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.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

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.

Oh yeah, having a borrowed wall like that makes some parts easier, but others a lot tougher!

 

[Anon112]

Oh yeah, having a borrowed wall like that makes some parts easier, but others a lot tougher!

Exactly. It's infinitely more stable and includes a lot more right angles (or near right angles) than if I just built it from the ground up, but it's making accessing certain parts of it a bit trickier. (Still, the "actually vertical" thing is worth it!)

 

[perkolator]

Here's my tips after using a few hundred feet of HC in my lifetime for various projects. First off, wear PPE if you don't want to get poked! Long sleeves and pants and gloves and eye protection!

I prefer to use an angle grinder w/cutoff wheel, as it allows me to get a pretty tight cut along the edge and not have pokey bits; sometimes I just make the cut quickly in the middle, then recut the edge to remove the pokeys. I've tried flipping the roll over so it curls down, seemed slower to me when unrolling it, so usually I just use regular orientation + a few pieces of lumber to hold down the HC while I cut. I use a piece of 2x4 on the loose end, and two pieces flanking where I'm cutting, no loose flaps to curl up into body once it's cut. On all my panels I flipped the piece over and did a loose curl on the opposite direction, to remove most of the curl from being on a roll.

For attaching, I preferred to use pneumatic staples instead of screws with washers, which could always be added later. Fender washers with screws work great, but modified truss head screws work great too. My structure is all covered and I don't have real winters, so I felt ok using these staples vs what you'd need in other climates for lasting attachment. On my coop structure, I tacked it in a few areas across the top, to hold panel up enough to allow me to stretch the panel and straighten things out (2x4 on the HC, with my foot applying pressure on top, to stretch it downward). Stapled it on by spreading out attachment points, similar to stretching a canvas or welding thin sheet metal, to avoid warping and creating wrinkles/waves - like every 2ft, then every foot, then every 3-4". I found that the pneumatic staples allowed me to create more/less tension on areas if I started to see it warp, depending on where I placed the staple itself, as it could "bend" the HC wire and add tension. Definitely a learning curve with pneumatic staples, you can also break the HC if you're not paying attention.

When I did my run fence, I wanted to add HC to the lower walls, with an anti-dig skirting going horizontal, on top of the more sturdy ag fence with larger holes (HC is better on lower walls, raccoons can't reach through). Made it from a single piece for the X and Y axis, as two separate pieces leaves a potentially dangerous exposed edge where the chickens dig along the fence; I was using 48" HC and making the bend at around 18", so there's 2.5ft up the lower walls and 1.5ft horizontal skirt. To do mine, I cut manageable sections about 8ft long, then created a simple "brake" to make the bend. Did this by myself, so my method was set a 2x4 on top, with 2-3 cinder blocks on top; then pull up the tall side to start the bend; then I put another 2x4 on the back-side, and kicked the 2x4, resulting in a fairly crisp bend along the whole length. When I connected everything to the fence, and joining HC panels - I used galvanized wire. Initially I did twist-tie style just to hold it up, but then went back in on many areas and invested the time to weave the seams with wire, which looks much nicer to me and has no loose edges to catch or poke.

A handheld "seamer" tool is a good tool to have, for bending HC edges if you have any areas where the edge of your HC may come into contact with someone - like along a gate/door

 

[Anon112]

Very helpful, thank you!

 

[Anon112]

Also: I was in Home Depot to grab some hardware cloth. They only had one brand and it was a 4tf x 25 ft roll for $100!

$100!

That's nuts, right? I ended up ordering a 4ft x 50ft roll for $95 online.

Where are you all getting your hardware cloth and what is currently a reasonable price?