Building a fence - can I do it or do I need an expert?

[dirgeinvegas]

I need to put up a fence at the side of our house between the garden and the drive. Probably with a gate in it.

Has anyone successfully assembled this themselves or so I need to call in fence-people?

I'm kind of hoping it might be a little weekend project. Am I being a bit unrealistic?

Do-able, I couldn't do it myself, or maybe could (but would be a struggle), DP could/did & isn't a manual worker, just stronger than me.

Depends on height of fence you looking for.

1m & over, if you want a fence that will be longstanding, ie. not fall over at the slightest bit of strong wind, you will need to cement the posts in, you can buy ready made panels but they are usually very weak. They are the ones you see fallen/knocked over after strong winds.

Think B&Q or other DIY place will have instruction leaflets.

HTH, will check back later if you need more specific advice.

Thanks Imelda that's really helpful. I am probably being touch unrealistic then as I want to do if myself but am 5'2" and 23 wks pg. I hadn't considered concrete, I think that's beyond me and probably DH. I want it to be fairly high to keep the kids in more than keeping anyone out.

Maybe I'll call some people for quote.

That's a shame though, I quite liked the thought of putting it up myself.

My elderly dad and I installed a couple of tall fence/trellis panels as a screen for a compost area. Dug holes & filled with 'postcrete' concrete mix. Put the posts in metal casings, held them in position and poured in water to set the concrete. Fixed the trellis between the posts. That was a few years ago and they're still there.

But I always think you get a nicer job if you get someone else to do it. :)

A power screw driver would make things much easier. B&q sell fence kits

Oh new posts! Thanks!

I am a bit afraid of concrete but pouring water down a hole sounds do-able!

What about if I drilled it to the house on one side and the fence on the other?

I get quite a sense of achievement assembling Ikea flat pack imagine how fantastic it would be to build your own fence (and by build I mean put up pre-built fencing).

Why not? Go for it. It's not a complicated job really. As long as you're careful about measuring and making sure things are level etc., you should get nice results. All I would say with the Postcrete stuff was that you needed quite a lot. One bag per hole.

You can get metposts (big spikey metal things) that you just bang into the ground that means you don't need concrete. The main posts then just slot into these. Not sure I'd want to do it whilst pregnant though but I normally get DH to do the hitting while I stand there and comment on whether they're going in straight or not.

the metal spikes would be fine for a short piece of fencing (although very hard to hammer into hard dry ground at this time of year. We ended up taking them out though and bringing the rest back as there was too much movement with them.