What Do You Need To Build A Fence

What Do You Need To Build A Fence – Do you need more privacy in your backyard? Learn how to build a wooden fence! No need to rent it, you can actually install a DIY fence with these tips and tricks!

Having a fenced yard is a necessity for most people – at least where we live. Whether you want a fence in your yard for your pets to run, your kids to play safely or just for some privacy, you might be asking yourself how to build your own wooden fence.

What Do You Need To Build A Fence

That’s something we definitely asked ourselves during our first fixer upper renovation and again in this second home when remodeling our backyard.

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Building your own fence will definitely save you a ton of money in labor costs and it’s a pretty doable project for a DIYer if you take the time to learn the process of how to build a wooden fence.

The cost of building a fence varies greatly with the material and style and type of fence you choose, but for us this is usually around $22 per foot for 6 privacy fences and DIY installation, of course.

The secret to a long-lasting fence is to use pressure-treated wood posts and cedar fence rails and pickets.

You can use cedar rails but I recommend that you use pressure treated 2 × 4. They match your posts and they stand up to time a little bit better than cedar.

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It really just depends. Both types of fencing are used for different applications for different levels of quality. Both can be cheap, but the focus should be on which app is better and the final look you want.

Yes. Whenever you do something yourself, the right way, it will be cheaper. Even if you have to buy all the necessary tools, you will still save money when you build it yourself. When you don’t pay the contractor, you save that amount and only pay the cost of the materials.

You can actually build your own fence. This is actually not too difficult and fairly straightforward. There are not many steps to build a fence and the process is not very complicated. It is very easy to research and do the right job.

You don’t need to seal the cedar fence, but this will help the color last longer. If you don’t seal a cedar fence it will fade to gray over a long period of time.

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You should use deck screws on your wooden fence. These are made for outdoor use and will withstand harsh weather and will not rust.

This is how to build a wooden fence tutorial contains affiliate links, but nothing that I would not recommend wholeheartedly. Read my full disclosure here.

Before you start, be sure to check your lot boundaries to make sure you build a fence on your lot line. You should also check with your HOA or CC&R to make sure there are no restrictions or fence designs you must keep in place. Finally, you should check with your local municipality to see if a permit is required for the fence.

The next step when figuring out how to build a wooden fence is to map out exactly where the fence will go. This helps to get a good visual so that you are really sure that you like your plan and you can decide which fence design is best.

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Use landscape stakes and mason’s lines to map the location of the fence. If you are simply building a fence between two existing fences, you can add a mason’s line to each adjacent fence and this will be the line you build your fence on.

This is easy to do with a friend, but you can do it solo. Start with the edges and corners, where there should also be a fence post. Next take your tape measure and mark out 8 feet between each corner and edge along your fence line.

Repeat this step and mark 8 feet along your entire fence. This allows you to utilize 8′ 2×4 fence rails.

A privacy fence is usually 6 feet tall so you’ll want to dig your post hole at least 2 feet deep. This allows you to anchor 8 feet of your posts and have 6 feet from the post above the ground for your fence.

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If you find a large stone that cannot be removed from the ground, continue reading because we have added a video below on how to set up a fence on stone.

It helps to have an extra set of hands for this step. One person to hold the post and check that it is level. Another person will be used to fill the hole with cement.

After your post hole is dug, you can add your post in the middle of the hole. Others will pour into the dry cement mixture. Fill the hole with cement mixture to 3-4 inches below ground level. Next, add water slowly directly into the hole and let the mixture settle. You can use your shovel to manually mix the cement and water mixture in the hole.

Before the cement hardens, make sure your post is nice and straight by using a level. Once it’s straight, brace it on the ground and screw the stakes into the fence post.

What Do I Do With Excess Dirt And Rock From Fence Install?

When you dig your fence post hole, you may bump into some rocks and boulders. Ideally you want to remove all stones from the ground before adding your fence. However, you can run into huge stones that cannot be removed from the ground. This happened to us in the backyard!

Once your cement has had time to dry (check the instructions of your bag for the correct drying time), you can start connecting all the posts and adding your rails.

For a 6 foot privacy fence, you will need 3 rails – top, bottom and middle. We put the bottom rail about 8 inches off the ground, the top rail about 8 inches from the top of the fence and the other in the middle of the top and bottom rails. Measure and mark your first fence post and install the rail brackets into place on the posts.

Next put your 2×4 fence rail into the bracket and hold it level until the next fence post and mark the fence post where the bracket should go.

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Once both brackets are screwed into place on the post, screw the 2 × 4 fence rail into the bracket.

Continue adding each fence rail one by one in this manner until your posts are all connected with the top, bottom and middle fence rails.

Depending on the distance between your fence posts, you may need to cut your rails to size to fit.

Chances are your fence posts aren’t all the same height, so you can trim the top with a reciprocating saw if necessary.

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The last step is the scariest. Lay out your pickets along your fence and start screwing them in one by one. There should be 2 deck screws per rail, so 6 screws total on each picket. Some people use nails but your fence will last longer with screws.

Make sure your first picket is nice and level. You should not install pickets with any space between them.

Depending on the layout of your fence, you may want to add a wooden gate to your fence. We added one near the front yard so you can access the yard easily through the side gate. This helps so that we can easily get our lawn mower from the storage in the back yard and to the front yard to mow the lawn.

We summarize the entire gate building process in a separate video and blog post, so be sure to check it out here.

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Building our wood fence was a big project because we had to do the front yard and side yard + two gates! But it was so worth it! After having a fence built our dog can run freely in the backyard, our kids can play safely and we can have privacy from the neighbors around.

Although it will take you a lot of time and hard work, building a backyard privacy fence is completely do-it-yourself. By following these steps in how to build a wood fence tutorial and taking your time to do it right, you’ll save hundreds – if not thousands – of dollars in labor costs.

Do you have questions about how to build a wooden fence? Let us know in the comments below!

When you dig your fence post hole, you may bump into some rocks and boulders. Ideally you want to remove all stones from the ground before adding your fence. However, you can run into huge stones that cannot be removed from the ground. This happened to us in the backyard! We summarize the entire process in this YouTube video.

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