What can be done from the croaker in the country. Do-it-yourself slab fence

Building a new fence around a summer cottage or homestead plot is not a cheap pleasure, even if you take the most modest version of a translucent fence made of a metal chain-link mesh. But if you wish and some skill, you can build a fence with your own hands at minimal cost, using one of the woodworking wastes - slab. In order for you to get a decent fence from this timber, you need two things: to understand the construction technology and, having spent some amount of time and effort, to build a fence from an unedged board with your own hands.

Using a slab - pros and cons

When logs are sawn into boards of different thicknesses at a woodworking enterprise, the side parts of the trunks, which have a hemispherical shape on one side, go to waste. These are the croakers, which zealous owners most often buy for firewood due to their penny cost.

Do not confuse a slab with an unedged board. In the latter, both sides are flat, and it differs from ordinary boards in raw side edges. This material is much more expensive than semicircular trimmings, sold at the price of woodworking waste.

As a material for building a fence, slab has the following advantages:

1. Low price is the main advantage of timber. If you consider that you plan to build a fence with your own hands, then its total cost will consist only of the costs of purchase and transportation, plus money for fasteners (nails).
2. Any tree, including the side parts of logs, is easy to process.
3. Although the slab belongs to sawing waste, it remains wood and retains all its properties - environmental friendliness and durability with proper processing.
4. It is difficult to find a more suitable timber if you need to quickly make a temporary fence.

The advantages of the material also depend on the type of wood that was cut at the sawmill. In terms of hardness and durability, oak, larch and beech take the lead, followed by conifers and aspen. In construction, timber from coniferous species - pine and spruce - is most often used.

Having decided to build a fence of slabs, get ready to put up with its shortcomings:

• the unsightly appearance of the material will require significant labor costs for refining;
• it is not easy to choose the required number of products with even sides and approximately the same width, from which it is more convenient to build a fence;
• without sanding (otherwise - debarking) and special antiseptic treatment, the service life of the fence will be significantly reduced.

From the above, the conclusion: although the slab is cheap and available, you will need a lot of time and effort to make a decent fence out of it. As a result, you will get as pretty and original fence as you wish. An example of this is a photo gallery of such hand-made hedges.

Options for fences from unedged boards in the photo

Here the slab serves as a nice filling for the gate frames. A successful combination of a concrete eurofence with wood filling Even a crooked and knotty croaker can be successfully used for a picket fence An elegant hedge made of slabs nested between posts Here the slab is inserted into a frame of metal pipes Fence option with stone plinth Slabs can be attached to the posts horizontally, and the joints can be covered with vertical strips

The selection of sawing waste depends on the design of the fence that you have chosen. If it is necessary to put a solid picket fence without gaps, then it is advisable to pick up slabs with smooth edges, otherwise they will have to be worked with an ax or a planer. For a picket fence with gaps, the requirements are not so strict, uneven boards will also fit here. The main thing is to arrange them correctly so that the fence looks aesthetically pleasing.

When choosing slabs for a fence, consider this point: the lower the cost of the material, the more knots and bumps on it.

1. Try to select wider and thicker slabs. Some of them can be cut to length and get a decent timber suitable for poles.
2. Avoid buying trimmings of logs cut down in the warm season and lying outdoors for a long time. Under the bark of such material, wood is often affected by mold and pests. In winter, you can buy stale wood calmly, since bacteria and pests are inactive in the cold.
3. Do not take frankly raw timber, it will crack and warp as it dries, which is why the built fence will lose its appearance.
4. Do not buy too narrow and thin slab. To pick up a picket fence, you will need a large number of narrow boards, and it is very inconvenient to remove the bark from thin scraps.

When choosing timber at a woodworking enterprise, take the time to sort through the waste piece by piece in order to select the most suitable trimmings. This will save you time and labor when installing the fence.

A separate issue is the choice of lumber for poles. For a temporary fence around the site, supports from two slabs hammered together with nails will fit. A structure designed for a long service life (15-20 years) must be placed on poles made of timber with a section of 10x10 cm or round timber with a diameter of 80-100 mm. Crossbars can be made from thick scraps or take a beam of 60x40 mm. For a more capital fence up to 2.5 m high, you will need metal pipes of round or rectangular section 40x60 mm in size (for a solid picket fence) or 40x40 mm (for a fence with gaps).

Calculation of the length of the fence

Before purchasing timber and other auxiliary materials, it is necessary to calculate their quantity. To do this, you need to determine the total length of the fence, using one of two methods:

• calculation of the fence according to the area of ​​​​the site;
• determination of external dimensions according to land documents;
• natural measurement of the sides of the site.

The first method is convenient only when you need to calculate the length of the fence on a square-shaped area with straight borders. You need to take the area value, extract the square root from it and get the length of one side. It remains to multiply it by 4 and get the perimeter, this is the length of the fence. For other shapes, this technique is not suitable, because with the same area, the perimeter of a rectangular area is larger than a square one.

Example. For a square allotment with an area of ​​​​1000 m 2, the length of one side will be 31.6 m, and the perimeter will be 126.4 m. A rectangular plot with sides of 20x50 m has the same area, but the perimeter will come out more - 140 m.

The second method is also convenient, because it does not require time and labor. The documents draw a plan of the land allotment, which indicates all the necessary dimensions. But if there are no such documents or the calculation needs to be clarified, then the best method is to measure the area with a tape measure or a laser rangefinder, then you definitely won’t make a mistake when purchasing timber.

How much to prepare materials and tools

As a rule, the owners of country cottages and private houses erect solid fences 2 m high from slabs so that passing people look into the yard less. The location of the shtaketin is vertical, this is the simplest option. The distance between the pillars is assumed to be 2.5 m, and the length of the bars for the supports is 3 m (the third part is immersed in the ground). The calculation of the amount of timber is performed as follows:

1. The number of posts is equal to the total length of the fence divided by the distance between them. Here you need to add supports for gates and gates.
2. The total length of the horizontal lintels is equal to the length of the fence multiplied by 2 plus 10-15% for cuttings, overlaps and other waste. The number of boards depends on their size and is determined by dividing the resulting figure by their length with a small margin.
3. The number of pickets for a solid fence can be found by dividing its length by the average width of the slabs.

It is better to buy wood with a small margin, since in the process of sanding and further processing, some of the boards will have to be rejected.

For construction, you will need other materials:

• antiseptic for pre-treatment (for example, Biosept or Novotex);
• nails 10-15 cm long, depending on the thickness of the lumber;
• cement M400, sand and crushed stone for concreting supports;
• bituminous mastic or resin to cover the underground part of the pillars.

Fence posts can be installed without concreting, in which case cement and sand do not need to be prepared.

To make a fence from a slab with your own hands, you need to have the following tool:

• measuring devices - tape measure, building level, laser rangefinder (if any);
• cord with pegs for marking the site;
• scraper and ax for debarking and processing wood;
• planer, hammer and hacksaw for wood;
• wide brush;
• drill or shovel for digging holes;
• concrete mixer or iron sheet for manual preparation of mortar.

How to make a beautiful slab fence in the country with your own hands: the whole step-by-step process

The process of erecting a wooden picket fence from woodworking waste is divided into the following stages:

1. Laying the route of the future fencing, marking places for mounting poles.
2. Cleaning the croaker from the bark and antiseptic treatment.
3. Support installation.
4. Fastening of crossbars and picket fence slats.

Each of the stages will take you a lot of time, so expect to complete them in a few days. The process can be speeded up if you manage to involve assistants who perform other tasks in parallel. In winter, it is not recommended to build a fence, as there will be difficulties with drilling holes, and all work will stretch for a long time due to the cold.

Plot marking

Before you start measuring and installing pegs, check with the land documentation and coordinate your actions with your neighbors so that later there are no disputes due to an incorrectly installed fence. Then work in this order:

1. Locate the corner points of the allotment and hammer in the stakes there.
2. Stretch the cord between the pegs.
3. Walking along the cord with a tape measure, mark the installation locations for the supports (standard - every 2.5 m). You can do otherwise by breaking the entire length into equal intervals ranging from 2 to 2.5 m so that you don’t get one short span at the end.
4. Without removing the cord, drill holes 1 m deep at the marked points.

If you plan to build a fence 2.5-3 m high, then you need to take into account the increase in windage and wind load on the fence acting from the side. The mounting step of the supports must be reduced to 2 m, and deepen into the ground by 1.2-1.4 m.

Barking and processing of croaker

As practice, proven by many generations of Russian residents, shows, it is best to remove the bark from a tree with a scraper. This is a sharpened steel strip with two handles, for which you need to pull the tool along the trunk, peeling off the bark - to scrape. Unlike an ax, a pointed shovel and power tools, the scraper does not damage the top layer of wood during operation, which increases its service life.

Debarking with a sharpened shovel is fairly quick when it comes to logs. It is inconvenient to clean lighter slabs in this way, as they follow the tool.

At this stage, the work is carried out in the following sequence:

1. Install the slab vertically, resting it on any structure.
2. Carry out debarking by moving the scraper from top to bottom.
3. If necessary, clean the knots and align the plank along the edges, using an ax and a planer.
4. Apply an antiseptic to the tree with a brush and let it dry.

This is the most time-consuming procedure in the construction of the fence. The longer your fence, the more material will have to be recycled. Together with an assistant, things will move faster.

Wood debarking video

Pole installation

Fence posts can be installed in the following ways:

• driving into wells, whose diameter is slightly smaller than the cross section of the beam;
• backfill installation;
• concreting;
• deep concreting with soil replacement.

When using wooden supports, the first 2 options are most often used. First, the ends of the pillars are covered with a layer of bituminous mastic or resin, after which they are hammered into finished wells. Then the filling and tamping of the earth around the column is performed. In the second method, a hole is dug, a support is installed in it and wedged from all sides with stones, after which a liquid solution of clay is poured into it.

Both steel and wooden poles can be concreted, only anchoring details are welded to the first - pieces of corners or reinforcement that firmly hold the pipe in concrete. A combined method is also practiced - a steel pipe is concreted in the ground, and a wooden support is attached to it from above. Regardless of the option chosen, the work is carried out as follows:

1. Fill the bottom of the pit with crushed stone to a height of 5 cm and tamp it down.
2. Using the level, place the rack strictly vertically and fix it by nailing the support strips.
3. Mix 1 volume of M400 cement with 4 equal volumes of sand and 6 parts of crushed stone, add water and prepare M100 concrete.
4. Concrete the racks, filling the pits with a mixture to the top. Further work is carried out after the concrete has hardened (at least 2 weeks).

Metal racks can be fixed with a so-called concrete collar. With a pit depth of 0.5 m, the pipe is clogged below its bottom by another half meter, and concrete is poured from above.

In the expanses of the Federation, ultra-moist soils are often found that are subject to frost heaving. In winter, they push out any objects that are in the soil freezing zone. In such conditions, concreting is carried out below this boundary, and from above the moist soil near the pillar is replaced by a mixture of crushed stone and sand.

Construction of a fence

The final stage of construction is to install the log (crossbars) and fasten the pickets. Wait for the concrete mixture to harden completely and proceed with the installation, following the following procedure:

1. Nail the crossbars to the posts. If you use wooden beams as a log, they should be leveled. It is better to align the croakers “by eye”, for which the assistant needs to move a few meters and adjust the position of the crossbar.
2. Neighboring crossbars from a bar can be fastened end-to-end or superimposed on each other vertically. Logs from the croaker are allowed to be overlapped.
3. Nail the first picket fence, checking the vertical level. Hammer at least two nails at each point of attachment to the joists.
4. Attach the rest of the pickets, pressing against each other and periodically checking the vertical.

In the case of metal racks, the logs will have to be bolted by making through holes in the pipe. Another option is mounting on self-tapping screws, which will cost much more.

To protect the upper end of the planks from precipitation and rapid destruction, stuff a visor from the same slab on top. On this, the construction of the fence is considered completed.

Video footage of slab fences

In addition to treatment with an antiseptic composition, it is desirable to additionally protect a wooden fence from external influences. For finishing wood located on the street, there are such methods of exterior finishing:

1. Painting with waterproof acrylic compositions for 2 times over the primer layer.
2. If there are no special requirements for the appearance of the fence, then the tree can be impregnated with used oil or bitumen. For fear of getting dirty from head to toe, local thieves are unlikely to want to climb over such a fence to your site.
3. Cover with homemade Swedish paint, which protects against pests and precipitation no worse than antiseptics.
4. For gourmets, it is suitable to open wooden surfaces with several layers of varnish over artificial blackening made using wood stain.

Lovers of beauty and aesthetics can make more work and carve some kind of pattern on wood. For example, cut the ends of the pickets from the slab with a hacksaw before nailing them to the logs.

Recently, Swedish paint has gained popularity, which has a remarkable red color and is prepared by hand. You will need the following components:

• regular salt - 250 g;
• iron minium - 240 g;
• copper sulfate (otherwise - copper sulfate) - 250 g;
• drying oil - 230 ml;
• flour - 500 g.

Pour the flour into water (3 liters) and cook the paste. Strain it through cheesecloth, add drying oil, then salt, red lead and vitriol, while heating the mixture over low heat. At the end, add another 1.5 liters of water and mix well. The predicted consumption of Swedish paint is 200-250 g/m 2 surface area.

Certified civil engineer and estimator with over 10 years of practical experience. I started writing articles 2 years ago, I work on several exchanges, negative customer reviews are about one in 300 texts.

A slab fence is the most budget option for fencing a country house. Many property owners prefer this material. Natural environmental friendliness, combined with low cost, determine the widespread use of such a design.

This article is informative and is intended to give the reader maximum useful information: a description of the advantages of slab over other building materials, types of installation, cost of work, construction algorithm and methods of protection against mold and rapid destruction.

A slab is called a side cut from a log, when one side of the material is propylene, and the other remains unprocessed. In fact, the slab is a product of the woodworking industry. Therefore, its use on the fence is practical and very economical, even pensioners with their low incomes can afford it.

In the construction of which the slab is used, it has several advantages:

• Availability;
• Environmental Safety;
• Easy to install;
• High reliability;
• The ability to always buy the required quantity;
• aesthetic appearance and
• Protection from prying eyes.

All slabs formed at sawmills are divided into 2 types:

1. Drovyanoy;
2. Business.

The first option is raw materials for kindling stoves, good and inexpensive fuel for private houses and baths. The business look of the slab goes to the shedding of sheds and outbuildings, the construction of formwork, the installation of attic floors and the erection of fences.

When purchasing a slab for a fence, it is necessary to sort it. Quality boards should be debarked with a shovel or carpenter's axe. The purpose of this operation is prevention and control of the bark beetle. After initial cleaning, the material is sanded and covered with several layers of an antiseptic solution. Impregnation of wood significantly increases its service life.

Price

A beautiful fence can be built without significant financial investments. The most tangible article of such a project will be the transportation of the slab to the installation site of the fence. The material for fencing buildings is a business slab, which is thin and thick.

The cost of 1 cubic meter of material starts from 50 rubles.

At large sawmills and woodworking enterprises, this material can be sold in bulk or bundles. It should be noted that the slab formed into packs is valued higher, the cost is formed based on the amount of effort spent on its production and sorting. It is more profitable to buy such packs, because there will be less waste compared to using material sold in bulk.

The slab piled in heaps has different sizes, damage and it will be difficult for the master to pick it up in width. There will be a lot of waste during the construction of a fence from such material. Having saved on its initial cost, sometimes you have to buy another batch of slab. Otherwise, the fence will be uneven and unattractive.

The modern construction market, where the main building materials for summer cottages are purchased, offers the consumer a new product - a calibrated slab, called a block house. For its production, larch or coniferous wood is used. Outwardly, the block house looks like a slab, being its imitation. Careful processing of raw materials increases the term of its operation, improves appearance. Worth 1 cu. meter block house - starting from 500 rubles.

For comparison, the price of a slab and a block house can be placed in a table:

According to many builders, buying a simple slab is much more profitable. Especially when you consider the fact that the material will still have to be processed with your own hands - cleaned, sanded, covered with antiseptics. Then why pay 10 times more?

Fence Options

The slab can be laid horizontally and vertically in the fence. The construction of such a fence will require the lumber itself, support poles, a transverse beam, nails and screws. Tools for work - hammer, ax.

You can build a fence just like that, or you can connect your imagination and decorate the finished base with decorative elements. Then the fence of the site will acquire individuality and its own "face".

When installing a fence, the principle of building a fence on pastures can be used. When choosing this option, the boards are nailed horizontally to the support pillars. The gaps remaining between the individual boards of the slab may have a different clearance.

Most often, the slab is stuffed vertically; in the common people, this option is called the "herringbone". The boards are attached to the transverse bars with an overlap, leaving no gaps. The advantages of a closed fence are obvious - protection from neighbors' eyes, wind and animals.

The height of the installed fence can be any. The top of the boards can be processed with a saw or cut out decorative compositions with a jigsaw.

The finished slab fence can be painted. So its service life will increase, and its appearance will noticeably improve. High-quality Swedish paint will favorably emphasize the charm of a country building, and a wide selection of colors will allow you to realize any design idea. If you do not want to paint over the structure of the tree, varnish can be used to protect the fence from external environmental factors (dust, rain, snow, fumes, etc.).

Photo of finished fences

Stages of work

You can understand the masters who chose slab as the material for the fence - the installation of such a fence does not take much time and effort. The first stage of work is the marking of the territory.

Marking makes it easier to calculate the required material. The perimeter of the future fence is cleared of thickets, debris and grass. Columns are outlined, which should be located at a distance of 2-3 m from each other. If the step is made wider, the strength of the fence will decrease.

Pillars can be wooden or iron, their main purpose is to support a wooden canvas. If wooden posts are used, they are treated with a resin or bitumen-based compound. Oil paint or car oil will also work. The most important thing is to protect the supports from rotting.

When choosing iron columns, a pipe with a diameter of 60 mm or more with a wall thickness of 2 mm or more is purchased. To fix the runs on these pillars, special plates are welded.

Important: a slab fence does not need a foundation, but it would be reasonable to concrete the pillars.

The installation of the canvas is preceded by the choice of the location of the boards. Vertically located dies can have gaps or be installed tightly, overlapping. The butt fastening of the slab boards reveals to the eye all the irregularities of the imperfect material.

When installing horizontal dies, runs are not needed. The canvas is nailed directly to the posts. In terms of structural strength, this version of the fence is inferior to the vertical version.

Finally

The construction of a fence from a slab does not require special skills in the field of construction from the performer. A correctly drawn up scheme and calculation of the material will allow you to build a fence in a short time. Minimum costs, creativity and knowledge of the main points of work allow you to create an environmentally friendly, budget, durable and outwardly attractive fence for a country house.

We build the original and cheapest slab fence. How to make a fence from a slab: photo, video. Slab fence options.

A slab fence is the cheapest option for building a wood fence. Slabs are waste (sides) that remain when sawing a log, they are practically not used in construction and can usually be purchased at sawmills for almost a penny.

You can buy slab at any sawmill, its cost is cheap. I do not recommend taking a poplar slab, it is not durable, breaks and rots quickly. If you take a birch slab, then it will be difficult to hammer nails into hardwood.

Support columns.

Wooden poles with a diameter of 15 - 20 cm can be used as supporting pillars. The length of the poles depends on the height of the future fence, it should be noted that about a third of the length of the pole is buried in the ground.

Crossbars.

If the direction of the slab boards is vertical, then you will need crossbars to which they will be attached, boards or timber will do.

Tools (axe, hammer, level).

To begin with, the slab itself must be cleaned of bark, if left with bark, then the wood will quickly rot, besides, the bark will still flake off and fall off. You can clean the croaker from the bark with an ax or a large cleaver.

How to quickly clean the croaker from the bark video.

We stand a slab fence.

To begin with, the slab itself must be cleaned of bark, if left with bark, then the wood will quickly rot, besides, the bark will still flake off and fall off.

You can clean the croaker from the bark with an ax or a large cleaver.

Next, you need to install support poles under the fence, but first they need to be treated with an antiseptic, and the part that will be buried in the ground must be tarred or at least covered with used engine oil. If there is no resin or oil, you can do as our grandfathers did before, just burn the lower parts of the pillars on the fire, soot will prevent the wood from rotting for quite a long time.

But the most effective way is to cover the wood with bitumen, heat the bitumen in a bucket on a fire and cover with a brush the part of the post that will be dug into the ground.

The pillars are dug into the ground, digging holes under the pillars with a shovel is a rather time-consuming process, it is better to use a garden hand drill, things will go much faster.

The distance between the posts is no more than 2 - 2.5 meters, otherwise the fence may sag.

The slab can be mounted horizontally directly to the posts. Boards can be tightly adjusted to each other, or you can leave a gap. We level the boards and nail them to the posts.

If you place the slab boards vertically, then you will need crossbars to which they will be attached.

The crossbars are attached to the posts, then the slab is already attached.

A fence made of slab is one of the most budgetary and practical types of wooden fences. It can be made on its own without any special technological frills, as well as without the involvement of hired specialists and payment for their services.

Material for such a fence can be obtained without problems at any sawmill, if not for nothing, then for very little money. A fence of this type is distinguished by reliability and durability, and with appropriate diligence, it can be given the necessary beauty and unusual appearance.

What it is?

The croaker is nothing more than waste from sawing tree trunks in woodworking industries. When a log is sawn into boards of various thicknesses at the sawmill, side fragments of tree trunks become waste products from this process. They are rounded on one side. These side parts are called slabs. To this day, they are purchased for firewood where there is no gas heating, due to their low cost.

The slab should be distinguished from the unedged board. Unedged board is flat on both sides. It differs from an ordinary board in that it has raw edges. This type of wood material is priced significantly lower than semi-circular slabs sold at low cost as waste wood processing.

The slab looks like a board, sawn on only one side. The other part of it retains its natural look and appearance of untreated wood. In the past, it was used only as a fuel and as a finishing material for temporary and draft fences, buildings and other structures. Summer residents, having appreciated the advantages of this timber, subsequently began to build reliable and original fences from it.

Its cost, as already mentioned, is very low, and all its options depend on the type of wood, the method of processing wood and the dimensions of the slab.

Advantages and disadvantages

Slab as a "fence-building" material is chosen by the owners of dachas and private households in rural areas, primarily because of its availability and low cost. Taking into account the fact that the fence is supposed to be built independently, its total cost will consist only of the costs of acquiring and delivering the material to the place of work, plus a small amount for nails.

Fences from it are distinguished by ease of installation, reliability and durability. These structures are very resistant to atmospheric factors, and with imagination and taste, they can be given a rather aesthetic appearance. These naturalistic and versatile fences are distinguished by originality and originality of the exterior.

Slab fences have a significant mass, as well as a long service life. With proper processing of the material, such a product can last 15 - 20 years.. The simplicity of their installation allows any owner of a summer house or private household to create such structures on their own, paired with one or two assistants.

This should also include the environmental component. The natural material from which such fences are made simply cannot release anything toxic into the environment. In addition, their natural appearance and pleasant smell of wood cannot but please the owners and their surroundings.

Such fences are of no interest to vandals. The slab cannot be scrapped or sold.

Even for the quick construction of temporary fences or sheds, it is difficult to find a more suitable timber than slabs.

Its merits also depend on the type of wood that was cut at the sawmill. In terms of hardness and service life, the championship should be given to oak, beech and larch trunks, and then to coniferous wood and aspen. For construction, the most common are timber coniferous tree species.

However, the slab also has its drawbacks. Due to the unsightly appearance of this material, its refining requires significant time and labor costs, because each die must be processed and sanded. In addition, it is necessary to select the required number of plates with relatively even sides, which also have approximately the same width.

The construction of a slab fence will require a large amount of this material due to the need for its selection.

After installation, the slab must be treated with antiseptics several times, otherwise its service life will be reduced to 3-5 years.

The entire process of preliminary preparation of slab strips is exclusively manual, that is, extremely laborious.

Although this lumber is affordable and cheap, it will take a lot of effort and time to build a decent fence out of it, but the result of such work will be as aesthetic and original a fence as it would be desirable for its owners.

How to choose?

This lumber is divided into two types - business and wood.

• Wood-burning slab cannot be used in the construction of wooden structures due to the heterogeneity of its surface and the fact that it is obtained from cutting trees of non-hard species.
• Business slab goes to shed sheds, formwork and outbuildings, fences and various partitions are constructed from it. This type of slab is usually further subdivided into thick and thin. This lumber stacked in bundles is more expensive than just heaped lumber because such bundles contain less waste. These packs contain pre-sorted wood.
• The best grade of this timber is its calibrated variety or block house. At a price it is ten times higher than an ordinary business slab, but also requires pre-treatment to remove the bark and polish.
• The unrooted croaker is especially textured, but the bark exfoliates from it over time, and bark beetles may appear in it. After debarking and polishing, this material acquires an expensive and noble appearance. After treatment with protective antiseptic impregnations, its service life reaches 20-25 years. Slab grinding services are provided by sawmill staff for a separate fee, but you can do this work yourself with a grinder and an ax.

There is not much difference in the selection by breed, but it is better to refuse poplar, because it rots, and birch, as its wood is very hard and warps over time.

It must be taken into account that after the material has been delivered to the site, it must be sorted and processed in a short time. This is done so that the bark beetle does not render the material unusable. It is also recommended to dry the plates.

The cheaper the slab is chosen, the more it will have defects in the form of bumps, knots and the like.

If wet lumber is purchased, then it should be dried not under direct sunlight, but in a shady place open to air, otherwise it will dry out intensively, and its surface will be covered with deep cracks.

Should not give priority to slabs with a width of more than 20-25 cm. On such wood, large horizontal cracks appear over the entire length of the block over time.

If it is planned to nail the slabs of the slab horizontally, then for this do not select too narrow boards otherwise the fence will lose its aesthetics.

You should be aware that after some time the slab narrows by 1.5–2 cm due to the drying of the wood. Therefore, laying it must be done with an overlap.

If a solid picket fence is installed, devoid of gaps, then it is necessary to take for it slabs that have a smooth edge, otherwise you will have to refine them with a plane or an ax.

A picket fence with gaps can also be made from uneven material. The main thing here is the correct layout of the boards..

The best option would be thick and wide block slabs. Some of them can give a perfectly normal beam for posts, if cut to length.

It is better to refrain from buying lumber from trees that have been cut down in the warm season and have lain outdoors for a long time.

Under a layer of bark on the wood of such a slab, mold and pest beetles are often observed. But in winter, the acquisition of stale wood will not cause problems, because the fungus and bark beetle do not show activity in the cold.

It is undesirable to purchase frankly raw wood, since, when dried, it begins to warp and crack, which negatively affects the appearance of the structure.

Too narrow material of small thickness is also undesirable to buy. To create a picket fence, you need a lot of narrow boards, and removing the bark from thin fragments is inconvenient and laborious.

Being engaged in the choice of timber at a woodworking enterprise, it is better to spend time on a piece by piece sample of slabs in order to select the most suitable specimens. This will significantly save time and labor costs in the manufacture of the fence.

timber for poles

For the support posts of a temporary fence, it is quite acceptable to hammer two slabs together with nails. If the structure is planned to be used for a long time, about 15-20 years, a bar with a section of 10x10 cm or round timber ø 80-100 mm should be used on the poles. On the crossbars, you can use thick blanks or use a bar with a section of 60x40 mm.

If it is decided to build a more capital fence, having a height of up to 2.5 m, then the supports should be made of a metal pipe.

For a solid fence, the size of such a support is 40x60 mm, and for a lighter fence with gaps, it will be 40x40 mm.

Hedge Options

The simplest option for execution is a vertical fence or palisade. In this case, the frame is made in advance, and the slabs of the slab are vertically nailed onto it.

In the second case, it is a horizontal fence devoid of crossbars. The stuffing of the slab is carried out in a horizontal plane from one column to another end-to-end of the dies: with gaps between them or overlapping.

Another type is a double-sided fence. In it, the installation of unedged boards is carried out on both sides of the fence.

This option is the most expensive, as it requires twice as much lumber.

Material requirement calculation

Usually, the owners of summer cottages and private households build solid hedges up to 2 m high from the slab to exclude the possibility of looking into their territory. Vertical installation of shtaketin is the simplest option.

The length of the spans between the supporting pillars is taken equal to 2.5 m. For supports, a third of which are immersed in the ground, bars with a length of 3 m are taken. The amount of lumber is calculated according to the following algorithm.

The number of poles is equal to the total length of the fence divided by the distance between the poles. This also adds poles for gates and gates.

The total length of the horizontal lintels is equal to twice the length of the fence. Here you also need to add 10-15% for overlap, trim and waste. The amount of slab will depend on the size of these boards. It is calculated by dividing the available result by their length, with a small margin added.

The number of shtaketins for a solid fence can be calculated by dividing its length by the average figure of the width of the slabs.

It is better to purchase timber with a small margin, since in the process of debarking, grinding and subsequent processing, part of the slab will be rejected.

fence construction

This process begins with the cleaning of the bark of the croaker and its antiseptic treatment. This is followed by laying a route for such a fence, marking places for mounting pillars, as well as their installation in the ground. The final stage is the fastening of the transverse rails and picket fence boards.

In winter, it is better not to build a fence, as there will be difficulties with drilling holes, and all work due to the cold will take much longer.

Each of these stages will require a lot of time, so you need to calculate the completion of all work for several days in advance. The process can be accelerated by attracting several assistants who will perform separate operations in parallel.

Slab debarking

Practice dating back more than one century shows that the most rational way to remove bark from the surface of wood is to remove it with a scraper. This tool is a steel strip sharpened on one side with two handles. For them, the scraper is pulled along the trunk, scraping off the bark with it. This method allows you to keep the surface of the wood intact, unlike an ax, a pointed shovel and power tools, which significantly extends its service life.

for logs debarking with a sharpened shovel is quite acceptable, which makes it possible to quickly clear them of the bark. For lighter croakers, this method is not suitable, because they are pulled after the tool.

The slab for this operation is placed vertically with support on any reliable object, for example, on a wall or fence. Barking is performed by moving the barring from top to bottom. If necessary, the knots are cleaned, and the plank is leveled along the edges with an ax and a planer. After the bark is completely removed from all wood surfaces, an antiseptic is applied to them with a brush, and all processed slabs are left to dry.

This preparatory stage is the most time-consuming in the construction of the fence. The longer the fence, the more material will have to be recycled.

Plot marking

While the barked and treated with an antiseptic slab dries, you should start marking the site. You need to start it by finding the corner points of this section, marking them by hammering stakes there, between which the cord is then pulled.

The places where the supports will be installed are marked by passing along the cord with a tape measure. The standard value here is a distance of every 2.5 m. You can do it a little differently, alternating along the entire length of 2 m intervals with sections of 2.5 m, if there is a risk of getting one short span at the end.

If the planned height of the fence should be 2.5 - 3 m, then you need to take into account the increase in its windage and wind load on the fence. To do this, the distance between the pillars of the supports must be reduced to 2 m, and the pillar in the ground should be installed to a depth equal to 1.2-1.4 m.

Installation of poles

Fence poles can be installed by driving them into wells, mounting using backfilling, concreting. If the installation of pillar supports in wells made by a gasoline drill is used, then their diameter should be somewhat smaller than the cross section of the beam itself.

The first two methods are more often used to install wooden supports. Before installation, the lower parts of such supports are covered with resin or bituminous mastic. and then driven into wells. After that, it is necessary to add soil around the post and tamp it down.

In the second case, a pillar support is placed in the dug hole, covered with stones from all sides and filled with liquid clay.

Concreting can be used to fix both steel supports and wooden ones. However Anchor parts are pre-welded to the steel poles to securely fix the pipe deep in concrete. They can be pieces of reinforcement or a corner.

A combined version is also used, when a steel tubular support is concreted into the ground, on which a wooden support is installed.

In any case, work is carried out in a way when the bottom of the pit is covered with 5 cm of rubble and it is compacted. The rack is installed according to the level strictly vertically and fixed with support rails. Concrete is mixed from 1 part cement, 4 parts sand, 6 volumes of gravel and water. With this mixture, the pit with racks is filled to the top. Subsequent work is carried out after the concrete has hardened.

Steel support posts can be installed using a method called concrete collar. Having a hole with a depth of 0.5 m, the pipe is hammered into it another 0.5 m below its bottom and poured with concrete.

In many Russian regions, there are often ultra-moist soils that swell from frost. In winter, they are able to push any object that is in the zone of soil freezing to the surface.

In such a situation, concrete is poured below this level, and the wet soil near the support is replaced by a mixture of crushed stone and sand from above.

Fencing construction

At the final stage, transverse lags are installed, to which pickets are attached.

The crossbars are nailed to the posts. If wooden beams are used as a log, then their position should be leveled. The slab itself is better to align, so to speak, "by eye". To do this, the assistant, standing a few meters away, must adjust the position of each of the crossbars.

Neighboring crossbars can be nailed end-to-end, as well as laying them one on top of the other vertically. Logs consisting of a croaker can be overlapped.

The first picket is nailed after the vertical is leveled. Two nails should be hammered in each place where shtaketins are attached to the joists. The rest of the pickets are attached by pressing against each other, with periodic checks of their vertical position.

If metal racks are used, the logs are bolted, for which through holes are drilled in the pipe. In another option, self-tapping screws are used, which significantly increases the cost of the process.

To protect the upper ends of the fence strips from rain, it is best to stuff a visor made from the same slab on top of them. This is the last operation in the construction of such a fence.

Thus, building a beautiful wooden slab fence is not an extremely difficult job, although it requires considerable labor costs. However, such a serious labor intensity is successfully compensated by a low level of costs. For optimal use of personal time, it is better to divide the whole process into stages, performing each of them as far as possible. This is especially true for owners of plots with a large area, if necessary, their fencing on all sides.

As a rule, when ennobling a personal plot, the issue of fencing the territory goes by the wayside, since there is always not enough money and suitable materials for this. However, in such a site the wind constantly walks, bringing with it leaves, branches and other debris. That is why you can make a fence from a slab with your own hands. He will protect and decorate the territory.

Advantages and disadvantages of the material

Slab is a material that is wood waste when processing logs at a sawmill. It looks like an uneven board, one side of which is with a flat surface, and the other is not cleared of bark.

The quality of the slab is wood-burning and business. In the first case, it is unsuitable for construction boards and wood trimmings, which are used as firewood for kindling. Business slab is a higher quality material with a greater thickness. It is suitable for the manufacture of fences, outbuildings and other non-residential structures.

This material has a number of advantages that allow it to be used not only for the construction of temporary structures, but also for capital buildings. With appropriate processing, it becomes an inspiration for landscape designers who use it as a decorative material in the manufacture of fences.

The positive qualities include the following

1. Slab is an inexpensive material. You can always find it in any woodworking enterprise. The price for it is never high, so this wood can be purchased with a large margin.
2. The material is environmentally friendly. In the manufacture of boards and beams, logs are not treated with any chemicals.
3. Slab structures reliably protect against wind and noise.
4. Installation of this material is not difficult and does not require special knowledge in construction.
5. Processed slab elements have a beautiful appearance, and often become decorative details in fences.
6. A fence made of this material does not require the construction of a heavy foundation, you can simply concrete the base of the pillar.

Among the shortcomings are:

1. One side of each slab board is covered with bark. It must be removed, as subsequently it will become an excellent place for the vital activity of carpenter insects and the reproduction of fungi.
2. Before use for construction purposes, wood must be treated with antifungal impregnations and antiseptics.

Photo gallery: slab fence options

The carving of each die adorns the entire structure
The distance between the wood visually makes the section even
Slab goes well with stone pillars, metal frame and tiles
The fence will be neat if you select dice of the same size
Fastening the material using the “herringbone” method creates the impression of the majesty of the fence
Ordinary flower beds on a massive fence will make it more attractive

Preparation for construction: calculation of the area for the fence

The fence from the slab will not take up much usable area of ​​​​the site. Calculations must be carried out on its basis. The diameter of the hole for concreting the column depends on its thickness.

The span should be no more than 200–250 cm. If it is made larger, the fence will become unstable.

The height of the fence must be made from 150 to 220 cm.

Knowing the dimensions of the spans of the fence, it is easy to calculate its area in order to determine the total value during further calculations. To do this, you need to remember the school geometry course, namely the formula for finding the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe figure (S \u003d a b, where a is the span width, b is the length).

Let's say a \u003d 1.8 m, b \u003d 2.3 m, then the area is 4.14 m².

4.14 6.52=26.99 m². The number must be rounded up to 27 m².

How to choose an unedged board

When choosing, preference should be given to the material laid in bundles, since the wood in it is already sorted.

You also need to take into account the type of wood, for example, poplar is not suitable for building a fence. This is due to the fact that after a while such a slab will begin to rot. You should also be careful with birch wood, as it becomes hard when it dries. Hammering a nail into a dry birch is problematic, which means you have to use an electric drill to drill holes for each nail.

If you drive nails into damp birch wood, then when the material dries, they will come out, and the slab will warp.

The cheaper the slab, the more knots, bumps and other defects in it. Therefore, a grinding machine is indispensable here.

If you bought wet material, then you need to dry it not in the sun, but in a shaded place in the open air. Otherwise, the slab will dry out quickly. As a result, deep cracks will appear on its surface.

You should not choose a slab whose width is more than 20–25 cm. This is due to the fact that after a while large cracks will appear on such wood, running horizontally along the entire length.

If the slab will be located horizontally, then you should not choose too narrow boards for this. The fence will look unaesthetic.

When choosing a slab, you need to take into account the fact that after some time, it will become narrower by 1.5–2 cm. This will occur as a result of the drying of the wood. Therefore, laying must be done with an overlap.

Material calculation

If the fence posts will be concreted, then you need to know the total volume of the mixture.

On a site with soft soil, a columnar foundation is used (height - 70 cm, diameter - 20 cm). To find out how much cement is needed for one pillar, you need to use the geometric formula for finding this value for a cylinder (V=πR²h, where π is a mathematical value equal to 3.14; R is the radius of the figure; h is its height). Let's substitute the values: 3.14 0.2 0.7 = 0.4396 m³. It is now easy to determine the total volume of concrete needed for all the posts in the fence. To do this, multiply this figure by the number of bases. For example, if there are 15 posts in the fence, then it will require 6.594 m³ (0.4396 15) of the mixture.

By the same principle, the volume of the required amount of sand is calculated. For one columnar base, a layer 10 cm thick is required. Knowing the diameter of the hole, it is easy to make a calculation. Substitute the values ​​​​to calculate the volume of the cylinder: 3.14 0.2 01 \u003d 0.0628 m³ - sand is needed for one column. Now, if you have 15 spans, then there should be one more pillars. Therefore, the total sand will need 0.0628 16 \u003d 1.0048 m³.

The stability of the fence gives a rigid frame. As such, metal pipes with a square section are used with a side width of 70–80 mm and a thickness of 2.5 to 4 mm. To erect a fence post, the pipe is placed in a hole to a depth of 100-120 cm, while the height above the ground is from 150 to 230 cm.

To build a fence from a slab, you can not do without:

• screw and bayonet shovel;
• concrete mixer;
• containers for water and mixture;
• grinder;
• ax;
• skobel;
• electric drills;
• welding machine (if the poles are made of metal);
• cord and stakes;
• building level and plumb;
• measuring tape;
• bolts, nuts, washers, nails.

How to make a slab fence: step by step instructions

When all the necessary drawings have been drawn up, tools have been prepared, the necessary materials have been identified and purchased, you can begin to build a slab fence.

Before carrying out land work when digging holes for poles, it is extremely important to know the composition of the soil, its freezing point and the level of groundwater. This is of great importance, since an incorrectly chosen base for the fence will lead to deformation or destruction of the building.

Soil with a high content of sand during rains or after snow melts can move, forming cracks or landslides. In this case, it is recommended to use screw piles as fence posts. They are screwed into the soil to a depth below the freezing point.

The high content of clay and sandy loam in the soil contributes to deep freezing of the soil and makes it unstable. Pillars cannot be concreted in such soil, since when frost sets in, the clay base expands, due to which the foundation is squeezed out, and the fence is deformed and loses its original appearance. The impact on this soil of weather precipitation entails the formation of quicksand. Therefore, the use of screw piles is recommended.

The soil, which contains a large amount of gravel, is not subject to deep freezing and displacement under the influence of moisture. This soil is ideal for concreting posts.

Solid stone or rock soil has similar properties, with the only difference being that it is harder. When building a fence on such a site, you can use all types of foundations, except for pile foundations.

All work on the manufacture of a slab fence consists of several steps:

1. Before excavation, it is necessary to prepare the slab for use. To do this, you need to sort the material by shape and size, remove the bark from each board. This is done not only to give the wood a pleasant look. Thus, you will remove a favorable habitat for fungus, mold and bark beetles. To do this, use a carpenter's scraper. If there is no such tool, then sharp axes, knives or bayonet shovels will be effective. Then, using a grinder, you need to make a flat surface by removing burrs and chipped wood. After that, the slab is recommended to be treated with special antifungal agents and antiseptic substances.
2. Now you can move on to ground work. First of all, it is necessary to remove shrubs, stones and debris on the site. The area to be built should be leveled so that small bumps do not interfere with the markings.
3. Then you need to make a markup with the designation of each hole under the pole. It depends on how exactly the fence will be located. To do this, use a stretched cord and stakes.
4. After that, holes must be dug in the marked areas. So that during operation the earth does not crumble inside the hole, it is better to use not a bayonet shovel, but a screw or special drill. The tool must be screwed into the soil and the contents removed every 15 cm of the recess. Some builders use a drill to drill holes in the ice with the same success. The hole should be 20 cm wide and 70 cm deep.
5. Then at the bottom of each of them you need to fill up the sand and compact it. To make the pillow more dense, bulk material must be moistened. A uniformly compacted layer should be 10 cm thick. Gravel should be poured on top of it, with a layer of 10 cm. It must also be compressed.

Now it's time to install the supports in the hole. If wooden poles are chosen during construction, then they are pre-treated with antifungal impregnations. That part of the material that will be in the ground must be burned and protected from moisture. As a waterproofing material, roofing material or special liquid mastics based on bitumen can be used. If metal pipes are used as pillars, then their ends must be welded so that moisture does not get inside. This material must be treated with special substances that protect the metal from corrosion. Metal plates 5x10 cm in size must be welded to the pillars. They are placed parallel to each other in the upper and lower parts of the support. They will serve as fasteners for lags in sections of the fence when the slab is installed vertically.

Place the prepared posts in the holes. Using a sledgehammer or hammer, score them with a few blows on the upper end. So they are more firmly fixed at the bottom of the hole. Using tensioned cords, a building level and a plumb line, align the racks with respect to the ground and each other. To keep the posts in this position, you need to strengthen them with stops. For this, boards or metal corners with a length of at least 70 cm are suitable. They must be installed in the following order: one end of the material rests on the ground, and the other on the pole.

After that, you need to fill in the holes with the pillars a small layer of gravel. Distribute it evenly around the posts and tamp.

Since the concrete base will rise 10 cm above ground level, it is necessary to make a formwork that will hold the uncured concrete. For this, wooden boards are used. Of these, a structure is made that is equal in width to the intended diameter of the base. In this case, the formwork looks like a box without a bottom, with a wall height of 15 cm. The frame boards are fixed with self-tapping screws or nails. Then set on the hole. To prevent this structure from shifting during operation, stakes must be driven into the ground from each of its outer sides.

Next, you need to reinforce the concrete base. This frame will strengthen the columnar foundation and prevent it from collapsing. To do this, you need to make a three-dimensional frame of metal rods. As such, reinforcement with a diameter of 8 to 10 mm is used. These rods must be fastened together with a wire. The result should be a structure 50 cm high. The distance between the bars is made taking into account the diameter of the column installed in the hole. The armature must not touch it.

Now everything is ready for pouring the columnar foundation. For these purposes, it is necessary to use concrete grade M 200. With the help of a concrete mixer, it is much more convenient to maintain the mixture in a homogeneous thick state.

Pour the mixture into the holes with the posts and reinforcement installed in them so that the concrete is 10 cm above ground level. It should be noted that many air bubbles remain in the poured mixture, and in order to remove them, a reinforcing bar is used, which is lowered into the mixture and removed from it.

When this procedure is completed, it is necessary to protect the concrete base from uneven solidification and evaporation of moisture, which can lead to cracking of the base. To do this, the foundation is covered with polyethylene or other waterproofing material. It takes 3 to 6 days for the mixture to completely harden. The lower the air and soil temperature, the longer this process takes.

When the concrete base has become completely solid, you can begin to install the fence sections. The slab can be fixed to the posts both vertically and horizontally. To fasten the slab vertically, it is required to install a log on which the dies will be stuffed. They are fixed horizontally to the inner sides of the pole in the upper and lower parts. To make the fence look more neat, do not install the slab back to back. Due to the uneven edges of the material, your fence will look untidy. Therefore, small gaps are left. If you do not need gaps in the fence, the dies can be overlapped. This method of installing the slab resembles a "Christmas tree". There is another way - the slots are closed with installed dies on the other side of the fence. Visually, it resembles a wooden shield with stuffed boards.

For horizontal installation of the slab, it is necessary to use logs, it makes no sense, since the dies will simultaneously play the role of guides. As in the previous method, the material is attached to the pillars. The installation of the slab dies must be started from the bottom. The bottom edge of each subsequent board must be overlapped to the previous one. If this distance is left less than 10–15 cm, cracks will appear in the fence over time. This is due to the fact that when dried, the wood can shrink by the specified amount. The optimal width of a plate for a horizontally mounted fence is in the range of 20 to 30 cm. If you use a wider material, cracks will appear in its middle when it dries. It is also not worth using narrower dies, as the design will have an unaesthetic appearance.

If the fence is located in the open sun, then it is more susceptible to changes in humidity and drying. In this case, staining with deep penetration paints is required.

Before applying antiseptics or painting the surface of the slab, you need to remove old paint, mold, damage from decay. The durability of the protective layer depends on how well you do it.

Effective folk remedies to protect the fence from the slab are:

1. Treatment of the surface of the fence with used machine oil. This tool is popular among summer residents and gardeners. Wood treated with such a tool is unsuitable for the vital activity of microorganisms. Moisture will not be absorbed into the slab. Criminals will not want to climb over such a fence, as it gets dirty, so no one will steal such boards. Therefore, this tool is very convenient and affordable.
2. Another no less effective means is the treatment of wood with iron or copper sulphate.
3. Do-it-yourself paint is widely used. In the people it is called "Swedish".

A well-proven wood treatment agent is liquid glassine. It is designed specifically to protect this material in wet conditions. Its main components are antiseptics and herbicides. Glassine penetrates into the pores of the material, displacing water. In the process of polymerization, it clogs the pores of wood, creating conditions unsuitable for the life of fungus and bacteria.

How to make "Swedish" paint with your own hands

The recipe for its preparation is simple. To make 1000 g (to be precise 1030 g) of paint, the following ingredients are needed:

• drying oil - 53 ml;
• rye flour - 97 g;
• iron or copper sulfate - 43 g;
• salt - 43 g;
• iron minium - 43 g;
• color;
• water - 750 ml.

This amount is enough to process 3.5 m² of surface. The paint is applied to the wood in two layers. Such processing will reliably protect the fence for 15–20 years. For the front part of the slab fence, it is better to use impregnations and processing agents from trusted companies, such as Belinka, Neomid, Pinotex.

How and how to decorate a slab fence in the country

Using slab as a building material for building a fence, it is difficult for many to imagine that their fence can be made beautiful. You do not need to be a designer and have an artistic education to ennoble this fence.

The material has a natural natural look. Slab goes very well with stone, brick, foam block and metal.

This material is often used to build fence sections with stone pillars. A slab fence takes on a completely different look if the upper edge is not made even, but, for example, arched. Ordinary planters with flowers, hung in a checkerboard pattern, will transform a rough design.

You can use a hacksaw or a grinder to make curly cuts at the ends of each die. In sections of the fence, they will look unusual and attractive.

The slab fence looks very nice, on the upper edge of which there is a small gable roof. It has a finished look, and resembles ancient Russian or Scandinavian fences.

The upper ends of vertically installed slabs of the slab can be made cone-shaped. Such a fence will look like a palisade.

The fence looks unusual and beautiful, in which the slabs of the slab are fixed vertically in the “herringbone” way.

Video: beautiful fence and slab

Slab should be considered as a full-fledged building material. The fact that it is a waste product does not make it suitable only for the construction of temporary fences. It fits into the landscape and is combined with buildings made of other materials. The methods of processing and mounting the slab are so simple that it is very easy to build a fence out of it yourself.