Do-it-yourself wooden picket fence. Wooden picket fence: photos of beautiful options, prices, installation How to make a picket fence

Solid or through fencing wooden slats widely used for fencing houses and suburban areas. Fence from wooden picket fence has many advantages: its production requires a minimum of costs, and if necessary, it can be repaired as quickly as possible.

Required materials and tools:

tape measure, building level, strong twine;
shovel or drill;
metal pipes or wooden logs for the manufacture of supports;
transverse logs (veins) made of metal or durable coniferous timber 50x100 mm (for every 30 m of the fence you will need 10 supports and 20 three-meter veins);
fence;

wooden fence

Sand, cement, crushed stone for pouring metal support pillars;
hacksaw with medium teeth;
ax, hammer;
chisel with a wide blade;
plane;
screwdriver;
mounting brackets and bolts for attaching the crossbars to the racks;
self-tapping screws or galvanized nails;
sandpaper for sanding wood;
drying oil, paint and brush for coloring.

Installation of support poles

In order for the fence to turn out to be even, the ground should be carefully leveled. Before leveling, the area where the fence is planned to be built is cleared, and trees and shrubs are uprooted. The roots of many plants (poplar, willow, wild rose, etc.) are quite tenacious, so even small layers should be removed. Otherwise, after a couple of years, the remaining roots can give abundant growth and damage the hedge.
1. Along the perimeter of the site, small pegs, between which the twine is stretched. In order for the fence to be perfectly even, before starting the installation of the supporting pillars, you should measure their location several times using the building level.

A string is stretched along the perimeter of the fence

Advice. When wet, the tree becomes heavier, which significantly increases the load on the supports and logs, so they must be made of sufficiently durable wood or metal.

2. The standard distance between supports is 2.5-3 m. This distance will be enough to hold the whole span. The distance between the supports should be equal to the length of the transverse logs, taking into account the indent on the mount.

3. At the location of the supports with a shovel or a drill, pits are made 70-100 cm deep (this figure depends on the type of soil). Broken bricks, stones or gravel are poured into the bottom of the pit with a layer of 20 cm, then sand. Such a “pillow” is carefully spilled with water and compacted.

4. wooden logs cleaned of bark and knots. To protect against moisture and insects, the part that will be underground should be burned at the stake or treated with a blowtorch. Wood can also be impregnated with bitumen.

5. Wooden supports should not be poured with mortar - they will rot very quickly in concrete. They are installed in pre-prepared pits, covered with rubble and sand. At the same time, each layer of such a backfill is shed with water and rammed.

Advice. Since the main load will fall on the poles and veins, it is better to make them from metal. They should be thoroughly cleaned of rust and coated with any anti-corrosion solution. Particular care should be taken to treat the places that will be in the ground.

The device of metal supports

6. Support pillars must be installed strictly vertically. To do this, use the building level.

Support alignment

7. After leveling the supports, they are fixed with spacers. Further poured concrete mortar with the addition of gravel. Its proportions depend on the brand of cement.

Important! All subsequent work is carried out only after the mortar has set (at least 1-2 days).

8. To ensure that the height of the fence is the same around the entire perimeter, after installing the first and last pillars, a nail is hammered on top of them, and a string is stretched between them, which will serve as a guide for other supports.

A string is stretched between the supports

Fence mount

1. Grooves are prepared in wooden poles (two for each pole) with a depth of 30 cm. Their location is measured by the building level.

2. A vein is inserted into each groove and fixed to the pole with self-tapping screws (a more durable option) or nails. Thus, all poles are tied.

lag mount

Advice. When using metal supports in the places where the veins (log) are welded to the poles, rust can quickly appear, so it is better to fasten them with mounting brackets and bolts. With the help of staples purchased at the store or made independently from strips of metal, you can also attach wooden logs.

Fastening the support to a wooden vein with a bracket

3. Standard length picket fence 1.25 m. When using boards of non-standard sizes, they are cut to the desired length.

4. The outer pickets are attached first, while they should be located exactly at 90 relative to the vein. To protect the boards from decay, their lower end should be placed at a distance 5 cm from the ground. Next, the rest of the boards are attached.

Fence mount

Advice. To avoid splitting the shtaketin, screws or nails should not be placed along the same line. So that the ends do not stick out, do not fasten them too close to the edge.

5. Distance between pickets may be arbitrary. They can be fastened as a solid canvas, and with a small indent from each other. However, in order for the fence to look aesthetically pleasing, these indents should be the same along the entire length of the fence.

Advice. When installing a solid fence to prevent deformation during changes in humidity, the boards should be fastened with a small gap.

Boards are fastened with a small gap

Fence painting and decorating

To prevent the wood from absorbing too much paint, it is covered with drying oil before painting and allowed to dry. For painting use any frost-resistant paints, stains or decorative varnishes.

Decorating a picket fence is easy. For example, you can cut off its upper part at a certain angle, make it semicircular or, by combining the length of the picket fence, decorate the top of the fence with a zigzag or ladder. The cut ends are cleaned with sandpaper or cycled. Fences sawn at a certain angle not only look more original, but absorb moisture less: it rolls off its surface.

Any decorative elements of the fence are cut out by template plywood with jigsaw. They can be made separately, and then attached to separate sections of the fence.

Types of picket fences

Picket fence decoration options

Video: Do-it-yourself picket fence installation

With a variety of options for creating fences for land plots, building a fence from a wooden picket fence is the easiest and most convenient way quickly set up a fence. There are many varieties of these designs - from budget to expensive designer. The installation of simple classic options can be handled even without experience, it is better to entrust more complex work to specialists.

Types of wooden picket fences

Despite the fact that new types of these metal and plastic products have now appeared, the wooden picket fence is still more preferable because of its many advantages. Thanks to new wood processing technologies, many varieties of neat, high-quality blanks are produced, from which you can create a beautiful decorative fence.

Without painting

Types of wooden fences:

1. Budget option - this fence, made of unplaned or unedged boards, is sometimes used to temporarily mark the site. Such a wooden picket fence is often not painted (of course, it is better to paint it). And the final cost of the fence is not always low. In some cases, this material is used even in expensive landscape design projects.
2. Classic picket fence - from edged boards. A cheaper option is from a non-planed board, more expensive - from a planed one. Issued different sizes plank widths. Except standard view, the picket fence can be of a different shape: triangular, semicircular. The height of the fence can also be different - due to this, a wide variety of options are obtained to decorate even a simple plank structure.
3. Designer option. Fences may, after threading or other methods, have different decorative forms. In addition, they can be placed not only vertically, but also horizontally (for example, resembling blinds), create designs in the form of rhombuses, herringbones or other shapes. For such hedges, a drawing is preliminarily developed, and a detailed diagram placement of all elements. Wood materials allow you to create many different options, including various color combinations.
4. The method of placing the picket fence "checkerboard". This fence has both faces, because the picket fence is first nailed on one side at intervals equal to its width, and then the same is done on the other. It turns out a closed, but well-ventilated design.
5. Combined. Combines brick (reinforced concrete, stone) pillars, grillage, sections of wooden picket fence. This is the strongest and most durable design. It is especially suitable for regions where there are snowy winters: the grillage located below serves as a good protection for the tree from decay. Such a fence looks solid and rich, unlike those made only of wood.

Fence Options

Benefits of picket fence

Compared to other types of fences, a wooden picket fence prevails in summer cottages or in private buildings, because it is easy to install and unpretentious in further operation.

front garden

Advantages:

1. The ability to build beautiful fences using cheap, affordable, practical, easy-to-handle materials with simple means and tools.
2. The best eco-friendly option, creating an atmosphere of coziness, a feeling of comfort.
3. Universal, allowing you to build various designs, embody design ideas.
4. Easily made blanks, quickly installed. Even a beginner can handle this job.
5. Easy to care for: it is enough to periodically renew the paintwork protective layer.
6. In case of damage, it is not necessary to change the entire fragment of the fence, it is enough to replace several planks.
7. Treated with antiseptics can have a fairly long service life in good condition.

Decorative fences

Preparation of materials

First of all, you need to know how to correctly calculate how much and what consumable will be needed. The compiled price list will allow more rational use of all funds. Fencing posts can be made of logs, metal pipes, reinforced concrete, brick. For an accurate calculation, calculations are performed after measuring the entire perimeter of the fence.

Read also: Beautiful fences for giving with forging elements

The photo shows a beautiful fence for a private house.

A private house

Wood (posts, picket fence) must be chosen well dried so that it does not deform in the future. You can buy ready-made slats or even entire sections.

It will be cheaper to prepare them yourself from raw materials.

Having calculated the consumption of materials, you can already determine the approximate cost of a wooden picket fence if the work is done independently. The price can be much different if you place an order, especially if it is an original design project.

Fence Installation Scheme

What tools are needed for a wooden fence:

• pencil, tape measure;
• pliers, screwdrivers;
• level (or cord) for leveling the planks;
• a bar or other object for measuring the same spans between the planks;
• fixing screws for mounting to the pillars of the cross bars;
• small stone, concrete to strengthen the pillars;
• hammer;
• wood saw;
• drill;
• shovel.

Installation drawing

Do-it-yourself fence installation

Preparatory work is carried out in the same way as when installing other types of fences:

• the areas where the fence will be located are cleared of vegetation, debris, leveled;
• install beacons, pull the thread along the contour;
• we make markings for future pillars at a distance of 2–3 meters;
• we dig holes under the pillars with a depth of at least 1.3 meters (it is most convenient to use a hole drill).

Wiring diagram

Pole installation

If the poles are wooden, then they must be impregnated with an antiseptic, and those parts that will be in the ground should be covered bituminous mastic. Metal poles are stronger and more durable, but they must also have a good anti-corrosion coating. To do this, they must, if necessary, be cleaned of rust, then coated with frost-resistant paint so that the support lasts longer.

The photo shows a fence for a summer residence.

In front of the house

For wooden fence posts, poles with a section of 100x100 mm are used. For metal racks use profile pipe section 75x75 mm.

It is important to take care in advance how to make the picket fence more stable. Before installing the support pillars, small crushed stone 20 cm thick is poured into the bottom of the pit so that they do not move when the soil freezes.

Before burying the pillars, their bases are fixed for strength with a mixture of cement and rubble. If the supports are metal, brick or reinforced concrete, then special corners or other fasteners are mounted to them for installing transverse veins on which the strips will be attached.

A photo of the fence of a private house is presented below.

Bright colors

Set of picket fence sections

The next stage of the construction of the fence can be done in two ways:

1. Horizontal veins are attached to the supports, on which the planks are then stuffed using a template (for the same span width) and a level, or cord, to make a fence that is even in height. It is not recommended to use nails for this, the fastening on screws or self-tapping screws will be stronger. It's more expensive, but more durable.
2. You can install ready-made sections - purchased or prepared independently in advance. Then it remains only to mount them to the poles using mounting screws.

Scheme of a wooden vertical fence

Vein installation

So, if the fence supports are metal, corners of 50x50 mm and a length of 7.5 cm are welded to them. The distance between them should be determined according to the height of the fence span, stepping back from the edges of the section from above and below 100 mm to the center of the column.

Names of elements

Then, as for wooden fence posts, 2 horizontal logs from a 50x100 mm timber, pre-treated with an antiseptic, are installed in the spans. You can also use a 40x100 mm edged board as a log (vein). Veins are fastened to wooden fence posts or corners on racks using self-tapping screws.

Read also: At what distance from the fence can a greenhouse be placed: SNiP norm and law

Fence mount

An antiseptic board with a section of 100x25 or 150x25 mm is used as vertical pickets. The length of wooden planks is selected individually in each case, based on the height of the future fence. When determining this size, it must be taken into account that after installation, the strips should not come into contact with the ground. For example, if the fence is planned to be 2.1 meters high, then a picket fence 2 meters long is used.

Wooden fence drawing

The fastening of a wooden picket fence to the veins is carried out along a rope stretched horizontally between the posts. The step of the slats is not regulated and is selected based on the desired translucency of the fence. Standard option- a gap of 30-50 mm.

To better fix the fence, you need to add drying oil to the thread of the screw before screwing it, then the connection will be even stronger and more durable.

The video shows how to build a fence with your own hands.

How to make a fence from a euro picket with your own hands, read the link.

Installation of a sectional fence

Most fast way installation of such a fence is the use of prefabricated structures. You can buy sections of planks that are already even painted with durable high-quality paintwork materials, and poles with suitable fasteners.

It is enough to measure how many meters of the fence you need. Everything is already calculated in size, it is a complete set, which remains only to be assembled as a designer. It is more expensive, but very convenient and fast.

The photo shows a beautiful fence.

Price

You can calculate how much it will cost to install a fence from an ordinary wooden picket fence on the site, on your own or with the help of specialists. Such services with the help of a fence calculator are provided in many large hardware stores, as well as by companies that supply materials and carry out construction work.

Employees involved in the selection and calculation of materials are well versed in their quality characteristics, cost and can quickly select suitable option in the price-quality ratio. This saves customers from mistakes and wasted time.

Average cost for 1 running meter fencing with a gap on 2 joists with materials and work:

• with a section height of 1.5 m - from 1090 rubles;
• with a section height of 2 m - from 1129 rubles.

Section sketches

The average cost per 1 linear meter of a solid fence on 2 lags with materials and work:

• with a section height of 1.5 m - from 1336 rubles;
• with a section height of 2 m - from 1375 rubles.

Over the past fifty years, the manufacturing industry building materials literally overwhelmed users with a huge number of new methods and technologies for erecting buildings, arranging adjoining territory and site landscape.

Surprisingly, with such an abundance and choice, the owners of private houses and summer cottages often prefer the old versions of buildings, for example, instead of fashionable fences made of plastic and metal, they install a classic picket fence on the site.

Why is picket fence so good?

The choice of a wooden fence is usually not a whim or a desire to remember the old days, there are many positive aspects in the design of the fence, which is almost more than a hundred years old. Traditionally, the three most important are:

• The simplicity of building a picket fence, such a fence does not require special materials or skills in handling tools;
• A wooden picket fence only marked the border of the site, enough sun and air penetrated through the fence, so flowers and shrubs of the front garden always grow along the fence;
• The simple construction of a fence made of a wooden picket fence made it possible to show imagination and design the fence in its own way, while modern materials practically depersonalize the building.

Sometimes, environmental friendliness and low construction costs are called as positive aspects of the fence. The disadvantages of picket fences include low durability and strength. If you follow the traditional methods of protecting wood, then a picket fence can stand for at least 15-20 years.

Important! Admittedly, picket fence remains the prettiest and most inexpensive fence design.

In any case, a wooden picket fence goes well with metal, natural stone, brick and all kinds of vegetation that can only be planted on a lawn or front garden near the house.

Fence design

The classic design of a picket fence is well known to everyone, even to those who have never seen such a fence live in their lives. Depending on the preferences of the owners, the fence can be made “in moderation”, this is about 160 cm, “in the belt” - approximately 100-110 cm.

Fence device

In various versions of the fence device, the fence may differ in the design of the heads, the height and width of the picket fence, but the main elements remain unchanged:

• Support posts or posts hold the entire fence structure at a height of 5-7 cm above ground level. A correctly assembled fence should not touch the bottom edge of the picket fences with either soil or grass;
• Crossbars or veins are long horizontal slats or logs. Crossbars are nailed at a height of 1/5-1/6 from the top and lower end of the support;
• Picket fence - short flat strips of wood, plastic or metal, stuffed onto horizontal crossbars with the same pitch.

Sometimes picket fences were supplemented with X-shaped spacers, which were installed between the veins. The spacers were stuffed from the inside of the fence and did not affect appearance picket fence and the entire fence. Thus, it was possible to make the structure as strong and rigid as possible. This was done in cases where the span between the fence supports was removable. In order not to install gates for entry from the side or back side of the fence of the site, it was possible to simply remove one span.

If the spacing of the picket fence slats was chosen correctly, then the fence looked like one monotonous canvas, while the gaps between the slats provided enough light for the greenery growing around.

Picket fence popularity secret

Why is picket fence still at the peak of popularity? The design of the fence has been polished over the years, it is difficult to come up with a simpler fence device. The size of the fence strips and veins ensures that at any location of the sun in the sky, the space around the fence will be dry, even the fattest black soil and clay dry out quickly after rain due to sun rays and draft.

Making the gaps between the picket fence strips too large does not make sense. Firstly, the strength and rigidity of the fence is significantly reduced, secondly, the appearance of the fence is clearly losing its expressiveness, and thirdly, it is still a fence, and its task is to protect the territory from stray cats, dogs and neighbor chickens.

For comparison, look at the lower part from the inside of solid fences. It doesn't matter if they are knocked down from the lining, plastic panel or built of stone. If the fence canvas is assembled into a solid panel without gaps, then a wet stagnant zone forms at the base of the fence, wooden poles and plants in the front garden rot, moss and mold grow.

For the same reason, the lower part of the wooden picket fence is never lowered to the ground. Upon contact with wet ground, wooden planks quickly swell with moisture, warp and quickly become unusable.

We build a fence from a wooden picket fence

To build a picket fence, you first need to choose the right material for the veins and poles. Owners country houses and dachas built of timber or rounded logs, they prefer a completely wooden picket fence. The owners of stone houses choose more durable plastic and metal constructions fences.

traditional materials

Previously, oak or walnut timber was used for the crossbars, with a section of 50x50 and 50x70 mm. The material must not have defects, knots or a pronounced fiber structure. When assembling the fence, a large number of nails were driven into the body of the vein, so the defective wood could be easily split.

It does not make sense to use soft wood for veins, the crossbars quickly sagged under the weight of the picket fence, and after 4-5 years, individual planks began to fall out of the fence along with nails. To avoid pinching when driving a nail into hardwood, craftsmen nailed the planks through a bar of soap or a piece of leather soaked in turpentine.

The use of metal and stone

It is not necessary to blindly follow the old traditions of building fences. If your house is sheathed with siding or paneling under natural stone, lined with brick or lined with any other stone, stone and metal can and should be used when building a fence. The secret of a wooden picket fence is that it goes well with metal and stone fencing, with the exception of plastic and metal meshes. But sometimes you have to hem the bottom edge of the picket fence with a thin masking net to protect the front garden.

For example, you can not hide the pillars behind the canvas of the fence, as is done in a traditional wooden fence, but on the contrary, highlight them in the form of load-bearing pillars, lay them out of stone. A huge plus in using a picket fence is that the fence made of wooden or metal planks has a relatively low weight, about 10-15 kg per span, which means that the number of posts can be minimized. The maximum span increases to 6-7 m, it makes no sense to do more, since the stiffness of the cross members decreases, and when strong wind the picket fence will hum and sway.

In addition, stone pillars make it possible to use metal profile pipes instead of wooden veins. As a result, in addition to a stylish appearance, it is possible to significantly increase the service life of a picket fence, since the main cause and disease of all fences is eliminated - rotting of supports in wet ground. A fence on stone pillars with a wooden picket fence, with proper assembly and annual maintenance, will easily last 15-20 years. And even if the wooden picket fence becomes unusable, it will not be difficult to replace it with a new wooden or metal bar.

Preparation and installation of supports

The classic version of a picket fence involves the use of wooden poles, especially if the picket fence on the fence is not just a plank, but has a figured head with carving elements. It is irrational and ugly to install such a picket fence on metal poles and crossbars.

A wooden pole for a standard fence, up to one and a half meters high, can be made from ordinary pine or spruce timber with a section of 90x90 mm or even 100x100 mm. The cross section of a wooden pole, as a rule, is chosen based on the design of the fence. If the supports are hidden behind a picket fence, then you can use any section and even a package of two forty boards. In this case, the boards are knocked down with nails - weaving at an angle, and the gap must be filled with molten bitumen or rubbed with liquid rubber.

If the pillars stand out as one of the main elements of the picket fence, then the supports have to be made of an artificially increased section and supplemented with decorative trim.

For the support post, you can use almost any type of wood, you just need to carefully treat it with anti-rotten solutions and soak it with protective oil or varnish. The material is pre-dried, the lower end of the column is fired with a blowtorch to a dark brown color. Before installation, the buried part of the support is treated with a primer for sticking bituminous waterproofing.

The number of poles is calculated based on the size of the fence and the height of the picket fence, the heavier the picket slats, the smaller the span and the more poles. The average span is 2-2.5m. For a one and a half meter fence, a pole 220 cm long is required.

When using a square profile pipe, the process of preparing the supports is even easier. With a picket fence height of 150 cm, a column section of 60x60 mm and a wall thickness of 3 mm are selected. It is necessary to cut blanks of a given length and close up holes in the bottom and upper parts of the pipe, you can weld or clog with a concrete stopper. To prevent the metal from rusting, the profile pipe is cleaned with a bronze brush and treated with phosphoric acid. After a day, the surface is wiped with a damp cloth and dried. That part of the support that will go into the ground can be treated with bituminous mastic to protect car bodies, it dries within half an hour.

To install the support, a well is drilled with a depth of at least 70 cm and a diameter of 200-250 mm, crushed stone with sand is poured to the bottom. After installing and leveling the support, the space is filled with large rubble and broken bricks, after which it is poured with liquid, like sour cream, concrete. The concreting procedure must be carried out in several layers to allow the mixture to settle and push out the accumulated air.

Fence stuffing device

You need to work with a wooden picket fence slowly and only in warm sunny weather. Planks for the fence must first be dried and sanded on an emery wheel, remove splinters and wood dust. Before stuffing, the picket fence strips are taken outside for a day so that the material “takes” its moisture level. If a picket fence has to be assembled in spring or autumn, then the planks are covered with acrylic varnish and dried indoors.

In order for the picket fence to turn out beautiful, two conditions must be met when assembling the structure:

• Install poles or supports in line with a minimum deviation from the vertical position. The smoother the supports are, the better the whole fence looks;
• Lay the picket fence strips on the horizontal crossbars so that the upper edges are at the same level.

This is not as easy to do as it might seem at first glance. You have to work practically on weight, so any careless movement can shift the installation point of the picket fence. To simplify the task, a template or gauge is used for stuffing. In fact, this is a T-shaped joiner's square. Each of the sides, vertical and horizontal, is cut out equal in width to the pitch of the picket fence. The right angle between the legs of the square is reinforced with a pair of metal plates tightened with two bolts.

With the device, stuffing the picket fence strips onto the veins of the fence is simplified so much that it can be entrusted even to those completely unfamiliar with carpentry.

Stuffing the picket fence strips on the veins

The first five strips of the picket fence will have to be fixed on the cross member of the fence using a building level and a plumb line. Initially, you need to stretch the cord or steel wire along the level of the upper edge of the fence. The ends of the marking cord are attached to the extreme posts, and linings are installed on the intermediate supports to avoid sagging.

If the planks are correctly calibrated in width and length, then the first elements can be aligned to the plumb line and sideline. If a purchased lining is used for the picket fence, then an center line is applied to the first planks with a pencil and the vertical position is verified along it.

After alignment, the bar is fixed on the vein with a clamp, holes are drilled for self-tapping screws on both crossbars and fastened with a screwdriver. If there is no clamp, then a couple of nails can be used to temporarily fix the picket fence. We do this:

• Aligning the bar along the plumb line and cord, gently press it to the crossbars with your hand;
• With a screwdriver, we drill one hole in the lower and upper veins, insert nails into the holes that act as temporary centering pins;
• We drill the remaining two holes for self-tapping screws in the bar, we perform fastening. Next, we remove the nails and wrap a couple of self-tapping screws into the remaining holes with a “shurik”.

For your information! You can change the fastening scheme of the picket strips at your discretion, but the installation points must be chosen as shown in the diagram.

The picket fence strips can also be fastened with ordinary nails, forty or fifty. In this case, all nails are hammered with different slopes, so that under load the picket fence strips do not pull the nails out of the vein.

The remaining planks are nailed using a fixture. The square is placed on the heads of the planks and pressed tightly, it remains to install a new picket fence and fix it on the veins.

In the old days, nails were worth their weight in gold, the picket fence was fastened on wooden pins or corks. A hole with a diameter of 10-15 mm was drilled in each bar with a drill. A piece of 20-30 mm was cut off from a pre-prepared round lath, cut into a wedge, wetted with tar and hammered into the hole. In some villages, you can still find fences made of oak picket fences on traffic jams, which have already been standing for 50 years.

Features of the design of a fence made of wooden picket fence

The method described above reveals only the details of the assembly of the structure, but this does not mean that you need to limit yourself to boring rectangular planks and a fence that is as flat as a table. The use of wood for the manufacture of a fence with a picket fence makes it possible to make the fence of the site bright and individual, both in design and in style.

For example, the heads of the planks can be cut according to a special pattern and must be numbered. After installing the planks on the crossbars, a wavy edge is formed, which looks much more interesting than a straight line.

If you have enough time and patience, then the picket fence strips can be decorated with carvings, saw cuts and decorative holes. This option is great for a front garden fence.

If you need an unusual fence that attracts the attention of guests and neighbors, use not a flat bar, but a round slab, rounded on a machine. Instead of hiding the racks behind the fence canvas, you can make them a rectangular classic shape with a trimmed head. This option of the fence will perfectly decorate any house, regardless of the style in which the building is decorated.

A prerequisite for the construction of the fence is the use of protective enamels and paints. The picket fence will have to be painted or varnished every year.

Assembling a metal picket fence

The process of building a fence from wooden slats, poles and crossbars takes a lot of time. It takes two or three full working days to stuff the picket fence alone, so the assembly of wooden fences is usually done by people for whom carpentry is a hobby and a way of active recreation.

If there is no time to build a wooden fence, or there is no desire to mess with lumber, you can collect very beautiful fence from metal fence.

The invention of modern building technology

The popularity of picket fences is indirectly confirmed by the fact that manufacturers of building materials have long mastered the production of similar fence designs made of thin sheet stamped metal.

In appearance, a metal fence is very difficult to distinguish from a wooden product. The only detail that betrays the metal railing is the rounded head of each plank. In wooden fences, the heads of the planks can be the most different forms and sizes, usually an acute-angled cut or a smooth end edge. In a metal picket fence, all strips have the same heads.

Cross racks and poles are also made by stamping from thin sheet metal, a profile is obtained that is very reminiscent of the galvanized profiled material used to fasten drywall sheets.

The metal fence has a polymer protective coating made of polyurethane or PVC, so you have to handle it very carefully. The metal for the fence is necessarily subjected to protective phosphating and galvanizing. Manufacturers claim that a metal picket fence will last at least 20 years without repair.

In practice, only the picket fence strips themselves, covered with a layer of protective polymer, can withstand such a period. Exposed galvanized parts are subject to severe abrasion, especially if the area is dominated by sandy soils. It is even worse if the house around which the metal picket fence is installed is heated coal with a high sulfur content. The combustion products of the "kurnyak" settle on the metal, and after 5-7 years the open surface is actively corroded by acid corrosion.

Therefore, metal picket fences are necessarily painted with alkyd and polyurethane enamels.

Assembling a fence from metal parts

Most difficult stage in the installation of a fence made of metal strips is the assembly of the supporting frame, namely the pillars and crossbars. Fence posts are available in two versions:

1. By connecting two Ω-profile strips with a metal thickness of 0.7-1.0 mm. Two profile lines are interconnected by self-tapping screws every 50 cm in length;
2. Twisting two U-profile rulers, with a section of 40x60 mm. It is assembled in the same way as the omega profile.

The assembled poles are installed in pre-drilled wells. The recommended well sizes are 20 cm in diameter and 70 cm deep. This is quite enough to hold a very light fence from thin sheet stamped metal.

Before concreting, each column must be leveled along a vertical plumb line in two planes. The support for the fence is very light, therefore, after pouring concrete, struts or spacers to fix the post are usually not used.

After three days, you can install the crossbars. Each cross member is an Ω-profile, self-tapping screws are screwed into the side shelves, a very strong and rigid connection is obtained. Crossbars are recommended to be installed at a distance of 35 cm from the head and the ground. To install the steel crossbars, you need to align them at the recommended height and fix them on one side to the post. After leveling on the horizon with the help of a bubble level, the second edge of the bar is caught. If there are no comments, all fasteners are installed.

You can proceed to the installation of the picket fence. The first bar is installed along the support line. To mount the next one, you will need to step back, as recommended by the manufacturer, 45 mm and make marks on each of the crossbars. The picket fence slats are fixed on the cross member with four self-tapping screws.

Given the high manufacturing accuracy of all parts of the fence, you can immediately mark up and put risks on the transverse logs. All that remains is to apply the next bar, align it and fasten it with screws and a screwdriver.

In practice, the installation of a picket fence is usually performed the old fashioned way. After installing the starting bar, a template is applied to the side surface of the planks, you can use the same building level, then a new bar is installed and fixed with self-tapping screws on the fence frame. What is the difference? In this case, the possibility of error is fundamentally excluded, and all gaps between the fence slats will automatically be the same size.

Despite the fact that none of the parts were cut during the assembly of the fence, the manufacturer recommends that the joints and screwing points of the screws be treated with a protective aerosol. As a standard, picket fence strips are sold with a surface sealed with a film, which must be removed at the end of assembly operations.

An interesting feature of the metal picket fence slats is the possibility of double-sided assembly. An additional row of planks can be installed on the inside of the fence, if desired, they can be shifted and a complete overlap of the fence web can be obtained.

Conclusion

A metal picket fence combines very well with stone details. For example, you can use crossbeams and slats to fill the span of a stone fence, or make a solid fence with a long span. In this case, you will need to use a massive metal channel or brick columns as pillars. There are a huge number of design options for a metal fence.

The history of the use of wood by the Slavs for the construction of houses, outbuildings, fences and fences is rooted in the distant past. Even then, our ancestors understood all the advantages of using this unpretentious natural material for construction. Houses, windows, roofs, floors and household items were built from it. And, despite the modern variety of building materials, wood still holds a leading position as a reliable, environmentally friendly building material.

Today we will talk about a wooden picket fence. Such a fence performs several functions at once: it limits the territory of our site, and at the same time adds comfort and tranquility, decorating our house.

In addition, such a fence has several other advantages. Firstly, a wooden fence is very versatile in terms of combination with the design of the house; it looks great next to a house made of stone, brick, next to concrete and metal elements of the facade and design. The next advantage of such a fence is the ease of installation, because any summer resident who does not have construction experience can build a picket fence. And finally, such a fence is very easy to maintain and operate; all care is reduced only to the periodic painting of its surface.
First you need to prepare the materials necessary for the construction wooden fence. Amy will: poles for support (metal or wooden), pickets, transverse wooden planks. In addition, we will need the following tools: a drill or a shovel, a drill, self-tapping screws and a screwdriver with a saw.

Shtaketin - ready-made from the store or created by yourself? Whichever option you choose, each of them has its pros and cons. In the case of buying ready-made fences, the process of building a fence is noticeably simplified and accelerated, because all we need to do is just install them. However, when buying shtaketin, there is a risk of running into a poor-quality raw tree, which will “lead” over time. In the case of preparing the material for the fence with your own hands, you should be prepared that it will take a little more time to build the fence than in the first option. The advantages in this case, of course, will be that you will be absolutely sure of the quality of the materials used, and that such a fence is guaranteed to serve you for decades.

Having decided on the picket fence, you should understand how much of it you need. To do this, you should measure the total length of the fence, its height, consider the planned distance between the fences, the number of support pillars.

Now you can proceed directly to the construction of the fence. To do this, at the place where the installation of the fence is planned, clearing is carried out, all debris and foreign objects are removed. Next, a guide thread is pulled, along which we will build a fence.

It's time to deal with the supporting pillars. To do this, pits are dug with a drill or a shovel about 1 meter deep each, with a step between the pits of no more than three meters. Why exactly three meters? Everything is very simple - if the pillars are located in increments of more than three meters, sagging and deformation of the transverse beams, and with them the entire fence, is possible. We don't want that, do we?

Pulling out the pit and installing supports there, you can do their strengthening. We recommend installing pillars with subsequent pouring of their base with concrete, for greater strength and stability.

Having installed the pillars, we proceed to the installation of the transverse beams - veins. And here we have two options: either install the veins first, and then strengthen the picket fence itself on them, or assemble one span of the picket fence with veins and fasten them between the supporting pillars with such “sets”.
Whatever way you choose to install the fence, the principle of fastening the fence is always the same. Each picket fence with a step of about five to seven centimeters is attached to the transverse veins using self-tapping screws or even ordinary nails. If your support pillars are made of iron, make sure in advance that special corners are welded onto the pillars for attaching the crossbars. It is to these corners that you will attach the veins with a picket fence.

And now, the fence is installed and you are one step away from the completion of construction. It remains only to treat the fence with stain and varnish, or paint it. This will not only protect it from moisture and the sun, from microorganisms and insects, but also give the fence a finished, original look.
Please note that stain and varnish do not adhere well to freshly planed pickets, so the pickets should be slightly “roughened” with sandpaper.

After processing and varnishing, our fence is ready.

Just 50 years ago, wooden picket fences could be seen around most country houses. But, these were the same type of vertical structures. Now a reliable and durable picket fence can be built in various configurations and even in combination with other material. Fencing is quite easy to build with the correct calculation and preparation of the material. He will serve reliable protection plot, and decorate it with your appearance.

Advantages

Everyone wants to make their home beautiful, and the fence is that element suburban area, to which attention is paid in the first place. Therefore, it is important to give this element a maximum of aesthetics. One of the materials that fall into the category of aesthetic and malleable for unique buildings can be considered wood. If you have skills in working with wood and a desire to independently build a fence around the site, then the question of how to make a picket fence will be solved by itself.

A picket fence installed with your own hands, with some imagination and a little skill, will look great on any terrain and against the backdrop of any structure.

The reliability of a wooden fence depends on the type of wood chosen for its manufacture, as well as on the size of one picket fence. If done right choice the fence will last for many years.

News proper care it's not hard for him at all. All that the owner must do is to apply protective substances to the surface in a timely manner. It is also important that the picket fence almost does not obscure the site and has excellent air throughput. Near it, you can plant any plants that need sunlight.

The main types of styling

Vertical and horizontal

Traditionally, in the manufacture of a wooden fence, pickets are installed vertically. However, horizontal installation is also possible. This design is made of several boards or poles. In another way, this type of fencing is called "ranch". It is well suited for creating a rustic style.

You can even tilt the slats to one side, and then you get an even more unusual fence. And given that the angle of inclination can be different, there are countless options for creating unusual designs.

Checkerboard

The checkerboard fence also has an attractive appearance. It looks beautiful not only from the outside, but also from the inside. Location feature wooden parts consists in the fact that the shtaketins are installed on both sides, but are displaced in relation to each other. The gap, on the one hand, is closed with a rail on the other, and vice versa.

Material preparation and calculation

A wooden picket fence is so easy to install that you don't even need a lot of tools to install it.

For the manufacture of the fence itself, in addition to wood, you will need:

• fasteners - nails or screws;
• hand saw or jigsaw;
• screwdriver;
• protective agent to be applied to the surface. These products include water-repellent and antiseptic impregnation, as well as varnish, stain and paint;
• a shovel for digging a hole under the support pillars;
• a hammer, if nails were chosen as fasteners;
• building level so that all elements of the fence are installed evenly.

You can buy wood and make fences from it yourself, or you can buy a fence already ready. In the latter case, you will have to pay more, but there will be less work.

Note! Before making a picket fence, it is important to correctly calculate the wood material. Based on the perimeter of the territory, as well as the width of the shtaketin and the gaps between them, the required number of wooden elements is calculated. For example, if the width of one fence is 4 cm, and the width of the gap is 6 cm, and at the same time it is planned to make a fence 30 m long, then to calculate the amount of 30 m, you need to divide by 10 cm, that is, by the total width of one gap and one fence.

How much shtaketin is needed depends on the design chosen. For example, if the fence will be erected with gaps, then it will need less material than for a deaf structure of the same length.

It is important not to forget to calculate everything in the same unit of measure. It’s easier to express meters in centimeters, and then 3000 will need to be divided by 10. After the calculation, it turns out that such a fence will require 300 pieces of shtaketin. In addition to the material for the manufacture of the fence itself, you will also need bars for the supports. Such poles should be long enough and strong. It must be remembered that they will sink at least half a meter.

Laying a picket fence in a checkerboard pattern

You can install a fence from a picket fence by working in the following order:

1. Markup. It is necessary to determine where the support pillars will be located. A strong rope stretched around the perimeter can help in this matter. The optimal distance between the supports is 2-3 meters. Given this, it is necessary to make marks on the ground in those places where holes will be dug.
2. Digging holes. Their diameter should be greater than the diameter of the support column. The calculation of the depth of the pit depends on how much the height of the future fence will be. Most often it exceeds 1 meter.
3. Installation of pillars in prepared recesses. If they are wooden, you can simply get by with applying protective agents to the surface. It is possible to lay a wooden picket fence and, using metal poles, in this case, it will be necessary to lay a concrete mixture in the recess.
4. After the supports are installed, you can begin to attach veins or slabs to them - thicker boards that should be parallel to the ground surface, that is, perpendicular to the support pillars. At least two veins are needed. Their number depends on the total height of the building.
5. The calculation of the distance between them can also vary. It also depends on the height of the mounted fence and on the method of attaching pickets to them. The main thing is not to bring the lower one closer to the ground by less than 25 cm, and the upper one should not be raised too high so that the edges of the nailed pickets rise at least 25 cm above it.
6. When the installation of the veins is completed, you can proceed to attach the picket fence itself. When installing the very first picket fence, it is better to use a building level so that the entire fence does not turn out to be crooked. If there is no level, you can use a plumb line instead, which is easy to make yourself using a heavy weight and thread. To attach all the other shtaketins, it will be enough just to determine the width of the gap. You can make it equal to the width of the shtaketin and measure the required distance without any problems by applying one of the rails. But you can specially make a rail of the required width, so that you can then use it only to make gaps.
7. When the slats are nailed along the entire length of the fence, you can be content with the work already done, since, in essence, the classic fence is already ready.

To make a "checkerboard", you will need to go to the other side to install another row of pickets. In order to avoid distortions and inaccuracies, it is necessary to correctly install the first rail. It should be located strictly opposite the gap between two adjacent pickets on the other side. After installing this rail, all that remains is to nail all the others, measuring the length of the gaps using a template.

Secrets of painting

Finished structure painting

Painting a picket fence with your own hands is not difficult, but you still need to be careful about the details. The durability of not only the paint layer, but the entire structure depends on the quality of this work. For high-quality coating, it is necessary to clean the wood from contaminants, and then prime it with a substance that can penetrate deep into the structure.

You can apply multiple layers. Before applying the next, you must wait until the previous layer dries. Many manufacturers can assure you that there is no need to prime the surface before painting. But, nevertheless, it is better not to pay attention to this statement, and to conduct a primer. This will have a positive effect on the durability of wood and on the economy of the main coating.

It is also better to paint in several layers. After applying the first layer, it is better to sand it with sandpaper after drying. For painting, it is better to use a brush, not a roller, as it will allow you to get to hard-to-reach places. But if there is a desire to speed up the process, you can also take a roller, but only in this case it must be borne in mind that then you still have to paint many places with a brush.