Essential Tips For Installing New Fence Panels

With temperatures soaring and summer well and truly out in full force, now’s the perfect time to get green-fingered or DIY-savvy and tackle those garden and landscaping projects you’ve been putting off – whether it’s laying new turf, sprucing up your decking or adding new fence panels.

We’ve covered two of the three above in some of our previous articles but if you’re new to the world of fence panel installation, then you might need some guidance – and our latest post can help.

1. Choose Your Fence Post Material & Calculate Number Of Panels

Wooden, concrete and metal fence posts are all potential choices – all with their own benefits. Wooden posts are light, easy to handle and cost-effective; concrete posts are strong and won’t rot, but require more groundwork; metal posts are reasonably strong, too, and are quick to put up.

To calculate the number of fence panels required, simply measure the length of the area, and divide it by the length of each panel. This will also give you the number of gravel boards you’ll need to place under each fence panel, to avoid rot.

2. Secure Fence Posts In Concrete

After clearing the area of any overgrowth (such as weeds and vines) you need to dig your fence post holes – these should be around 2ft deep (just over 600mm) and three times the width of the post itself (e.g. 12 inches wide for a 4-inch wide post).

After lifting the post into the hole, secure the base with stone hardcore – then fill the hole to just above ground level with freshly mixed concrete or a concrete mix and water. Use a trowel to level the surface and check that the post is straight using a spirit level. Leave for an hour to harden.

3. Fix Your Fence Panels In Place

Be sure to add specialist gravel boards along the bottom (or just a minimum 4-inch gap at the bottom) to avoid moisture and water causing the panel to rot. Lift the panel into place screw the fence panels to your posts using U-shaped post clips – but be sure to use stainless steel screws to prevent rusting.

If, however, you’re using concrete posts then these will likely have grooves in to allow you to simply slide the panel in place with no fixing necessary; the weight of the concrete posts will keep the panels in place.

If you’re looking to take advantage of the warmer weather this summer, and want to carry out those important garden renovations that you’ve been itching to do all year then we can help. Here at M.J. Ryall, we supply a wide range of landscaping, building and timber supplies in the Hitchin, Bedford and Letchworth Garden City areas. Whether you need new fence panels, aggregates, topsoils, turf or even timber supplies to install some new decking, you’ll find everything you need at our store in Hitchin. Whether you want to pick the supplies up yourself or have them delivered by our expert team, it’s completely up to you.

For more information on our products and supplies, simply call us today on 01462 730 169, get in touch using our online contact form or pop in store to speak to a member of our team.