Building corners

[thendrix]

I am about to rebuild a section of fence and wanted some advice from the more experienced. I will have to build a couple of corners and wanted to see how you folks do it. These will be 90 degree corners with a 5 strand barb wire fence and an electric fence. Is there a better way then H braces or X braces for corners? If so what do you folks use? (With pics if you can)

 

[dun]

Search for "floating brace", lots of information about them on here

 

[Rafter S]

The floating braces may be good, I've never tried one but it looks like it should be fine. If you do decide to go the traditional route, with two posts, there are 3 mistakes that I see a lot of people make.

1. If it's at a corner, as you said, do not brace with wire in both directions (to make an X). That's fine in the middle of a long fence where you'll be stretching the wire in both directions, but it's no good at a corner. Put your rigid brace (4" round, 4x4, pipe, etc.) in horizontally between the two main posts, at waist high or higher, then put the brace wire that you will tighten running from the bottom of the end post to near the top of the second post. I see a lot of people run the brace wire in both directions, but the second wire is a waste of time, effort, and material, and is actually working against you. Go back to any fence built this way and after a few weeks (or days) there will be slack in the brace wire that's running the wrong way. It's pulling in the same direction as your barbed wires.

2. Now that I got that pet peeve off my chest, make sure the brace posts are in the ground deep enough. 3-1/2' is a bare minimum, but 4' is better. If you're tamping back with soil, it needs to be very well tamped, in small lifts. If you're setting them in concrete, then put a few inches of dirt around the bottom of the post first. That will allow moisture to leach away from the post and it will last longer. If you don't do this, and get concrete under the post, it works like a bowl to hold moisture around the post so it can't dry out.

3. Don't put the brace posts too close together. I recommend at least 8'. This is because the closer the brace wire is to horizontal the better it works. If it's closer to vertical it will put vertical lift on the corner post, and you don't want that. I've seen some of them pulled almost completely out of the ground.

I apologize if this is all stuff that you already know, but if so it might help someone else who sees it.

 

[greybeard]

I've got corners in the ground with a 45 deg brace wire--some since 1966 and never lifted a single post up out of the ground.
You need to dig a little deeper holes.

I use the floating braces nowadays tho.

 

[JWBrahman]

You can buy all kinds of galvanized metal braces for corners at Lowes

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Don't know about the ground in GA. But I would like to see you dig some 4ft holes around here.

 

[ga.prime]

Usually hit clay about 3 and a half ft down. Makes that last half a foot kind of tough.

 

[backhoeboogie]

The whole fence is depending on your anchors. Corners are your anchors.

I use 3 inch pipe minimum. 3 3/8" outside diameter. In the last 15 years or so, I have been welding cattle panel on the outside with a small brace on bottom. The cattle panel on a corner adds strength in not only the X and Y but also the Z axis.

In the rock (limestone) the posts only have to be so deep. When I get into the sand on the river, I weld a scrap short iron piece on the bottom of each post to add an additional 2 foot or so. When I set the corner, I take the tractor bucket and push it in to the depth I want. Hence, if my hole is 4 foot, I push it in an additional 2 foot or so depending on the length of the short iron. Not much different than driving a post. Thus far these have held perfectly. Scrap 2 inch pipe or tube steel is about perfect.

There's nothing more aggravating than building fence and having to replace or rebuild it 5 years later. In 1990 I was burned out with a brush fire. Not only did I lose 3 barns, I lost all the fence I built back when I was a kid because I used wood posts. I went back with metal in 1990. A few years later a car went through a fence and pulled my corners loose. That is another penalty for using higher tensile wire.

 

[greybeard]

Don't know about the ground in GA. But I would like to see you dig some 4ft holes around here.

Mine is white or red clay from surface down to about 6 ft. It's either like concrete (Aug) or a sticky gummy mess in the wet part of winter and even then, it gets hard at about 3' where the surface water hasn't been able to penetrate down. I usually go 4' on the corners using cross ties or sawed utility poles.
I do have some sand down by the river, but don't have to get very far from the river to hit the hard stuff again. I've had a brand new auger just sit and spin about 2' down, and pour 5 gal of water in to soak while I dig another further down, come back, drill 6-8" more then rinse and repeat till I get to depth. It's a pita, but gotta do it.

 

[dun]

Don't know about the ground in GA. But I would like to see you dig some 4ft holes around here.

Mine is white or red clay from surface down to about 6 ft. It's either like concrete (Aug) or a sticky gummy mess in the wet part of winter and even then, it gets hard at about 3' where the surface water hasn't been able to penetrate down. I usually go 4' on the corners using cross ties or sawed utility poles.
I do have some sand down by the river, but don't have to get very far from the river to hit the hard stuff again. I've had a brand new auger just sit and spin about 2' down, and pour 5 gal of water in to soak while I dig another further down, come back, drill 6-8" more then rinse and repeat till I get to depth. It's a pita, but gotta do it.

Works great for clay, not worth spit for limestone shelf rock. We have places where the bottom of the spade on a T-post just barely touches the surface.

 

[greybeard]

That's one thing I don't have is any kind of rock here, but I've run in to it out in west central Texas and don't miss it one bit--I don't envy ya.

 

[dun]

That's one thing I don't have is any kind of rock here, but I've run in to it out in west central Texas and don't miss it one bit--I don't envy ya.

I wanted to set a light pole over the squeeze chute so hired one of those guys with the auger truck like the phone company uses. After half a dozen trys where I wanted it he finally had to move where I had brought in 5 foot of fill to level an area. The fill was an old dam from a pond that never held water. He got down about 5 1/2 foot and that was it. Set the pole anyway. It's close but not perfect for chute work.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Here in the Valley its creek rock from the size of a gravel to boulder. Auger don't do very well in that kinda of rock.

 

[thendrix]

Thanks everybody. I'll have to look closer into the floating brace. Digging 1 hole instead of 3 sure is enticing

 

[greybeard]

Thanks everybody. I'll have to look closer into the floating brace. Digging 1 hole instead of 3 sure is enticing

Plus the $avings for not having to buy the 2 extra big posts.