Tell Me All Your Hardware Cloth Secrets

[Anon112]

@Anon112 We avoided having to join adjacent pieces of HWC.

My wonderful son-in-law built the run, and I designed it on the run. It’s 8x15, and so there are three 4’ wide sections front to back (total of 12’) and one 3’ wide section, where the door is (to add up to 15’.) I bought 48” (4’) wide HWC, and we started one end in the back, rolled it up over the frame for the “ceiling”, stapling to the 2x4, and down the front. We did this on the three 4’ sections and used a 36” (3’) roll over the 3’ section (not including the front, which became the door.) The run is 7’ high, so back + top + front was 7’ + 8’ + 7’ = 22’, most of a 25’ roll.

* I’m waving my hands in the air, trying to describe this. I hope it works. *

So that was the 15’ back, top, and front. Since it was 8’ deep, that meant two sections of 48” (4’) HWC down each side.

Since the width of each roll matched up with a 2x4 bit of framing, the edges were just stapled onto a 2x4, and there was no need to join or weave, etc.

The name of the game is to design as much as possible in multiples of 4’ and 8’ for maximum efficiency in lumber purchased and ease of assembly.

I tried to do increments of 4 as much as possible in this recent construction. The height is 7 feet, with a long horizontal board at 4 feet (so the lower part is 4 feet tall and the upper part is 3 feet tall).

I do have some sections of the ceiling that are 8 by 6 feet long. Maybe I need to add more boards to chop these sections smaller so that all hardware cloth can just be directly attached and not woven.

I'm also trying to figure out how to do the ceiling/roof. I won't be able to reach certain sections from above because of the size. I was thinking of attaching the cloth from underneath the boards (which I know makes it easier for a predator to push in) and then using the "sandwich method" to hold it in place. But maybe screws and washers are secure enough that I wouldn't need to screw on the extra boards?

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I tried to do increments of 4 as much as possible in this recent construction. The height is 7 feet, with a long horizontal board at 4 feet (so the lower part is 4 feet tall and the upper part is 3 feet tall).

I do have some sections of the ceiling that are 8 by 6 feet long. Maybe I need to add more boards to chop these sections smaller so that all hardware cloth can just be directly attached and not woven.

I'm also trying to figure out how to do the ceiling/roof. I won't be able to reach certain sections from above because of the size. I was thinking of attaching the cloth from underneath the boards (which I know makes it easier for a predator to push in) and then using the "sandwich method" to hold it in place. But maybe screws and washers are secure enough that I wouldn't need to screw on the extra boards?

We wrapped ours, all from the outside. Started from the ground in back, up the back wall, over the top, and back down the front wall to the bottom fascia board. Staple (or screw) as you go to keep it taut.

We didn't do increments of 4'. In other words, we didn't cut it except once. The 4' was in the width, not the length, and the widths (each side) were attached to the uprights (2x4 in our case.) A 25' roll served for each 22' of length (back wall + top + front wall), and we used the remaining 3' x 4' pieces for other areas (door, apron corners, etc.)

 

[Anon112]

We wrapped ours, all from the outside. Started from the ground in back, up the back wall, over the top, and back down the front wall to the bottom fascia board. Staple (or screw) as you go to keep it taut.

We didn't do increments of 4'. In other words, we didn't cut it except once. The 4' was in the width, not the length, and the widths (each side) were attached to the uprights (2x4 in our case.) A 25' roll served for each 22' of length (back wall + top + front wall), and we used the remaining 3' x 4' pieces for other areas (door, apron corners, etc.)

I can exactly picture what you're describing.

The structure I'm building is attached to the back of another structure (an old horse run-in), which means I can't go "up and over" so to speak.

Right now in order to attach to the outside I think I'd have to stand on the ladder, attach the edge of the cloth to the horse run-in, unroll a bit along the top, staple, unroll a little more, staple, and so on. I know that should work, but I also think it will be kind of miserable.

In the next few days I'll try to snap a picture (and overcome my perpetual embarrassment about the things I build) and post it.