Fence Post Extensions / Wire Stringers?

Stigura

Sorry I couldn't think of a better title. Hope that might bring in any fence / free thinkers?

Situation is; I have a short, 'garden' fence. Fence posts with mesh between. Only, I figured to run single strands of light wire above this fence. Supporting the wires with perforated, galvanised straps I had to hand.

I screwed said straps to the fence posts. Protruding 18" above the top of the posts. But, upon adding the horizontal wires? The straps bent and twisted to the will of the wires. Just not man enough to take the strain.

Straps are 1" wide? Proportionately thick / thin. Never thought they'd buckle like that.

What options are there? 18" of rebar wouldn't bend. But, the hell of drilling holes through rebar! Then again; Have I any choice?!

What say the Boards DIY Massive?

Thanks.

Calahonda52

Why not stick this in the other thread you have going, Balzac wont be happy with a new thread

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=111594692

Stigura

Never mind Balzac. He's been the least of my troubles, today. The two 'Small Dogs', trying to rip their way under the back fence, drove me to distraction though! :mad:

I put this here because it's a complete side issue to the gate. More people may look at this than 'just another post about that gate he's building'.

I'm wondering about mild steel straps, instead of 'soft' galvanised? If not? Well; I have my pillar drill now. I could drill rebar .....

cletus

Are the fence posts round or square.

You could use some angle iron cut to length and drilled

Stigura

Round. Standard, 'farmers / field' type poles.

Good shout, on angle iron. Wonder if that'd stick to a round? Never had to consider that before

Like the unbending aspect though.

cletus

Just cut it long enough that you can screw it into the side of the post

Stigura

I figured the same length as what I've used would do it?

Jesus wept!!! It just sunk in: I screw the " L " to the post like OL <-- Screwed through there? :rolleyes: God. I'm SO thick, sometimes!

cletus

Have to say, I thoroughly enjoy your posts on here Stigura

whizbang

Would look crap.
Got to rebate a groove in the post..:)

Stigura

whizbang wrote: »

Would look crap.
Got to rebate a groove in the post..:)

:eek: Jesus H. Christ, Whizbang; This is Leitrim. Not the posh part of Dublin.

It's just a little Dog Stopper effort, at the back of my place. Only I'll ever see it. The fence / gate bit is chic enough alone, as it is. This is just a few strands of wire, to suggest, to the Dogs; " Jumping at this would be a bad idea. "

Rebating fence posts? where does it stop? Wrought steel, automatically opening gate, in a concrete footing embedded fence?

No. I'm on the ear 'ole for an old, angle iron, bed frame now! :cool:

Meanwhile Balzac thinks:

" Le bastaard! 'e thinks 'eel out think me?! "

whizbang

I'm loving your posts,(and sense of humour) So couldn't help but jump in with both feet..

I can almost hear that exact thought in the dogs mind..

Stigura

Christ; This'll bring the Haters out in force! :eek:

GreeBo

Use some galvanized timber straps?
They are resistant to bending and are pre-drilled.
If you fix them to your posts so they are 90* to how you would naturally fix them then they will be even stronger and also prevent the wire from moving.

Lumen

You can either make the support stronger or balance the forces, like a suspension bridge.

Stigura

GreeBo; Ye mean like this?

Bends and twists like Boris the Johnson

Stigura

Lumen; I'm not of the Yedi. And, at rat catcher school, we focused more on drains than the Isambard Kingdom Brunel aspects. Close as I ever got to suspension bridges was how a rat can get along a strand of wire.

No. I fancy the bed frame idea though

Stigura

O M G!!!!! I was in town, today. Popped in to ask my man there about angle iron. How do they sell it? How much?

Eustace looked me dead in the eye and told me:

" 1" is €1.00 a foot. 1 1/2" is €2.20 a foot. " What the .....?! How can they charge That much for anything?!

I'm putting the word into the whisper stream; 'Old, iron bed frame wanted.' Those things were built like Rock. And were as common. Must be one, somewhere around here ~ that no one's figured out is worth its weight in gold!

Failing that? Rebar should do it. Shouldn't it? And cheaper than cheap pasta, comparatively?

And, the thought of drilling half a dozen holes through each length? Pffftt! I have my stand drill. Steel bits are cheap.

Huston? Looks like Plan C ....!

As Speedy Gonzalez, the DIY carpet fitting mouse might have said:

" Underlay, underlay. Rebar! "

GreeBo

Stigura wrote: »

GreeBo; Ye mean like this?

Bends and twists like Boris the Johnson

Thats probably only bending as it has tension in only one direction.
If you continued the wire through and down the end post it should be better.

Also, how much is attached to the post?
doesnt look like much...

Lumen

Rebar is strong in tension. It is not very stiff.

Stigura

GreeBo wrote: »

Thats probably only bending as it has tension in only one direction.
If you continued the wire through and down the end post it should be better.

Okay. I've never made myself out to be the best tool in the box. But, that's like Whoosh! material.

See the standard, twist off knots, end of the top two wires? I did the same thing at the third / lowest level too. Started at the top, like the Aussie guys on the tube do.

Only, by then, even a blind me could see this schit wasn't going down.

Explain, please, where I went wrong

GreeBo wrote: »

Also, how much is attached to the post?
doesn't look like much...

I'm simply not going out there, in the mud and the dark, right now, to measure a strap.

But, my original post states the straps stand 18" above the posts. How long is a strap? Subtract 18" and that'll give ye what I screwed to the post.

I honestly can't see what another 36" of strap, screwed with a dozen screws, to the post, would do for the 'Boris 18' above.

Stigura

Lumen wrote: »

Rebar is strong in tension. It is not very stiff.

Lumen; Damn you, and ye concise, incisive insight! :mad:

Christ, ye bloody right though, aren't , ye? 18" of rebar? Probably pull over as much as anything ~ except self bracing Angle!

Surely Angle will work though? Will someone, Pul Eeease, tell me it would?!

Bloody 2 x 2" timber would be as good, and far cheaper, at this rate. Pretty sure I've used that elsewhere here? Ran wooden slats across it. Just that ~ in this spot ~ I'd much rather get a clear view of what the birds are doing, see? Hence the wires.

cletus

Angle will work, but what greebo is suggesting (I think), is that, instead of tying the wire to the angle, or strap, you thread the wire through the hole, then pull it down along the length of the timber post, securing it low down on the post.

That means the wire has a 90° bend at the strap/angle, so all the stress is not pulling directly away from the strap

Stigura

cletus wrote: »

That means the wire has a 90° bend at the strap/angle, so all the stress is not pulling directly away from the strap

Aah, right! Perhaps this is what Listermint had in mind too? One should never assume I have a clue about anything, in fairness. After all, this is the DIY forum. Says nothing about 'Structural Engineers Chat'.

Only slight snag is that I've screwed the straps to the Backs of the posts. Sounds like they'll need to be on the sides ...?

What ever. I lit my stove, last night. Warm, again! Got up, today, to Dry clothes! Now, it's 73F +, in here. Dank and drizzly out there! It'll take a few days for me to acclimatise and start wandering abroad yet. Dogs and I are gonna luxuriate for a little while

cletus

Stigura wrote: »

Aah, right! Perhaps this is what Listermint had in mind too? One should never assume I have a clue about anything, in fairness. After all, this is the DIY forum. Says nothing about 'Structural Engineers Chat'.

Only slight snag is that I've screwed the straps to the Backs of the posts. Sounds like they'll need to be on the sides ...?

What ever. I lit my stove, last night. Warm, again! Got up, today, to Dry clothes! Now, it's 73F +, in here. Dank and drizzly out there! It'll take a few days for me to acclimatise and start wandering abroad yet. Dogs and I are gonna luxuriate for a little while

Well, I'm a PE and English teacher, so the structural engineering would be lost on me too

Think I might light the stove myself, just back in from a run with the young fella, and it's wet and cold out there

GreeBo

Screwing them to the back is fine, but Cletus nailed it, you need the wire attached to the end post so it doesn't pull on the strap so much.

I don't need exact measurements but if it's 2inches below and 18b above you will have issues.
How many screws do you have into the post?

Is the strap bending or just moving on the post?

You also don't need any tension on the wire... What are you doing this all for anyway?

Stigura

Good man

Straps are 24". 18" above the post. So, 6" below. Two screws. Deeply and tightly placed.

Straps ~ unimaginably! ~ are 'Bending' and 'Twisting'. I'd never have thought this possible.

I now see my photo, at 26-10-2019 14:25 doesn't really show this. But, yeppers, with even minimal torque, the strap's twisting. This is what makes me think even rebar would, indeed, lean towards the horizontal tension?

I mean; 18" of rebar, down the post. Six inches above? Wire would snap before the bar bent!

40" lengths of bar? I'm starting to wonder why I never just used eight foot posts!

What's it all for? Keeping my Dogs off a little patch I want them off. The wires are just there to remind them not to be silly.

Yes, I could, theoretically, use roofing batons. But, they would A. Provide a determined Dog with the sense of a ladder. And, B. Obscure my view of the patch. I need to see what's going on there.

Oh; And I do need tension. Both to convince the Dogs. And because I can't live with looking out at sloppy work. Loose wire is sloppy.

Does that bring us any further?

GreeBo

Ok so if it's just too discourage the dogs you don't need any tension and so the straps don't bend

Stigura

Bugger! Sorry! I was, obviously, editing in, to cover that missed point, even as ye were typing ye reply.

GreeBo

Stigura wrote: »

Bugger! Sorry! I was, obviously, editing in, to cover that missed point, even as ye were typing ye reply.

Ok so then you are back to tying off on the post rather than the extension strap

From the pic it looks like the strap is moving on the post or the post is moving rather than the strap bending

If you have more straps put one on the other side of the post and feed the wire through both

whizbang

Tying the wire down to the post will make it worse.

Use a second strap, and bolt the two straps really tight tt the top. Resulting A-frame will be way tougher.

Stigura

A Frame? Now, That's a helluvan idea!

Just have to source some more straps now! So far's used up all I had

Anyway; I've got some far more serious stuff on my mind, just now. Sort of taking precedent and distracting me altogether from fences and birds. I'm getting Nothing done here.

GreeBo

whizbang wrote: »

Tying the wire down to the post will make it worse.

Use a second strap, and bolt the two straps really tight tt the top. Resulting A-frame will be way tougher.

I disagree that tying to the post will make it worse, it means you are pulling the wire against the post and not the strap, which is the problem.

An A-frame is to support heavy loads, not sure how that is going to stop the straps bending, would be better off doubling the straps, or even better, use two straps to make some angle iron.

GreeBo

@Stigura
Not sure how long your run is, but I'd try a roll of chicken wire (probably halved).
You won't need to pull it super tight as it's almost self supporting.