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Fence: The 5 Most Serious Mistakes According to Fenceshop’s Experience

At Fenceshop, with our over 50 years of experience in the fence industry, we want to share with you the most common and serious mistakes we often see in DIY fence installations. If underestimated, these mistakes can compromise the final result, cause waste of time and money, and make it necessary to redo the work from scratch. Here are the five key points to pay close attention to in order to achieve a solid, long-lasting, and functional fence.

1. Incorrect Choice of Materials During Purchase

The first and most frequent mistake is selecting the wrong materials. It's not just about choosing cheap or imported products, but especially about picking materials that don't match each other proportionally. For example, buying a very robust mesh and combining it with posts that are too light is pointless: the investment will be wasted, because the strength of the fence depends on the balance of all its components. It's essential to evaluate:

• Strength and height of the posts in relation to the mesh
• Use of specific accessories like tension wires and brace arms
• Gathering information from technical datasheets and detailed descriptions, such as those available on Fenceshop

Don't make decisions based only on price or superficial evaluations: inform yourself and choose materials that are proportioned to your actual needs and the type of fence you want to create.

2. Lack of Proper Concrete Footings or Foundations for Posts

Another very common mistake concerns installing posts without proper foundations. Simply driving posts into the ground, without using concrete footings or ground screws, exposes the fence to the risk of sagging over time. While massive wooden posts may have lasted decades in the past, today, the stability of a fence is achieved only by firmly anchoring the posts to the ground. Otherwise, the posts will tend to give way, causing the mesh to slacken and compromising the entire structure. We recommend:

• Making concrete footings or using ground screws
• Ensuring that every post is well anchored and stable

Underestimating this aspect means risking that your fence quickly loses its effectiveness and stability.

3. Lack of Brace Arms for Bracing

Brace arms are essential angled metal elements to guarantee the stability of posts, especially at starting, ending, and corner points of the fence, regardless of how wide the angle is. Without brace arms, posts tend to bend under the tension of wires and mesh, causing the entire structure to fail. It is fundamental to:

• Install brace arms at starting, ending, and corner posts
• Use at least two brace arms for each corner

Imagine pulling a cord around a post with no brace arm: it will inevitably bend, losing stability and compromising the tension of the mesh.

4. Absence of Tension Wires and Tensioners

Another technical mistake is neglecting the tension wires and tensioners, which are essential accessories to keep the mesh taut between one post and another. Even though their cost is small compared to posts and mesh, their role is fundamental to the long-term stability of the fence. We recommend:

• Always installing tension wires both at the top and bottom of the mesh
• Using tensioners to correctly put the wires in tension
• Relying on specific products for tensioning, like those available on Fenceshop

A fence is like an orchestra: each element must work in harmony with the others. If tension wires and tensioners are missing, the mesh will remain loose and tend to give way over time.

5. Using Shade Cloths on Weak Fences

The last, very widespread mistake is installing shade cloths on fences that are not designed to withstand wind pressure. The classic T-posts are not meant to bear the force generated by the wind when a shade cloth is attached. Even if the posts are well concreted, the leverage point between the ground and the post is the weakest and can easily fail. To avoid seeing your fence knocked over by the first storm, you must:

• Use robust posts, such as round posts with 48 or 60 mm diameter and 2-3 mm thickness
• Choose box section posts of 50x50 mm or 60x60 mm with adequate thickness
• Always size the structure according to the required wind resistance

It's not about avoiding shade cloths, but making sure your fence is designed to support them.

Conclusions

These five mistakes are among the most common for those approaching the world of fences without experience. At Fenceshop, we recommend that you always do your research before buying and carefully plan every detail, choosing proportioned materials and following the basic rules for proper installation. In this way, you can create a safe, stable, and durable fence, avoiding unnecessary costs and wasted effort.

We invite you to visit our website www.fenceshop.eu to discover all our products, technical datasheets, and useful tips. For any questions or curiosities, we are always available to support you in choosing materials and building your perfect fence.