440 Fence

[TomPenny]

Anybody ever used this fence material?

I just started a 1600ft job. Customer already bought the material and put up some of it and has now hired me to finish it.

I'm not too found of it after the 1st day.

440 Fence Company, Inc. - Galvanized and Powder Coated Steel Fencing.

 

[patrick_g]

Anybody ever used this fence material?

I just started a 1600ft job. Customer already bought the material and put up some of it and has now hired me to finish it.

I'm not too found of it after the 1st day.

440 Fence Company, Inc. - Galvanized and Powder Coated Steel Fencing.

Never heard of it or seen it before that I am aware of but would like to hear what bothers you about it. I sent for the catalog of products and prices.

Pat

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Looks like you need to be dead on for placement of the post. They tell you how to do it. Still things wobble and sag sometimes. Not bad looking stuff though.

 

[TomPenny]

I was provide a DVD which helped some.

Things I don't like;

you have to put it together one seciton at a time. You can't go out and set the posts, then make it fit. So no matter how hard you try, your moving the prior post a lot.

I consider myself experienced enough build a straight fence. So far this one ain't straight. Too much movment while building it.

 

[patrick_g]

you have to put it together one seciton at a time. You can't go out and set the posts, then make it fit. So no matter how hard you try, your moving the prior post a lot.

Too much movment while building it.

I could auger 9 inch holes spaced accurately enough so you could assemble the fence with the posts loose in the holes and then add gravel or concrete or ??? but I would probably never be able to drive the posts accurately enough to have the fence assemble OK. It wouldn't take much error to get in trouble.

So, do you drive the posts or auger a hole and set them in gravel or concrete, or what?

Pat

 

[warhammer]

How much does this fencing cost?

I was provide a DVD which helped some.

Things I don't like;

you have to put it together one seciton at a time. You can't go out and set the posts, then make it fit. So no matter how hard you try, your moving the prior post a lot.

I consider myself experienced enough build a straight fence. So far this one ain't straight. Too much movment while building it.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

You can sure tell this product wasn't designed by a fenceman. I've got a sample of it around here somewhere for when a client asks about it. I personally feel it's a pig in a poke. But that's just me.

The first thing I would do Tom is order enough of those cd's that I could hang them around the garden to keep away the birds. I sure as heck wouldn't use the information there as a guide to a successful installation.

The way I would install it would be first to set my posts. I would try to set them as close to the recommended spacing as possible. Ideally the spacing should be the length of the rail plus the distance from the inside of the rail end to the post, twice, plus a quarter to half an inch. What would be critical would be for the spacing to be too short rather than too long.

You put your rail end (the part that holds the end of the rail) and the brace band (the part that goes around the post) assembled for installation on a flat surface. Then you measure the distance from the end of the inside of the rail end to the to the edge of the inside of the brace band. For grins let's say this measurement is one and three quarters of an inch.

Let's say for grins again that your rails come 116 inches long.

We need a quarter to half an inch of clearance to allow for a smooth installation.

We have 116 inches plus three and a half inches (one and three quarters of an inch twice) plus a quarter to a half of an inch of clearance I suggest. That adds up to spacing no more than 120 inches but no less than 119 and three quarters on an inch.

The posts are two and three eighths of an inch in diameter. So we need to space out our post holes based upon this measurement 122 and a half inch centers.

I recommend ten to twelve inch holes three to four foot deep. But then that's the way I do it.

The posts are set for height and line with the critical criteria about the spacing to not be more than 120 inches inside to inside.

After the concrete is set for a couple of days the rails are laid out and the couplers are placed beside the posts assembled but not tightened.

What I would do is go down the line with a Sharpie and make a mark where I want the top of each coupler to set on the post. Let's say we're going with a four and a half foot high fence. I would make a mark on each post at one inch down from the top ( posts are set for height already). The second mark would be at fourteen inches down from the top. The third would be at twenty seven inches down from the top and the fourth one would be at forty one. I'd put these marks on every post. (the reasoning for the larger space at the bottom is over time the livestock will move dirt to the fence line. Over time this piling of the dirt will equalize the spacing. I'm sure you've seen rail fence where the bottom section space is shorter than the others. It didn't start out that way.)

At the first post I'd install and tighten the couplers at my marks.

I would go to the second post. I would take the bottom rail and insert it into the bottom railend of the first post. I would slide down the bottom coupler of the second post until I could insert the other end of the bottom rail into the rail end of the second post. I would continue to slide down the coupler with the rail in the rail end until the coupler met my mark. I would tighten the coupler and move up to the next rail and install it the same way.

I would do this until the whole line was installed.

Earlier I mentioned that the critical measurement was to not go beyond the 120 inch spacing between posts. But let's say as you're setting the posts you find you need to shorten up the spacing every now and then for a panel. That's not a problem. When you come to a short section you measure inside to inside your posts. You take that measurement, let's say it is 115 inches. You substract your three and three quarter to four inches for your hardware. You cut the rails that length. If you're smart you have a can of cold galvanized handy and you hold a rag around the end of the rail you just cut to contain overspray and you put a good coat of cold galv over the raw steel. This will eliminate future rust.

I apologize for getting upset about the instructions supplied by 440. They might be cowboys but they sure as heck didn't consult a fenceman when it came to laying out an installation. The way they describe doing it and the way a professional would do it is about like following Lowes or Home Depots instructions for the do it yourselfer versus the way the pros do it on something like laying out a roof or cutting in a door.

 

[davkir]

The DVD shows a crew with lots of equipment. It looks like it might be hard to put up by yourself.
Three rail fence approx. $139/10', plus bag of sackrete ($5?), plus freight from Texas.
It looks pretty durable, but I wonder if it might be a better choice for areas around the barns, dry-lots and corrals that get a lot of abuse from those pesky horses.