Do-it-yourself fence from a chain-link mesh

Recommendation points

• Installation of pillars
• What chain-link to take on the fence
• Mesh mounts
• Splicing mesh
• How to stretch and avoid sagging

A chain-link fence is perfect as a temporary or permanent solution. If you don’t really care about the views of your neighbors, and you need to install a fence quickly and inexpensively, then a chain-link fence will be an excellent solution to outline the boundaries of the site.

Installation of pillars

Although a chain-link fence has the lowest possible weight, the posts must be stable enough to withstand the tension of the mesh. The optimal pitch for this type of fence is considered to be a pitch of 2.5 m. In general, three options can be considered for the reliable installation of poles:

• backfilling to a depth of 1 m or more;
• concreting 0.3–0.5 m below the freezing depth;
• twisting of screw piles 0.5-0.8 m below the freezing depth.

The pillars are not only under strain from the mesh, they are also subject to frost heaving forces. First of all, this applies to pillars on a concrete base: even if the ground does not freeze under the heel, indirect influences may be enough to squeeze the pillar out of the ground several centimeters a year or until a roll appears. Although the mesh has sufficient elasticity, excessive stress can cause it to sag..

One of the most effective ways to prevent the extrusion and roll of the pillars is a shell made of roofing material or glass insulation, rolled into a tube 25-30 cm in diameter..

For temporary solutions, the backfilling method is perfect, which is practically not subject to frost effects. To set up such a fence requires drilling holes with a diameter of 25-30 cm using a garden drill, followed by a thorough cleaning of crumbling soil. After the installation and alignment of the pillars, backfilling is carried out with gravel and sand, which are tamped with scrap and spilled with water in layers of 8-10 cm. It is important that the hole goes into the clay layer at least 20-30 cm. When pipes are backfilled, their underground part is subject to corrosion, therefore, it is advisable to protect the metal with a primer and paint, and plug the sections with plugs or replace the pipes with angle steel.

With any of the chosen methods, the installation of the pillars is carried out in two stages. On the first day, you need to install corner posts, which are carefully vertically aligned in two transverse directions. In those directions where the net tension is later planned, the pillars are reinforced with slopes at a height of 100–120 cm from the ground at an angle of 45 °. On the second day, the upper and lower lacing is pulled between the corner posts, along which the rest of the fence posts are aligned.

What chain-link to take on the fence

The optimum mesh size for the fence is 50–70 mm with a wire thickness of 1.5–2 mm. Such a mesh is light enough not to sag under its own weight and has a high spatial density, reliably protecting the site from intruders. If the wire mesh is too thin, it can cause tension release due to seasonal temperature fluctuations..

In terms of quality and durability, the chain-link is classified into a mesh with or without protective coatings. The latter option is not suitable for permanent fencing. Of the options with coatings, one can seriously consider a wire mesh of the first class of galvanized and a mesh with polymer protection. The first option is definitely a winning one, a galvanized chain-link is considered the most popular among summer residents, its service life is at least 10 years.

A polymer-coated net should be used in cases where the lower 10-15 cm of the canvas will be buried in the ground to prevent digging by animals. Otherwise, it is possible to ensure the safety of the wire in such conditions only by thorough staining of 4–5 bottom rows. The quality of the polymer coating should not be in doubt either. It is optimal if individual wires are coated with polymer, and not the entire mesh together with intersections. Of the protective materials, preference should be given to polyurethane and polyethylene, PVC coatings do not tolerate sunlight well and crack after 3-5 years of operation.

Mesh mounts

The attachment points of the mesh to the posts are usually neglected, using wire clamps and in general everything that comes under the arm. This is not the best way reflected in the anti-vandal resistance and quality of tension. There are three reliable and proven ways of fastening the chain-link: point, on rods and stag beads, which are pre-welded to each post before installation. Let’s consider all three options:

1. Point attachment is considered the easiest, but takes longer. In this version, the mesh is attached to the post using pieces of galvanized punched tape folded in half. The tape is cut across the large holes so that one large and two small notches remain on each segment. The segment is bent in half, forming a collar, which is put on the wire and attached to the post through two aligned small holes using a rivet. The mesh is fastened with an indent of two cells, while it is recommended to shift the fastening rows by one row on adjacent posts. The mesh is attached to the extreme (corner) posts for each wire.
2. Using a rod, the mesh is attached to the posts as follows: after tensioning the mesh, a wire 5–6 mm in diameter is woven through a vertical row of cells parallel to the post. Then the wire is welded to the pillar with tacks every 10-15 cm. The disadvantage of this method is that the pillars can be painted only after the final completion of the installation, which is not always convenient. However, such a fence will be extremely difficult to overcome, and the tension will remain for a very long time..
3. Stag beetles welded to the posts are 20 cm pieces of steel wire with a diameter of 8 mm. They are welded tightly exactly in the center so that the 7-8 mm tails can be slightly bent. This mounting method is the fastest and is ideal when no electricity is available. The essence of the fastening is that after tension, the mesh is put on the stags, then the bar is pressed against the post with a pipe wrench or tweezers, and the end is bent with a tube.

Splicing mesh

The most common delivery format for the chain-link is in rolls of 10 m. For craftsmen who have never dealt with such a mesh, it seems that special fittings are needed to connect the rolls, however, two canvases can be weaved so that the connection remains completely invisible.

It is important that for each linear section of the fence, the mesh fabric is prepared in advance and stretched entirely. For this, the required number of rolls is immediately selected and added to them. It is possible to prepare a spliced ​​fabric with a large margin: it is allowed to separate and splicate rolls an unlimited number of times.

To weave two rolls together, weave the outermost spiral wire from the edge of one of them. This should be done without additional effort so that the wire does not deform. Further, both rolls are rolled on the ground opposite each other. The free edges must be positioned so that the loops in them are exactly opposite each other, it may turn out that you need to weave another wire. Pay attention that the woven spiral has the same curling direction as the wires on the adjacent edges. When screwing in the spiral, it is very important to ensure that its edge passes through both loops on each turn. Note that usually the wire is woven without the slightest extra effort. If it is stuck, check the correspondence of the curling directions or slightly wiggle the edges relative to each other.

How to stretch and avoid sagging

Usually a chain-link fence is pulled manually. An even piece of reinforcement is vertically interwoven into an arbitrary place of the mesh fabric, which is temporarily tied to the extreme post with two ropes. One person maintains the tension of the net, the other fixes it, moving sequentially from one pillar to another.

There are also more technologically advanced options that ensure the safety of the fence tension for a long time. Their use eliminates the tension of the net itself, instead it is suspended from the top row on a wire string. All that is required for this method is a 3–3.5 mm thick galvanized wire and a set of tensioners for a chain-link with presses. Two net tensioners are attached to the outermost posts of each straight section, the clips are installed on all intermediate posts at the same height.

First, the wire is woven into the mesh cells 2-3 rows from above. When the web is stretched along the fence, the edges of the wire are clamped in tensioners and pre-tensioned. Further, the wire is placed in the press without final clamping. The mesh fabric must be properly straightened along its entire length without significant tension and fixed to the posts. After that, the wire is stretched to a slight ringing and clamped on the intermediate posts. If desired, you can weave one or two more strings in the lower rows, so the fence will be more stable. If after a few years the fence from the chain-link sags, the wire can be easily pulled again, having previously loosened the presses.