How to make a foundation for a fence correctly with your own hands?

How to make a foundation for a fence

A fence in a suburban area is a necessary thing. It will not only protect you from uninvited guests, but also allow you to hide from the prying glances of neighbors and passers-by. In addition to its functional purpose, it often becomes a decoration of the facade of the site and an indicator of the status of the owner of the house and his thriftiness.

Fences can be of various types:

• Made of wood. They can be installed both when delimiting sites between neighbors, and for fencing a site from the street side;
• From a chain-link mesh. Summer residents are very fond of such fences, because they do not block the sunlight to plants, in already small areas. Can be used when installing fences between neighbors;
• From corrugated board. Framed around the perimeter with a metal corner or simply attached to the supporting pillars, such fences will perfectly cover the area from prying eyes from the street. Usually a gate and a wicket are made of the same material;
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• Made of forged or metal or reinforced concrete segments anchored to support pillars. The pillars can be made of bricks, concrete, or just metal pipes;
• Made of bricks. They are being built from the side of the street. The most reliable type of fencing.

For each type of fence, an appropriate foundation is required.

Types of foundations for a fence

Usually, the following types of bases are made under the fence:

• tape, which is laid under the entire length of the fence;
• tape-and-pole, which at a certain interval have a recessed and reinforced part, on which the brick fence post will subsequently rest;
• stone;
• post.

What type of foundation to choose and why

Strip foundations used under heavy types of fences, for example, brick. Sometimes they are built when making columnar fences, as a kind of support wall so that melt water or rain streams do not flow into the territory of the site.

Column foundation is the most popular because of its ease of implementation. It is made mainly for columnar fences made of chain-link mesh and wooden fences. Works very well on heaving soils.

Combined strip-and-pillar foundation. It is carried out under a columnar foundation with spans made of wood, corrugated board, metal or concrete.

Stone foundation spread out of large cobblestone, floor any type of fences.

A properly selected and made foundation for a fence is no less important than a foundation for a house. You can easily do it yourself, but you need to keep in mind some factors:

• Before choosing the type of fence and foundation for it, you need to pay attention to the soil and groundwater level. Even without involving specialists, one can understand from the floodability of the site, how close the water is to the surface of the earth. It will be more difficult with the type of soil, but if there are already built capital houses nearby, you can ask what type of foundation they made for the house and what soils in the region;
• It is important to remember that the total weight of the fence will be much greater than the weight of the entire span. Therefore, after a complete installation, a fence installed on loose soils may sag somewhat;
• If corrugated board is used as the enclosing structure, then it is not necessary. So that the supports are too far apart. This material has a large windage and with gusts of wind it will thunder, or it may even break away from the mounts and set off on a journey around the site;
• If a highway or railroad passes next to the site, then it is important to take into account the vibration loads.

Choosing a foundation from the type of fence

As already stated, every kind of foundation suitable for certain types of fences:

1. Pillar foundation for a fence. This is the easiest one.

   

   and an inexpensive type of foundations that are easy to make yourself. Suitable for lightweight fences such as wire mesh or wooden fences. For the construction of such foundations, a hole is dug, the depth of which depends on the type of soil, the height of the fence, its windage and the weight of the fence. Pillars are installed in the pits, after which everything is poured with concrete. You can also make it yourself. With such foundations, it is possible to use it as a building envelope and corrugated board, but given the large area, which will be affected by the wind load, the pit for the foundation will need to be made larger and larger depths.

2. Tape and pillar foundation is a concrete tape with concrete cushions at a certain interval, on which support pillars will subsequently be installed. The dimensions of the posts and the width of the foundation tape depend on the weight of the fence and its height. In the manufacture of such a foundation, reinforcement is necessarily used. Fences made of wood, brick, corrugated board are installed on such foundations. In its manufacture, a trench is dug under the strip foundation and pits for the pillars. At the bottom, a gravel-sand cushion is arranged, which is well compacted. Formwork is being installed. After that, the fittings are installed. You can make it yourself from a 5-8 mm reinforcing rod and knitting wire. Concrete for pouring can be purchased ready-made or made by yourself. Before starting the construction of the fence, it is necessary to withstand 2-3 weeks for the concrete to completely dry and gain strength.
3. Monolithic foundations are used for heavy, massive fences. On the gravel pad, concrete is laid in layers with careful compaction. Support pillars with this type of foundation are installed on a finished base. This type of foundation is suitable for any type of enclosing material, except for corrugated board.
4. A stone foundation is the most reliable and is able to withstand a lot of weight. Therefore, it is used under stone fences or forged fences. This is the most expensive type of foundation.

Construction stages

If you do everything without deviating from the technology of building the foundation, the fence will stand for at least 10 years. How to do it yourself correctly?

Perimeter markings

For this procedure, you need to prepare the following devices:

• Twine or rope longer than the length of the future fence.
• Pegs.
• Roulette.
• The plan of the site with the location of the fence marked on it and its binding to the boundaries of the land plot.

In accordance with the plan, we mark the position of the beginning of the fence and hammer in the first peg. Next, we measure the length of the side of the fence and hammer in the second peg. The rest of the markup is carried out in the same way, strictly observing the angles, according to the plan.

Digging a trench

It is easy to dig a trench for a strip foundation yourself. It is made with a depth of 500 to 600 mm and a width of 200 mm greater than the width of the future fence. If corrugated board is chosen as the enclosing sheet, then the width of the foundation should be increased to 600 mm. This will make the fence more stable in heavy winds.

Sand is poured at the bottom of the trench, which is moistened and carefully compacted.

Formwork

There are two methods for making a foundation:

• Without formwork. With this method, the support pillars are installed in the trench strictly vertically and fixed with improvised means. After that, the pillars are tied with reinforcement. The connections of the reinforcement with the pillars must be tacked by welding. It is important that the top layer of the trim is 10 cm below the level of the upper concrete boundary and the same amount above ground level.
• With formwork. Usually, formwork is needed if its upper border is above ground level. For the manufacture of formwork, edged boards or OSB sheets can be used. Shields must be installed around the entire perimeter of the trench, it is important to install spacers between them. Inside the formwork, you need to fix the reinforcement by welding.

Concreting

If the volume of concrete work is large, then it is better to purchase a ready-made solution and perform layer-by-layer pouring. Each layer must be given time to set. After the concrete mixture is poured to the required level, the foundation should stand for about 3-5 days in the formwork.

After that, the shields can be removed and the concrete left for the final curing and drying. After 10-15 days, you can start building the fence.

Useful Tips

The surface of the site is not always perfectly flat. If a fence is to be erected on a slope, then it is worth making a stepped fence and foundation. In this case, a separate formwork is constructed for each step, and the foundation is poured in parts. When calculating the height of the step, it is important to observe the multiplicity of the height of the brick, if the fence is brick.

In order not to miscalculate with the required amount of brick, you need to remember about the distance for the seams of 1 cm. A properly made fence will become a reliable protection and decoration of the site for many years.