Question about sinking posts + buried wire.

[Uzuri]

How do you folks that have done this manage to pull it off without the post falling over or the wire getting knocked about while you're doing it?

I'm thinking of bedding 9' cedar posts into the ground to make a 6' fence (for a covered run; I don't want to have to duck). They will be bedded in crushed gravel. The recommended buried wire depth is 18", so that means I guess that I dig an 18" trench all around, then bed each post 18" beyond that, then run the buried wire, then finish putting gravel up the posts and filling in the trench? How many people am I going to need to call in favors for to do this?

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

What about setting the posts in concrete, all nice and square, then doing the wire after the posts are set up?

 

[j3707]

Have you considered using t-posts? You can get them 9 feet and taller. Pretty straightforward to drive in and you wouldn't have to mess with concrete OR the potential of the posts rotting at ground level. Then dig the trench around the outside if you want to bury wire. Granted, not quite as pretty as cedar posts, but easier and less upkeep.

I did the trench and buried wire for my coop, but if I have to do it again I'll just lay a wire skirt on top of the ground an extra couple feet out from the posts. I'd probably use some landscape fabric staples to keep it down and then cover it with dirt. Less labor and I don't think too many critters will be smart enough to start digging hole 2 feet away from the fence.

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
See my BYC page for how I did it, I welded rebar to T-posts, used hedge posts for the corners (Osage Orange), strung #9 wire through loops on the top of my posts and suspended the chicken wire from the #9 wire with rings. I used plastic coated fence buried about 6 inches at the base of the chicken wire, ( I used a pickax blade to dig the trench) I tied everything together with cage clips.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Laying the wire flat on the ground works just as well as burying, and take WAY less effort

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Quote:
Yup, just hook it to your main fencing with hog rings or tie wire. I layed landscape timbers at the far side of them to hold it down and then covered it with a big layer of mulch. Nothing has ever gotten under it. Did the same with the coop.

 

[Uzuri]

Somehow I don't think welding is going to be easier since I've never done it and don't have the equipment That plastic fence sounds interesting, though, to keep the rust down.

And T-posts don't hit me as real secure. I don't want to be resetting them every 15 minutes. We have them elsewhere on the place and they get saggy after a while and the fencing likes to pop off. I'm not sure how I'd build a gate in a fence like that either, and I need one because the coop isn't human-sized, so I can't go in through it.

I've done aprons: I hate them. They're always in the way and being tripped over, run over with the mower, etc. And Dad's real picky about anything that could possibly result in a flat. Maybe if it was 2 or 3 inches down to prevent resurfacing that might be OK though. Have to think about that one.

I've heard that concrete is actually a bad idea due to keeping moisture by the wood. It still presents the same problem of "how" anyway. Even if I set them straight in the dirt the "how" is still there.

Has anyone actually BURIED WIRE AND SET POSTS? I'm really not interested in other methods.

 

[Heathercp]

We've set the posts and will bury the wire today. Let you know it goes.

 

[Uzuri]

Thanks Heather

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
The T-posts only hold the wire up, the corner posts are heavy 10' wood (Osage Orange) set in concrete. And yes, I used the plastic coated fence wire for the bottom buried portion for rust control. As for welding the rebar and loops to the T-posts for the 6 1/2' height I wanted----I didn't know how to weld either, my son has one of those wire welders using a flux core wire. He showed me what setting to use and how to hold and move the arc tip. It was surprisingly easy. Other then the sunburn like weld flash burn on my arms and the occasional welders dance from a slag droplet burning through my socks it went fine.
Osage Orange wood is very rot resistant and lasts>100 years as fence post, the concrete may make other wood rot, but Osage Orange (known as hedge here in the Midwest) does not-----I don't know how treated posts from the lumberyard would hold up.