DIY fence?

[TheBeautifulMoors]

DH and I are looking at putting up a fence to the front of our house, DIY.
If you have done it, what would be your advice?
It’ll be attached to fencing posts driven into the ground and attached to the short brick wall to to appear being ´on top’ of it.
Any tips would be appreciated

If the top of the fence is more than 1 meter above ground level, you will need planning permission as it's the front of your property.

Thank you. It shouldn’t exceed 1m above GL.

What do you mean by posts driven into the ground? Wood in contact with damp soil will rot. You can get metal post sockets, which do not hold the posts upright very firmly, and rust away.

If you set a wooden post in concrete, you will greatly regret it when the post goes rotten and breaks, and you have a great lump of concrete in the way when you want to replace it.

The wall should have some footings that may prevent you setting the posts directly adjacent.
If the wall is good condition you may want to consider bolting the posts to the wall.

But don't fix a fence to the top of the wall, as it will pull the bricks off.

My preferred method is to dig a bucket-sized hole next to the wall, and you will have to avoid its foundations, and concrete in a concrete fence spur, placed about four inches from the wall. After setting preferably for a damp week, you will then place your wooden fence posts between the spur and the wall, raised above ground level to avoid rot, and bolted to the spur with the holes provided.

The concrete for the spur's foot does not need to come up to ground level, where if will be unsightly. If for some reason you want it to, place formwork, such as an open-ended wooden box, or a plastic ice cream tub, on the concrete mix as you place it so the top is at your desired finished level, and place the last shovel into that, smoothing it off with a slight slope to shed rain. When it is cured and you remove the form, you will only see a neat concrete pad round the bottom of the spur.

If you dislike the appearance of concrete, you can paint it with masonry paint before building the fence, to match the wall or the fence. I paint mine in "bitter chocolate" to tone with the dark fence stain, it also blends into vegetation and earth.

If you only want a low fence, such as post and rail, you can bolt rails direct to the spur with no wooden fencepost.

The masonry paint also extends the life of the concrete by preventing rain penetration, which causes cracks when it freezes.

If the fence is rails only, or not intended to stay for long, you can put the spurs in earth and beat it down hard.

We used composite (plastic with metal cores) fence posts to DIY our fence. They're durable, very strong, flex slightly in the wind (making the fence more stable in strong winds) and we found them very easy to install. They have slots down their sides like concrete fence posts, but are lightweight when installing, come in various colours and can be painted.

I find the composite fence panels very ugly but the fence posts are okay and look much better than concrete ones, in my opinion.

Posts in ground will move

you can set in concrete or get metal spike things to drive in and then set the post in them - depends on your ground - right by the wall may be tricky

which is the dominant wind direction? If it hits your fence first don’t make a solid fence

sorry also - it will take a lot of time and grunt, perhaps a few friends and plenty of weekends (( depending on length )

Thank you. The suggestion for the metal post sockets is very helpful. I’ll look into those.

We’re also looking into ways of using brackets but the top of the brick wall slopes, like some type of brick coping.

Thank you. This is very helpful.
I’ll form a kind of L shape, part of it will face the North, East and south.
It’s not a massive amount thankfully.

Thank you. We’re exploring this option too. The angles top makes it seem tricky

I’ve put a lot of fences up of different types over the years.
If you can get someone with a fancy tractor mounted post knocker in do that.
Otherwise dig a narrow hole 3 foot deep and then pack all the soil you took out in around the post. A pair of shove holers, a decent spit and if the ground isn’t stony an auger. My brother favours an electric auger.

Really useful. Thank you very much. Will look into these options.

As per PJ, the wind may be a factor and you can’t really put a bolt in the wall higher than 3 courses down from the top. So maybe scrap that idea.
You can use posts, even if they are set back from the wall a few inches, then add some packing to the post, then attach the panel to the packing. That way you can get a very secure/deep post.

A photo would help!