Advice for fencing?

[Dusty Britches]

I thought we knew what we were doing when we built a 4 strand barb wire fence, but now after 6 months the posts are pulling in and the wire is sagging.

Here's what we did:

8" treated round posts on the ends, put 3' in the ground (soil is combination sandy loam, red clay); 5.5-5 feet out of the ground.

The hinge post (the one the gate hangs on) is 8-10" post, H brace to another 8-10" post.

We used a landscape timber between the 2 posts, as the brace.

Twisted tension wire from the bottom of the hinge post to the top of the inside H brace post.

We used a come-along to tighten the barb wire. Barb wire is Red Brand, 12 g.

It appears to me the post is almost twisting - turning - as the hinges are no longer parallel with the line. The post is definitely leaning into the line, too.

We did not put the posts in concrete.

What did we do wrong and what can we do to fix it? We have a lot more fence to build and we don't want to have to build it twice.

[Jaspro]

How long was your run of wire? Might have needed an H brace in the middle. Then again it might just be the soil is so dry its allowing the posts to pull out and you did nothing wrong.

[lameduck]

Did the H brace have a brace going back to the ground?

[Dusty Britches]

The run is about 400 feet to the next double H brace. That side seems to be holding well.

lameduck - I'm confused already. The 2 posts and the landscape timber form the H. there is a double twisted tension wire running diagonally from the bottom of the hinge post to the top of the other post.

[jakhunter]

3' in the ground for a corner post is not enough. Braces Braces Braces! Brace them corners and where gates hang very good and wire will stay tight. Pipe 4.5-5' in concrete if finances allow. Steel post every 7-8'

[Jaspro]

Here is a rough sketch of what I think Lame duck is talking about

[sqiggy]

Let me see if I got this right. You hung a gate on one of the post of your H brace, correct?? If so, did you put in another H brace with it?? If not, this is your problem. What you need is H brace, H brace, then your gate.

[lameduck]

Here is a rough sketch of what I think Lame duck is talking about

[ATTACH]386037[/ATTACH]

Thanks Jaspro, this^^^^^^^ The tension wire will not work on that long of a run. And I would put a brace on both sides of the H top to bottom to a dead man.

[Shiner]

corners need a dead man... Gate needs a deadman. A single H is most times not enough

[Stuck]

8" posts are not very big for corner posts but I believe you biggest problem is below ground. When they are set you have to pack the hell out of them to keep them from moving. Throw in 6" of dirt, pack it to 2". Throw in 6" of dirt, pack it to 2". Throw in 6" of dirt, pack it to 2". The bottom third is the most important. I will be just fine if I never have the opportunity to set another corner post in my life.

[Rather_B_Fishin]

Let me see if I got this right. You hung a gate on one of the post of your H brace, correct?? If so, did you put in another H brace with it?? If not, this is your problem. What you need is H brace, H brace, then your gate.

Bingo sqig! And for the tension wire you want it to go from the ground ( corner post)to the top of the middle post and another to the bottom ofbthe dead man post. The size of your post are fine but you just didn't brace good enough. I've built many many many miles of 5 stand. And 3 foot in the ground is good if you concreted and tamped them in the ground good.

[Dusty Britches]

Stuck - that's what we did. Tamp the heck out of it.

Shiner - no one in our area has used dead man posts.

My neighbor just had a contractor put in a pipe and Tpost fence last year, high tinsel, and they did not use dead man posts. They did drive 9' pipe posts into the ground 4.5'.

I'll see if I can find a picture of it or draw a picture of what we have.


in afterthought - the posts are not 8", they are 10". We drilled a 12" hole and the posts barely fit. These are old telephone poles.

[Dusty Britches]

Here's a sketch of what we have from a website. Looking at this sketch, our gate hangs on the left side.

Yes, we only used one H brace at the gate.

[huntresss]

Why not use concrete instead of tamping all that dirt in? We just pour in a couple of sacks and dump a bucket of water on top, then stretch our wire in a couple of days.

[sqiggy]

Shiner - no one in our area has used dead man posts.

I didn't use any on mine. Infact, this is the first time I've ever heard of this dead man post. And my fence is still as tight as it was when I built it 10 yrs ago.
One other thing I did do different, since I'm all sand, instead of packing with a shovel handle, I poured water in my holes, let set, add more sand, add water, etc..........................Sand and water sets up pretty good!!!