Fencing help please!

[sebhaque]

Hi chaps

My dad's recently been musing about the fence in his garden - it's quite low and he's worried that it's easy to hop over it (there's a driveway to the road on the other side of it), as well as having to use bamboo sticks to hold up his plants; he's a bit of a keen gardener. I was thinking it'd be quite nice to put up some trellis(es?) on top of the fence to deter would-be fence jumpers, as well as provide somewhere for my old man to moor his plants in the summer.

The problem is, I know absolutely nothing about putting fencing up. I've done practical stuff before and I've got plenty of tools available, but would someone who's knowledgeable be able to help?

This is the fence I'm looking at.





What do you suggest the best way to affix the trellis would be? I was thinking of putting some timber posts next to the preexisting stone ones, but a bit taller. The trellis would then be nailed to these posts. Would I be able to get away with simply nailing the trellis to the top of the fence? I'm a bit concerned that having an extra post would look odd, as well the trellis ends not matching the ends of the fence boards.

TIA for any advice.

[Simpo Two]

Ideally you'd pull out the whole lot and start again with longer posts, but seeing as that's probably not an option...

sebhaque said:

I was thinking of putting some timber posts next to the preexisting stone ones, but a bit taller. The trellis would then be nailed to these posts. Would I be able to get away with simply nailing the trellis to the top of the fence? I'm a bit concerned that having an extra post would look odd, as well the trellis ends not matching the ends of the fence boards.

Trellis takes quite a beating, especially when it has plants on it that add to the wind resistance. I'd screw vertical posts on both sides of the fence and on both sides of each existing post so you have slots to drop the trellis into. Then screw right through from side to side trapping the trellis in the middle. Use screws not nails because hammering will probably shake the fence to pieces.

[mgtony]

Are the existing fence panels 6 feet wide? The trellis will come this wide, so this will make life easier without having to cut them down, especially if they have to be cut through the middle of one of the squares of the trellis.
The simplest way would be to screw a wooden batten on the fence panel up against the concrete post the height of the trellis plus about 2 to 3 feet screwed on the fence. Then screw the trellis to the batten. Another way would be to get some angle iron to slide down the post behind the fence panel and again screw the trellis to this.

[Wings]

My concrete posts have grooves on them, allowing for fence panels to be slotted in between two posts. If not then i would fix/screw battens on the posts, then fix fence panels to the battens. There isa good supplier of fence panels off the ring road at Downend, Yate side.

[sebhaque]

Thank you for the replies - the distance between each stone post (i.e. the length of a single fence panel) is 289cm, which seems like a rather odd number. I'll be going into B&Q with the measurements on Tuesday and seeing if they have anything that'll cater for it. I'll follow your advice of posts/battens above every stone post, screwed into the wood trim above the post. I'll put the trellis in between the battens and screw it into the trim as well. I might give the fence a lick of paint too, as I can't see the mismatched colours looking good.

Wings said:

There isa good supplier of fence panels off the ring road at Downend, Yate side.

Thanks for the recommendation - however I'm back at my parents' for Christmas, and that's in London. I'll bear it in mind though if I need to work on the panels in Bristol.

Thanks again!

[Gingerbread Man]

sebhaque said:

Thank you for the replies - the distance between each stone post (i.e. the length of a single fence panel) is 289cm, which seems like a rather odd number. I'll be going into B&Q with the measurements on Tuesday and seeing if they have anything that'll cater for it. I'll follow your advice of posts/battens above every stone post, screwed into the wood trim above the post. I'll put the trellis in between the battens and screw it into the trim as well. I might give the fence a lick of paint too, as I can't see the mismatched colours looking good.

Wings said:

There isa good supplier of fence panels off the ring road at Downend, Yate side.

Thanks for the recommendation - however I'm back at my parents' for Christmas, and that's in London. I'll bear it in mind though if I need to work on the panels in Bristol.

Thanks again!

Panels made on site are normally roughly 10ft in length. Your 289cm is ~9.5 foot.