# Forum More Stuff Go to Whoa!  Timber paling fence rebuild

## wozzzzza

here we see the fence, totally stuffed, pictures and video of it says it all.
replacing with 1.8m high fence of same type and  posts will be concreted inside the boundary of our wall instead of bolted on top of the retaining wall to hopefully stop it coming loose all the time.
expected time to do this will be around 4 weeks i think.
started digging holes today for the posts, 200x200x600mm in size.
the steel posts i'm using are 65x65x3mm.
will start concreting in the next few days.  https://youtu.be/edNAkar653Y

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## wozzzzza

dug a few more holes over the last few days and started concreting in some posts getting them nice and level. once all done i will cut them to the right height.
painted the bottoms in bitumen paint before putting them in the holes.

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## Bros

What are you going to do to stop the deadbeats driving into the fence when they come home full of soup?

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## wozzzzza

no idea. dont care too much either, can always replace the fence.

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## wozzzzza

got a few more posts up today.

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## wozzzzza

finished concreting posts in this side, will start other side tomorrow some time.

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## r3nov8or

All the car park needs is some 'wheel stops' to remind the driver when they are close enough  :Smilie:

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## wozzzzza

i know, have to work on something like that

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## wozzzzza

*NOOOOOOOO,* *i didnt dial before i dug and HIT POWER CABLE!!! 200mm under the surface in white conduit. *

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## Marc

White? isn't it supposed to be orange?
Chewed up bad ... fixable though.

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## wozzzzza

na didnt really, crowbar started bouncing off of something, unearthed white conduit along the fence line and thinking WTF is that all about and what is it doing there. After a while of thinking i have no idea what i was or where it went as i can account for the location of power cables and water pipes on the property. i got my fluke power cable tester and that did not register a live line, sounded hollow, so i drilled into it with a 1mm drill hoping it wasnt water pipe, nope, drilled a 5mm hole and saw electrical cable. got my tester on to it again, still not registering as a live cable, so i opened up the conduit even further and cut into the outer sheath and sure enough about 6mm 3 core mains cable.
i decided to dig further up near the corner of the building, ran into conduit there, so went down further, got luck, found the end to it that had been cut off so it was then i figured that i thought maybe the case, an old building that was here before the current one 28 years ago it may have been a mains cable down to the rear shed done DIY and never been dug up when the new building was built and just left there.
so ended up pull up around 35 metres of electrical cable and now just cutting through the conduit to dig the holes.

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## wozzzzza

heres some more stuff i did yesterday

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## wozzzzza

started putting in the posts on top of the retaining wall, chemset the 12mm galv threaded rod into the block work, used around 20mm off cut of threaded rod as spacing under the middle of the post to use as a pivot point to get the post nice and level both ways and then filled it with non-shrink structural grout and left over night and tightened up today and sprayed again with zinc paint. 
nice and strong now, wont budge that post.

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## Bros

I thought you were keeping inside of the retaining wall not on top of it?

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## wozzzzza

only on parking bays , 3/4 of the fence is parking bays half the fence is open area we want to look neat where the posts will be on the wall. a garden bed defines the parking lot from the open space and that is the perfect place to change over the post location so wont be noticeable.

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## Bros

> only on parking bays , 3/4 of the fence is parking bays half the fence is open area we want to look neat where the posts will be on the wall. a garden bed defines the parking lot from the open space and that is the perfect place to change over the post location so wont be noticeable.

  OK, how are you going to fix the posts to the timber of the fence, have you got brackets welded to the posts?

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## wozzzzza

gonna do a join like this that was used on the old fence on every second post.

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## phild01

How is that retaining wall made?  It doesn't look strong enough for that type of connection!

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## wozzzzza

its plenty strong enough, the fence was bolted up there before ok and taken a hammering.
its bessa block core filled reo enforced. solid as.

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## phild01

Probably strong then.

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## r3nov8or

> gonna do a join like this that was used on the old fence on every second post.

  Did it hold up well? I'd reckon a half lap joint would give you more meat on the joins

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## Bros

A couple of suggestions fit crush tubes to the inside of the posts and well and truely seal the bolt to stop water getting inside and at the bottom drill a 3mm hole to drain any water, those in the ground will have to be sealed well.

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## wozzzzza

> A couple of suggestions fit crush tubes to the inside of the posts and well and truely seal the bolt to stop water getting inside and at the bottom drill a 3mm hole to drain any water, those in the ground will have to be sealed well.

   crush tubes, they will be fun getting down there.  not a bad idea drilling hole at bottom. will do that thanks.
what i have also done with the posts that i have welded the base plate on is thinned down a bit of bitumen paint a bit and poured about 50ml down the tube and spread it around the bottom inside so if any water does get in there and sit on the bottom it wont rust it out.

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## Bros

> crush tubes, they will be fun getting down there.
> .

   Easy they don’t have to be tight just tape them to a piece of wood mark where the hole is on the wood then slide it down the tube easy as.

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## wozzzzza

oh yeah i guess. what you normally use? just piece of pipe and cut to lengths?

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## Bros

> oh yeah i guess. what you normally use? just piece of pipe and cut to lengths?

   Yea pipe, rhs anything that will allow you to pull the bolt tight and solid. If you are using pine rails it might not be necessary unless the tube wall is thin.  
Try it and see how it goes but I have always used anti crush spacers but I have pulled the bolts up tight with steel on steel.

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## wozzzzza

steel posts are 3mm thick.

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## wozzzzza

> Did it hold up well? I'd reckon a half lap joint would give you more meat on the joins

   i have thought about that but im worried it will weaken the timber, when its impacted on by a car it will have 50% of the strength at the join wont it and be prone to breaking??

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## r3nov8or

> i have thought about that but im worried it will weaken the timber, when its impacted on by a car it will have 50% of the strength at the join wont it and be prone to breaking??

  Maybe. The lap doesn't need to the full width of the post. Best to stop cars in the first place...  :Smilie:

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## wozzzzza

i have got all the holes drilled for this section of fence for one of the neighbours properties, posts are all leveled at the same height using my trusty laser level and put a cap on top of each one.
timber getting delivered tomorrow, should be ready to get going straight away, see how much i can get done in a few hours tomorrow afternoon.
im thinking about filling the posts with concrete after, good idea or bad idea?

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## wozzzzza

started putting some rails up today.

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## Bros

Are you pulling the other fence down as you go?

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## phild01

How come the posts aren't all on the same side?

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## wozzzzza

> Are you pulling the other fence down as you go?

  yep. gonna take a couple of weeks i reckon atleast to get the entire side done. dont want no fence for that period. have enough issues with poeple jumping it as it is, dont want an open door invite.   

> How come the posts aren't all on the same side?

   combination of laziness and required by committees. where car parks are the committee's of both sides wanted the poles concreted in so they dont go all loose when people tap them with cars, and where no parks on top of the fence so it looks better. just the back 2 posts i was lazy, couldnt be bothered digging 2 more holes.

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## Marc

For a public space like that it would be a good idea to build a rail to stop the cars bumping in the fence. A visit to the local junk yard may give you some ideas. Old galvanised  Water pipe, even highway rails show up in junk yards.

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## wozzzzza

i have suggested stop things but committee have not agreed to it several times.
heres some palings starting to go up today. gee these are taking longer than i thought, i have to work out a faster way.

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## phild01

> i have to work out a faster way.

  Coil nail gun :Smilie:

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## wozzzzza

crap, been a while since i posted.
here are some more pictures.
before you ask why i have double sided a section of the fence, its for pool compliance for neighbour.
also a picture in there is how i mount the fence rails by myself, made up a nice jig to hold them in place for when i drill and bolt them and i use a wedge to adjust the height to be level.
i put the slanty timber on the middle rails to help prevent people climbing over it, i tried myself and my feet just slip straight off, cant get a foot hold on the middle rail making it damn hard to get over.

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## r3nov8or

Looking good. Too good not to keep the cars away!  :Smilie:

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## wozzzzza

after drilling about 70 holes with my 13mm drill bit i decided to sharpen it, oh man, it just cuts through the steel now like butter, should have sharpened it 35 holes ago.

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## wozzzzza

bit more progress is happening, the trees are real pricks to put palings behind.

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## Marc

70 holes with the same drill without sharpening? ...  :Shock:  did it turn blue? 
I like your fence Woz. I lost track of what it is for ... parking lot for what? block of flats? Do you own it or work for the BC ?

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## wozzzzza

> 70 holes with the same drill without sharpening? ...  did it turn blue?

   no didnt turn blue, i was going slooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww  

> I like your fence Woz. I lost track of what it is for ... parking lot for what? block of flats? Do you own it or work for the BC ?

  just a replacement fence for a hotel, block of flats as you say that i manage for the BC, the old one as you can see above is absolutely stuffed, give it a wobble and the entire length starts to wave around, its higher to try and stop people climbing it as well.

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## wozzzzza

one side finished finally.

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## wozzzzza

started on other side now

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## phild01

Looks good, nicer than colorbond.

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## r3nov8or

> Looks good, nicer than colorbond.

    and cooler than a Colorbond 'radiator'  :Smilie:

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## Marc

Good job, that old fence is terrible. Did you get some money off the neighbour?

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## wozzzzza

pretty much finished this side of it and starting on the other half now.

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## Ricardito

Thats cool wozzzzza that you use steel post to support the structure and the rest is timber gives youa cool environment

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## Moondog55

Nicely done.

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## wozzzzza

keep forgetting to update this post. im soo close to finished now its ridiculous but havent been able to do the last 4.7m due to the heat wave that has hit cairns. 40+ degrees all weekend and into the week, it has broken 47 year old records by a long shot, cairns has not been this hot since i have been alive.
but got the back half of the side fence done along the pool and that.
that little wall you see is for pool compliance as there is a step over the fence there that has to be covered up, that part is bolted nice and strongly to the fence railing so that wont be falling off like the old one that someone just screwed on as an afterthought to meet pool compliance.

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## SlowMick

New filter/pump cover to match in the budget?

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