Paling

[Garno]

I am in the process of making a small fence/pen.
It will have 4 sides each appx 4' in length.
The palings will be 3" wide with 12 on each side.
I have the layout planned out but I have hit a bit of a problem.

The palings will be 12" high before starting the spikes/pointy bit,
How big should I cut the wood and what angle should I be making the spikes?
Ideally I would like to have them at either 45 or 30 degree's but have no idea how much longer than the 12" I would need to allow.
Does anyone know the formula that would help me please?
I have been staring at a blank bit of paper for over an hour now (hammer)

 

[galleywood]

If you have a large enough piece of paper, draw one full size and measure the length.
Alternatively draw it to scale .

 

[dynax]

at 45 deg you would need 1.5 inches, 30 deg just over an inch,

correction: for 30 deg, just under an inch looks like a 16th or there abouts,

 

[Garno]

at 45 deg you would need 1.5 inches, 30 deg just over an inch,

correction: for 30 deg, just under an inch looks like a 16th or there abouts,

45 deg it is then, thank you

 

[dc_ni]

At work we cut pickets at 45 degs and leave a flat top 10mm wide on top, so you won't lose anything in the height, something like this:

 

[Garno]

I do like the look of that.

Not sure how it will look though on a small (height) fence.

 

[ColeyS1]

What are you fencing in ?

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[Garno]

What are you fencing in ?

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Believe it or not it's pampas grass in our front garden.
Our lawn is surrounded by a hedge and in the center of the lawn we planted 4 pampas grasses last year.
They were doing fine and growing well until 2 cats from a house across the road decided they also wanted the space to use as a litter tray. So started a battle of wills between me and them.
Sadly the cats are winning.
So far they have completely killed off one plant and the other three appear to be struggling a little bit.
We also have some other animal that seems intent on digging holes in the area as well.

So my plan is to dig the grasses out and remove all of the contaminated soil. I will wash the roots and replant them in some fresh top soil and put a small picket type fence around them, if I did a full sized one it will look a bit silly. I know the cats can jump over the fence but if the do they will find it difficult to use the area as a toilet. I have also installed an infra-red water sprayer, when a cat triggers the PiR it makes a clicking sound and fires a 5 second jet of water at them, like a fool though I only got one but second will be here tomorrow.

Gary

 

[ColeyS1]

That makes sense. I had real issues with my dog chasing anything that drove past. I put a small flower bed in his way then fitted a short fence,more of a deterent so he doesn't go digging in there. He's never bothered to jump over it yet.

You can see the short fence in this picture

I couldn't decide what to do either but I knew I had a lot of oak rips destined for the log bin. I thought by having the pickets narrower it'd allow me to see the flower bed easier and not look quite as boxed in.
Mine would definitely look more pleasing without the fence, but I reckon the dog wouldn't be able to resist.

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[Garno]

That is a great photo ColeyS1 =D>

 

[ColeyS1]

Thanks Garno. Are you gonna have 3 inch wide pickets and similar sized gaps ?

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[Garno]

3 " pickets and was thinking about an inch or so gapping. I will lay it all out first so I can see what will be best, last thing I want to be doing is going out every ten minutes to free a cat who got it's head stuck. :lol:

 

[dynax]

it's that rule of thirds again, aesthetically you want either a 1" gap or a 2" one eg 1/3 or 2/3's of the width of the paling, but try to make the number of boards an odd number,

 

[sunnybob]

That fence in dc ni pic... thats never a 45 of those posts.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

That fence in dc ni pic... thats never a 45 of those posts.

I thought it was just me #-o I must admit I looked at that a couple of times!

OWK ccasion5:

 

[dynax]

That fence in dc ni pic... thats never a 45 of those posts.

they are at 45, it's just that the photo was taken at an angle instead of straight, and the boards look to be around 5" wide,

 

[sunnybob]

I would need to see a protractor on the angle before i stopped being a doubting thomas, or at the very least a full on picture

 

[dc_ni]

That was just a photo I googled to show an example of the flat top style of picket fence. We cut them at 45 degs at work but I didn't have one to hand to show as an example

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

That was just a photo I googled to show an example of the flat top style of picket fence. We cut them at 45 degs at work but I didn't have one to hand to show as an example

Phew, no need for me to change my glasses then :lol:

ccasion5:

 

[sunnybob]

I might be old (and cranky) but my eyes are still pretty good for angles. :shock: 8)