How to Install a Stainless Steel Wire Fence
April 27, 2019
How to Install a Stainless Steel Wire Fence
1 Pound stakes into the ground every 10 feet around the perimeter. Place a stake at each corner, as well as two stakes four feet away from the corner stakes to be used as support posts for the corner bracing. Attach a fluorescent string to a corner post, and string the line between the stakes. Check the line for straightness. If necessary, move a stake to make the line straight. This will be the guide when you dig the post holes.
2 Check with the utilities office to ensure that there aren't any buried utility lines where you will dig the holes for the posts. It can be dangerous to accidentally hit a utility line, and it can also be expensive if you damage the line.
3 Dig the post holes with a post hole digger at each stake location. The depth of each hole should equal 1/3 of the total length of the post. Varying sizes of post hole diggers can be rented from home rental stores. Some are hand-held and others can be attached to tractors.
4 Make a mixture of four parts gravel, two parts sand and one part cement. You will use this mixture to stabilize the posts after you place them in the holes.
5 Place the post in the prepared hole. Take time to make sure it stands straight and that you have oriented it the correct way to make stringing the stainless wire easier later. Shovel the prepared mixture of gravel, sand and cement into the hole until it is level with the ground. Allow 24 hours for the mixture to dry around the posts.
6 Measure the distance from the top of the corner post to the bottom of the support post. Cut a support brace to meet this distance. Secure the top of the support brace with fencing nails to the top of the corner post and the bottom of the brace to the support post that was set four feet away.
7 Start in a corner and wrap the stainless wire around the end corner post twice leaving enough wire at the end for a two-foot tail. Wrap the wire tail around the wire that will extend down the length of the fence.
8 String the wire to the next post, and pound a fencing staple over the wire to hold the wire at the correct height on the post. Do not pound the staple all the way down to the post as the stainless wire will need to be able to move through the staples during the stretching process. Continue this process for the next four posts.
9 Set up the wire stretcher against the last post as described in the manufacturer's instructions, and stretch the wire that has been strung to this point. With the wire stretcher holding the wire tightly, return to the previous posts and pound the staples all the way into the posts to secure the wire in place. Return to the wire stretcher and release the tension. Continue to string the stainless wire for the next four posts, and then pull the wire tight again.
10 Stretch the wire tightly with the wire stretcher at the last post, and wrap the stainless wire at least two times around the last post. Wrap the remaining tail of the wire back along the length of the stretched wire. Release the stretcher.
11 Return to the starting corner of the fence and repeat the process for the next string of stainless wire fence at the desired height.