Mesh Fence - HOW

[TN Belle]

We are in the process of fencing our front 1 acre pasture in the 2x4 knotted mesh with a board at the top and bottom (and in the middle down the street side). The farm book (Cherry Hill - Small Acreage Farm) I have suggests the fencing on the inside and the posts on the outside. I agree with this as the horses push on it, it pushes the nails or staples in, not out and keeps the posts from becoming scratching posts. The problem is this book doesn't show how to hang mesh fence in the inside corners, just pictures of the middle of the run. We could stretch across outside corners, but how do you keep inside corners straight and tight? Does that make any sense at all?

The only thing we can think of is using those wire clamp things to connect regular straignt wire to the mesh wire ends around the posts, but they don't seem that reliable to hold when we pull it all tight.

 

[McBunz]

You cut the vertical wires out of the mess wire so you have enough horizontal wire to wrap around the post a couple time and then back around the horizontal wire at least 10 times..then staple

the wire on the post at every horizontal and vertical cross... You will need strong braces on all corners.. Then you can pull the other side as tight as you can ... staple it well ... then repeat

with the removal of the vertical wires for a good wrap and staple again...

 

[Margo_C-T]

McBunz is right; what she didn't state was that you'll have to cut the roll of fencing in order to do as she said(McBunz, please correct me if I have understood you wrongly!)

I agree with putting the wire on the 'inside'-after all, your animals will put pressure on the fence from the INSIDE, not the OUTSIDE! That said--it will take a bit more wire that way, BECAUSE you really 'can't' fence 'continuously' across inside corners...you need to cut the roll, stretch and tie off to the CORNER post, then 'begin again'for the right angle run. Be sure the corner post and the two 'stretch panel' posts are well-'set'(I presume you'll be using cement to set those at least?) before stretching and tying off the wire as McBunz describes; once you've 'done' both 'angles' of the corner, you can then complete the corner by installing brace boards and any wire angle braces you feel you need, given your soil type/conditions.

Fencing may be done a bit differently depending on what kind of soil, and what weather conditions, you have...for instance...my husband, who'd built MANY a mile of fence in his time, should have made the 'stretch panels' LONGER here on this place--i.e., set the brace posts further from the corner post . He made them what he was used to--about 3'apart..but in this clay soil and our cold winters(and the posts set only in the soil and tamped, not set in concrete), the wire contracts in the cold and has caused most of the corner posts to 'lean' inward. This might not be an issue if the posts were buried deep AND set in concrete!

Good luck! Well-constructed fencing will last and do its job as it should!

Margo

 

[TN Belle]

That's what we thought, but hubby jumped the gun and made diagonal & H Bracing at the corners already, so the mesh won't wrap around them. So we then tried to strip the verticle wires off and it was painful and very slow. So he gets the idea of buying the same gauge wire and using those wire krimping pieces that you pinch in the middle to connect the two. Only when we pulled it tight, some broke. So, here comes the sauder gun, "I'll show them". Yeah Right! We haven't tested their "new" strength yet, so I don't know how this is going to turn out. When he realized the roll ran out before the next corner, I thought he was going to cry. Bad thing is, being in the middle of the run, you don't wrap another post, do you?

I need a pro, but he won't hire one. The fence has been a project since April and is about 900 ft. We bought a tractor and auger for the posts and set evry one of them in concrete. The gates are hung, the barn is done, hay delivered, horses boarded, bt we need the pasture fenced. I am about to kill somebody.

:arg!

Got the point?!!

 

[McBunz]

To connect two sections of wire... again you strip the vertical wires about a foot or longer on both pieces. Bend the wire on both pieces close to the uncut part of the mesh. Hook them together

and then wrap the end pieces back on the same wire they came off of.. Keep wrapping the wire until the end piece is all used up as wrap.. You do this with each wire. Sorry ... there is no

easy way to do it and still have a strong connection..

 

[The Simple Life Farm]

I agree with McBunz and Margo... that is excatly how we did our fence (just finished it 2 days ago). I know how the frustration feels, that was the last thing we needed to get done before the horses could enjoy their nice huge pasture. Keep the faith that it will get done, but it never seems to happen as fast as we want!!!!

 

[TN Belle]

How did you get the the little twisted wire off of the joints so you can slip off the vertical wire? He didn't want to cut the wires off because the sharp edges would still be there. He tried some kind od needlenose pliers, but got bored with it.