Building a 4 rail fence and need some help please..

[clovergamecock]

I am spacing my posts 8' apart and plan on running 16' rail sections screwed into the posts.. Yesterday I bought 20 treated 4x4x8's at Lowes for $5.97 per. I looked at the 16' runs of 5\4 boards which are listed as deck boards and they ar $15 a peice!!!!!!!!

Is there a better\cheaper type of wood that I can use? I am staining\painting it all black so is preasure treated needed? Where can I buy the wood that would be better than Lowes or HD?

Lastly I was drilling my holes yesterday with my tractor mount 9" auger. I have 4 holes where the clay is so hard that my auger will only go down about 5" and then stop What can I do to get these holes drilled?

Thanks
Wade

 

[Double Orange]

I don't use Pressure Treated lumber becuase horses will ocassionaly chew on it.
I go to lumber mill and order 1 1/4 X 6" X16' rough sawn oak lumber.

 

[clovergamecock]

I don't use Pressure Treated lumber becuase horses will ocassionaly chew on it.
I go to lumber mill and order 1 1/4 X 6" X16' rough sawn oak lumber.

Thanks. What do you use for posts? Also do you know the cost per board and post? This is great info as we will have at least 1 horse. So definately no preasure treated.

Thanks
Wade

 

[Double Orange]

We used 4''X6'' X8' oak dipped in tar and slammed into ground with a skid steer set up with a post driver. No digging.

 

[rgood]

Why do people prefer wood for horse fence when wood rots, warps, twists, breaks when they kick it and some horses eat it?

I use 5/16" coated wire.

 

[wushaw]

Why do people prefer wood for horse fence when wood rots, warps, twists, breaks when they kick it and some horses eat it?

I use 5/16" coated wire.

Because horses can see it better when they get silly and decide to run through it. It keeps the vet bills lower.

 

[tjkadar]

Hotcote and/or horsecote is a darned good, inexpensive option for horse fencing. Nothing wrong with using CCA treated wood. The amount of wood a horse ingest from cribbing and/or chewing is negligible. Tar treated posts are loaded with lots of bad things too. Depending on the tars, you are looking at PCBs and dioxins. Half of one, dozen of another.

I've seen horses run through high tensile and I've seen horses run through board fences. Overall, high tensile is far kinder. But a horse is a horse, you could leave them in a padded cell and they would find something to hurt themselves on.

We've used landscape timbers are posts. Eight foot tall, sturdy, and cheaper than wood posts.

As far as clay... you're gonna have to wait for rain or get an auger with some down pressure on it. I've seen clay stop a GeoProbe before, and that thing has way more hammer strength than any post driver.

 

[Gizmo2]

Why 4-board?

Pressure treated all the way and it will probably last longer than oak. We put our 3-board fence up 22 years ago and it is still in fine shape. I would not go with any further spacing than 7 feet, the boards will twist at 7 feet but at 8 feet I think you are asking for trouble, actually I know you are.
Order the 1-inch by 6-inch pressure treated fence boards.
Do not use screws use galvanized nails.
Attach boards on the inside of the posts, pasture side.
Buy the aluminum post caps for the 4x4's. The inexpensive caps with the nail hole in the middle for a metal roof nail with the rubber washer on it.

We added 1 wire of electric below the top board with 5-inch stand offs and the horses will not go near the fence to chew on it.

I welded a 1.5 inch x 18 inch pipe to the top of our post hole digger that I slide a bar in and have someone pull down on it while drill a tough hole, just need to be careful.

Keep the bottom board off the ground high enough to allow a push mower under the fence, you will be glade you did.

Used motor oil with a little bit of diesel fuel (for the right consistency) makes for a nice stain that last pretty good.

 

[HoustonBrama]

If you're gonna paint them then definitely go to the saw mill and get rough cut 1x6x16. I live in middle Tennessee and mine cost roughly around $4.00 a board. My saw mill is at .50 cents a board foot. I painted all my fence and is still way cheaper than going treated. Here is a link to a great board foot calculator. It will give you a pretty good idea of costs.

Boardfoot Calculator

 

[Gizmo2]

Painting will cause the wood to decay faster especially if the under side is painted. All it takes is a very small crack in the paint to let water in.
The up keep to painting is far more than a stain of some kind. Stain normally fades but lets the wood breath paint peels and looks bad. Money you spend now will be recovered back later especially with labor.