uniqueness of the fence. Instead of the usual in-line with a constant pitch, you can use it with an increasing or decreasing gap.
Angular placement of boards will add variety to the style of the fence. The use of a carved picket fence will add individual uniqueness to the appearance of the estate. A semicircular top or bottom, alternating different sizes of boards and many completely different variations are available.
To prevent the yard from being visible, you can use staggered installation order. One board is in front of the vein, and the second, with or without a gap relative to it, is behind it. By independently adjusting the gap, they achieve a transformation of line of sight land plot and ventilation of the fence.
Attaching the picket fence to wooden joists done the old fashioned way iron nails or galvanized screws. The boards are screwed to the metal veins with self-tapping screws.
Finishing work
In order for a picket fence to last for decades, the wood must be immediately treated with antiseptic materials, and then paint or varnish. This operation will have to be done systematically. Once every 5–10 years, the board is checked for damage from fungus and mold. Damaged picket fences are replaced with new ones. The entire structure is again treated with impregnations and varnished.
Wooden picket fence on summer cottage– advantages and installation
Most often, wooden picket fences are preferred by those owners who strive for environmental cleanliness in environment. This kind of fencing is considered the cheapest and most attractive in appearance.
The only drawback of a wooden picket fence is its relatively short service life - up to 15 years. You can extend the service life using special antiseptics, preventing wood from rotting.
Advantages of a wooden picket fence
Wooden picket fence, along with other types of fencing, has a number of advantages:
- versatility;
- low cost;
- attractive aesthetic appearance;
- environmental friendliness;
- diversity different forms slats;
- reliability;
- opportunity quick installation and dismantling.
For many owners, an irreplaceable advantage of fencing is the ability to decorate the fence and “fit it” into the decor of the garden plot.
If you have special skills, they prefer to combine a wooden picket fence with materials such as stone and brick.
Wooden picket fence
Selection and preparation of material
Before starting work, you need to prepare the following tools:
- hammer, pliers, screwdriver;
- nail puller;
- pencil and tape measure;
- screwdriver;
- sandpaper;
- drill, drill bits;
- nylon cord;
- welding machine;
- level;
- primer;
- water-resistant paint (varnish is possible);
- gas drill;
- shovel and crowbar;
- self-tapping screws (galvanized nails are possible);
- wooden stakes (metal stakes);
- brush for working on metal.
In order for the fence you installed to serve for a very long time, you need to carefully consider the selection of tools and materials. Important point Before installing the fence, select the material: supports and other elements of the picket fence structure. Best suited as racks wooden beams or metal pipe. For a positive result, care must be taken to protect the support pillars.
If you choose wood, you need to cover bitumen mastic that part of the post that we will bury during the installation of the wooden picket fence. The beam itself must be impregnated with an antiseptic. 
It is worth considering that profile pipe is a more durable material that is resistant to loads and has more long term service than a tree. It is noteworthy that you can protect the metal by simply removing the rust using a metal brush. Then the pipe must be primed and painted frost-resistant paint. From this it should be concluded that installation wooden fence on metal racks- the most reliable option.
Note: top part profile pipe must be closed at any time of the year. To do this, it is necessary to weld a metal plate to the end of the support or install a special plug. To protect wooden supports from moisture, it is necessary to sand the end of the beam and then coat it with waterproof putty.
Preparatory work
Before installing the fence, it is necessary to carry out preparatory work, which consist in planing of veins, processing of pillars and sawing off the tops of a wooden picket fence.
Planed parts are economical, more durable and easier to paint. Slabs (veins) are load-bearing elements; they are made from beams with a cross-section of 50×80 mm. Also, to make veins, poles with a diameter of 6-10 cm can be used. They can be spliced anywhere in the run in two ways: half the width of a tree or an oblique log in height. It is necessary to ensure that the joints in the lower and upper parts of the veins do not coincide. Fastening the brackets is very simple: in the middle of the bracket, using hammer blows, it is first bent and then pressed into the wood. 
The lathing of a wooden fence is made using a cord and a template. Any rope is suitable as a cord (it is pulled using two strips at the height of the upper end of the wooden picket fence). A template is a specially made cross, the stand of which is made from a board. Its width is equal to the clearance between two picket fence strips. The transverse size of the plank is 40-50 cm. It is nailed to the stand at a right angle perpendicular to the cross. Using this template, you can quickly fill the fence sheathing using only a control cord.
The pillars themselves must be sanded, and then their tops are carefully sawed down into two slopes. To better preserve the pillars, the earthen part can be covered with three layers of roofing felt or doused with hot tar.
The veins need to be planed into one slope: this way they will rot less, because the water will drain from them. Before digging holes for the posts, you need to make markings along the cord. Ideally, the distance between two support pillars is three meters, the length of the veins is 6 m.
Installation of picket fencing
A wooden picket fence is built according to the same principle as other types of fencing. To begin with, we determine the direction in which the future fence will be built. Then we clear the ground of all bushes, weeds and branches that could interfere with the process of erecting a wooden picket fence. Next, using a lace, we mark the place for the pillars. Distance between them should not exceed 3 m. Otherwise, the crossbars will sag under the weight of the attached pickets.
We install the support pillars in the ground. To make the resulting structure more durable, it is necessary erect pillars using fill from cement-sand mortar
. The depth of the dug hole in which the pillars will be installed is 1.3 m. 
We install pre-prepared pillars on a 20 cm cushion consisting of gravel. Its task is to prevent the support from being squeezed out during frosts. After installing the pillars, they must be fix with alternating layers of soil and concrete mortar.
After fixing the pillars, you can begin installing the veins. They can be attached using self-tapping screws or nails. Once the veins are attached to the posts, you can begin installing the picket fence. You can also attach the planks using self-tapping screws or nails. The cord and template will allow you to quickly install the picket fence.
The video shows the process of installing a picket fence:
Finishing and decorating the fence
Film-forming finishes adhere very poorly to freshly planed boards. To roughen a jointed surface, you need to sand the wood with 60-grit sandpaper. Coatings for wood water based are not absorbed into wood, as they contain acids.
Paint looks best on a wooden picket fence. However, so that it does not lose its appearance, it is necessary remove every five years old paint, then strip the wood and repaint.
If you don’t like the paint, you can use a translucent stain. It is quite durable and also looks quite beautiful. In the future, there will be no need to clean the wood from stain: it is enough to cover the surface with another layer.
Helpful Tips:
- apply paint better with a brush, and not with a spray bottle;
- stain can be applied by spraying and then rubbed in with a brush;
- It is best to apply paint or stain in dry and warm weather.
In Russia, wood has long been widely used as a building material. They build from it log houses, window frames, interior items, kitchen utensils. This natural material allows you to create an atmosphere internal comfort and comfort. A wooden picket fence is one of the most popular types fencing in suburban construction, which is simply indispensable when arranging a site in rustic style. Such a fence, on the one hand, outlines the boundaries of the site for us, and on the other, its territory is not obscured.
Picket fences can be given any height, shape, color, and even clearance distances, thanks to which they acquire original look and yours appearance complement the design of the suburban area.
A wooden picket fence is used as a reliable fence personal plot, an element of territory zoning, decorative framing of beds and flower beds
Stems with flowers, filling the gaps in the gaps between the vertical slats, give the fence a more attractive appearance
The continued popularity of this type of fencing is explained by a number of its parameters and properties, the main ones being:
- Versatility. Wooden fences fit perfectly into any landscape. They go well with any other bases, organically fitting into an interior made of stone or brick, concrete or metal.
- Easy to install. Any summer resident or owner of a country house can install a picket fence independently, without resorting to the services of professional craftsmen.
- Ease of care. Caring for the fence consists only of timely painting of the surface and eliminating defects that may arise during operation as a result of mechanical stress and seasonal precipitation.
- Reliability. A high wooden fence will serve not only decorative element landscape design, but also reliable protection owners of the site.
One of the advantages of a picket fence, compared to a traditional solid fence, is the ability to plant plants right at its base.
- Support pillars. They can be made from metal pipes or thick beams.
- Picket fences. Narrow slats are made from edged or planed boards.
- Veins. Cross bars, placed horizontally between the support pillars, 2-2.5 meters long, are made from bars with a cross-section of 40 mm.
When choosing a material to make a picket fence, you can go in two ways: purchase a ready-made picket fence or make it yourself from boards. The first method saves time. The finished fence can be installed on the day of purchase. But significant drawback low-quality raw wood can serve as the basis for a picket fence, which during operation will “drive” the fence. When choosing the second path, the owner will need to make an effort to spend several days making all the elements of the fence. But as a result, he will have a picket fence that fully corresponds to his ideas and wishes.
If the material is not sufficiently dried, it is necessary to use special dryers for wood, because under natural conditions drying can take several seasons
The service of drying wood, as well as cutting crossbars and pickets, can be ordered at a place where wood products are manufactured. When preparing the material yourself, you must carefully file down and sand all the tops.
Design options for the tops of a wooden picket fence
The lower part of the wooden support pillars must be coated with hot varnish. This will prevent wood from rotting and extend the life of the structure.
Installation and installation of fencing
The installation of a picket fence is carried out according to the same principle as the construction of other types of fencing. First of all, the direction of the future fence is determined. It must be freed from weeds, bushes and tree branches that will interfere with construction. Then beacons are stretched in the cleared area and a place for the pillars is marked along the stretched cord. The distance between the pillars should not exceed three meters. Otherwise, long spans between supports may cause the crossbars to sag under the weight of the pickets.
Support pillars can be installed directly into the ground, but to create a more durable structure, it is better to construct them using cement-sand mortar.
To install the posts, you will need to dig a hole using a drill, the depth of which is determined by the height of the fence. On average, a depth of 1.3 m is sufficient
The posts are installed on a 20 cm gravel cushion, which helps prevent the support from being squeezed out when the soil freezes. Vertically fixed columns are covered alternately with layers of concrete and soil mortar.
After installing the posts along the line of the fence, you can install veins between them. In principle, there are two ways to install a fence: with the first, the crossbars are first attached between the posts, and then a picket fence is nailed to them, and with the second, the spans are assembled separately and fixed to the supports using blocks.
The first picket is attached vertically, and the rest are aligned according to a T-shaped template, in which the width of the leg of the letter “t” is equal to the pitch of the pickets, and are nailed
On average, the distance between the pickets is equal to the width of the boards themselves. Attach the cross bars to the wooden support pillars You can use self-tapping screws, bolts or regular nails. The veins are attached to the metal posts using a specially welded corner for attaching the timber.
Finishing and decorating the fence
The finished fence leaves only other negatively influencing factors.
It is necessary to seal all cracks and chips with putty compounds, saturate the picket fence with an antiseptic, and then cover it with varnish, stain or paint
Film-forming agents do not adhere well to freshly planed boards and do not last long. To “roughen” the surface of the wood, you can sand it with medium-grain sandpaper.
Stain is an excellent preservative that protects wood from the development of microorganisms and mold
The varnish will protect the wood from moisture. Using stain and clear varnish, you can also imitate various types of wood.