Picket Fence Panels Design

The great news for homeowners is that installing wood picket fence panels is quite an easy process. If you have some basic DIY knowledge and a day or two spare to spend time out in the yard installing your new fence, then there is no reason to pay a professional company to carry out the work for you, this can save you money on your overall fencing cost.

Ideally you could do with a friend to give you a hand, two people are always better than one when carrying out this type of project, it can also reduce the amount of time you spend on installation.

The most important thing before ordering your wood picket fence panels is to measure. You will want to measure at least three times, ensuring your measurements match up each and every time. This way you reduce the risk of your items arriving and getting to work, only to find you have come up short.

You will want to accommodate a post in each corner and then a post every 1.8 meters apart. So if you have a perfectly square front yard that is large, you will need four posts, one in each corner, two of which will be against your property front wall and then you will need to count the remaining posts at 1.8 meters, which means you could end up with ten or more posts.

The posts are a time consuming job that requires most the hard labor. Before you start digging for your posts, it's advisable to put in a stake a run string to each corner, this will help you ensure that your lines are straight before you start. Check your measurements and put a stake in each corner with string attached then measure out your remaining post spaces, staking those. You can use anything you like as a stake from a smaller piece of wood, even a fork if you prefer. As long as you can see where you need to place them.

Ensure when digging you dig each post on the same side of the string. This will ensure the perfect straight wood picket fence panels once you've completed the job. Dig a decent depth for each post, you will want to measure the height and close in each one. Each post should be the identical height, reducing the risk of your wood picket fence panels sitting at strange angles around your property.

When you choose your wood picket fence panels you will notice that you are offered a selection based on design from traditional styles to scalloped styles and natural wood to pre-finished white wood options. You will also have the ability to choose the picket gap, which is the space between each picket.

Your picket gap should be based on your personal requirements and chosen design. A family with pets that run around the yard will benefit from a smaller picket gap, while those that just want to mark off their boundary, will benefit from a larger picket gap.

Once your posts are securely in place you will want to install your horizontal pieces, you will require one at the top and one at the base of each wood picket fence panel, these secure the panels in place. From here you can secure your pickets and the job is completed. Ensure your measurements are accurate and each one is perfectly matched. Often you can purchase wood picket fence panels with this section already installed to avoid incorrect measuring, these panels are much easier to install, often just slotting into each post and requiring a few nails to hold them in place.

Potential customers have asked me on many occasions if it would save them money to have their privacy fence built using wooden fence panels rather than building their fence from the ground up. The answer is yes. Fence panels do save on labor cost, but the real question is: Are they a better value? This answer to this question is a little more complicated. There's several things that need to be taken in to consideration when deciding if you want to use wooden fence panels to save on labor cost. In most cases, panels are made using materials that aren't quite as sturdy as custom-built fences.