A Do It Yourself Guide to Chain-Link
by Walter Hargrave

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NOTE: This guide is an on going project and will contain many pages over many weeks, months..

Introduction

Ok, so now let's get to it:

Basic Setup Steps

Planning Stage

1. Call Before You Dig! Get all your underground phone, electric & water lines marked out with paint before you start to dig. If you don't, it could cost you big time, not to mention the possibility of injury.
   
   
2. Find all property markers, hopefully you still have a property survey. A metal detector makes quick work of this step. If one is not available, You can sometimes take measurements off your house to help find the markers, if you know enough about your lot dimensions. Once you have the first pin, you can measure, using the house for a line, to find the other three. You can use a large truss or carpenters square on the ground and around the first pin to 'eye' 2 more lines. Some surveys will have measurements from the corner of the house to the corner of the line. Another option is the 3,4,5 Triangulation, I'll talk more about that later. Also be aware of any easements or rules that may apply in your area.
   
   Tools Needed
   
   1. Property Survey
   2. 6"-8" Pocket Level
   3. 1/2", 5/8" Sockets with wrench
   4. Pipe/Tubing Cutter or Hack-saw
   5. 100',25-30' Tape Measures
   6. Black Permanent Marker
   7. Pointed Shovel
   8. Flat Shovel
   9. Post Hole Digger
   10. Come-Along Jack
   11. Fencing Pliers What is this?
   12. Wheelbarrow
   13. Pull Chain What is this?
   14. Five Gallon Bucket [Optional] but very handy, carry tools, water, concrete, seat, etc. ;p
   
   
   Gates
3. Determine where you want your gates and what sizes are needed. Many times you will lay them out in the center of small runs on the front facing side. Residential gate openings range from 3' to 12' Double Drive. Make sure your lawn mower or other wheeled tools can get through your gate opening(s). Also measure where the gates will rest in the open position to make sure nothing is in the way. It is important to make your gates openings one of the common sizes as custom gates cost much more money and almost always have to be made per order. The Common gate openings for residential are: 3', 3 1/2', 4', 5', 6' 10' Double Gate & 12' Double Gate. I personally like welded gates over the other types.
   
   Corner,Terminal & Gate Poles
4. Count the number of corners or stop start points you will have. Each one of these places will get a Corner or Terminal Pole. Each gate has 2, each corner is one. If you have a real a bad drop off to run fence down, it's best to put a terminal pole at the top just before the drop off. Residential corner poles are usually 2" or 2 1/2" in diameter and have a wall thickness of .065, I like .055 thickness, 2 1/2" terminals. Line poles are 1 5/8" .065 or .055. Fabric come in heights of 3 1/2' to 6',sometimes 7', with 4' being the most common. If you want durability, then Hot dipped galvanized fabric & hardware is the only way to go! Rail Ends & Caps are made of a strong aluminum. Ties are made of a softer, oily aluminum but last a life time.
5. How many line poles do we need? We will use my image below as an example. The standard maximum distance between poles is 10'and 8 foot for wind bearing however, in residential, I wouldn't go over 9' as a general rule.
6. Each 4' high corner pole needs this hardware. 2 brace Bands, 2 Rail Ends, 6 tension bands, 8 nuts & bolts, 2 tension bars and a post cap. Terminal poles need 1 brace band, 1 rail end, 3 tension bands, 1 tension bar and a post cap.
7. How many tie wires are needed? You need one tie for every foot of toprail + 3-6 for each line pole. If you have a 4 foot high fence, then you will use 3 ties per line pole.
8. Tension bands are figured by 1 less then height of the pole. 6 foot high fence uses 5 tension bands.
   
   Draw a Plan
9. Draw a picture, top down view, of the entire job and write down the measurements between terminal poles. Also note the pole that the gate will 'hang' on by drawing a line at 45 degrees from that pole. Most of the time, gates hang on the pole farthest the house so as it's the shortest walk to open it from the house. :P
   
   All this will help you figure out how much material is needed for the job at hand. It is a good idea to take a copy of this with you when you go buy the materials, also to get your building permit in many cases.
10. If you are building your fence to keep dogs in or out, then you will want to set a tighter grade. If you are doing it to just keep people out then it's nice to leave the fabric an inch or so off the ground mainly so you can weed under it more easily without going through a ton of string. I personally don't like the ugliness of using Round-Up.
11. Ok, let's figure out how line poles we need and what spacing to use. So, let's start on the back line which is 80' and we want to figure how many even spaces under 9 feet we have. Ok, 9 goes into 80 almost 9 times with 81', i'll say we need to lose 1 foot in 9 spaces, 12/9 = 1.33 so we will call it 1 and a fat 1/4" each space or 8 foot 10 5/8 inches fat. So will use 8 line poles on the back line spaced at 8' 10 5/8" fat and 2 terminals. Use this same method all the way around. Each line pole requires a loop cap and between 3 and 5 aluminum tie wires.

Guide Index

1. Handy Tables - New Window/Tab
2. How to install tension wire - New Window/Tab
3. Determining Gate Opening - New Window/Tab
4. Backsighting vs String Line - New Window/Tab
5. Line Pole Fence Post Spacing Chart - New Window/Tab
6. How much does a chain link fence cost? - New Window/Tab
7. How To Set Chain Link Poles - Under Development - View

Future Article Ideas

• How to tie off a fence - How to use Tie Wires

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Last Edited Wednesday July, 21st 2010 - How to Set Chain Link Poles

Back to top

If you haven't already done so, you should read my general guide first:
A Do It Yourself Guide to Chain-Link

Next Up, Setting the Poles

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** UNDER DEVELOPMENT **

In this example, we will be building a 4 foot high residential fence.

After you have found your property markers and have acquired the poles, tools and ready mix, (cement, sand, rock), then you are ready to start laying out the job. Leave your fence lines at LEAST 3" inside the property markers!

Dig your Holes for all your corner, end and gates first. Leave the holes just a tad shallow because we want to stick and level these poles for sighting lines and grades.

On the corner, end and gate poles, use a black marker and measure down 3 1/2 inches from the top and draw all the way round the pole. If you hold the marker with a finger on top of the pole you can twist the pole for a perfectly straight line. BE CAREFUL, the top may be jagged and sharp! These marks are used in sighting in the line pole grades. Line poles will be sighted in just touching the bottom of the black line!

Depending on the purpose of your fence will determine weather or not you want the bottom of the fence tight to the ground or loose. I like it a bit loose so it's easier to weed-eat under. If you are trying to keep animals in or out then of course you will need it tight to the ground, if not slightly buried. To have your fence tight to the ground, mark on the corner, end and gate poles, 49 inches down from the top, this will net about 47 inch high final fence grade. Adjust if you want it looser or tighter. After I have figured my grade, I always concrete my terminal, end and gates poles so they don't move. Once that is finished it is time to measure the distance between 2 of the poles so we can space out the line poles. I like to do the longest lines first.

This example will be a fence that is in a yard with 80 x 125 foot dimensions. It will have a single walk gate and a double drive 12 foot gate. If you read my guide, you should have a drawn a diagram. My diagram would show that my back line is less than 80 foot across and ends up being 79' 6".

TIP

Chain-link fabric shrinks in height as it is tightened, so measure the height of the wire often as you jack it so to make sure you don't shrink it to much! You will notice that each diamond shape in the fabric will distort/flatten if you've gone too far and you don't want this, for it is to late if you distort the fabric!

More Basic Steps

• Dig the corner, terminal and gate poles 8" wide and 30" deep.
• Measure each line again and evenly space out poles at 10 foot max. I prefer to set mine at 9' maximum for stronger fences. This is especially true in high wind areas. Mark each hole inline with spray paint.
• Temporally stick the terminal, corner and gate poles in the holes and level both ways. Kick enough dirt back in to hold the pole up. These will be used to sight in the line poles.
• Stick post hole diggers in line on the marks and go back behind a corner pole and sight the bottom of the diggers inline. After a few holes are marked, you can back sight them closer before checking it, the first being the most difficult. A friend can help you sight them in much faster or you can use string lines. I personally don't use string lines.
• Dig the line post holes 6" wide by 30" deep.
• Put all dirt from the holes to the inside of the fence.

More on this soon .. I'm a little behind in real life right now..