Making welding pipe fence

[StillAlive]

My 65 yo dad is a retired welder, and last week he was building a beefy pipe fence around his 1.5 acre yard. He's done this before, but it's like a century ago, but I think his work is still decent.

I just want to share with you the gist of his DIY pipe fence project.

The Plan: Big, strong fence with thick pipes as posts and a top rail, using 5ft "no climb" fencing. No middle or bottom rails.

Tools: He's rolling with a generator, compressor, plasma cutter (makes cutting the pipe ends easy!), and a TrailBlazer welder, all pulled by his four wheeler.

Posts: Paid a pro to pound in the posts (3+ feet deep) after he cut them to size and marked the lines. Said it was worth the extra cash over renting equipment and doing it himself.

Top Rail: Used a tight wire to mark where to cut the saddles (notches) in the posts for the top rail. Learned he should've marked them a bit differently for a better fit with the no-climb. Welding the top rail took a good chunk of time.

Painting: He's going all out on paint prep: pressure washing, rust converter, epoxy primer, and a tough top coat. Says painting right is super important for a long-lasting fence.

Stretching the Fence: Built his own fence stretcher out of scrap to save money. Says tying the no-climb wire to the posts is super time-consuming and hard on the wrists.

Cost: Looks like the whole project for 1000 feet of fence cost him more than $10K and a whole lot of his free time. lol

What do you think guys, is this fence going to last?

 

[PowerPo]

It sounds like your dad's on the right track! One piece of advice, if he hasn't already, he might want to apply a good weatherproofing sealant to the welds after painting, it'll help prevent rust over time

 

[Dillydally]

Man, your dad sounds like a total legend frr, that setup with the four wheeler trailer and the DIY fence stretcher? genius and kinda badass, not gonna lie, tell him he earned a serious nap and a cold one after all that.

 

[SparkTrail]

Agree with you both, his dad sounds like he knows what he's doing, that fence is probably super sturdy! I was wondering, what gauge is the wire on that no-climb fence? And did he put caps on the posts to keep water out? It looks like it's going to last a long time

 

[rodsteeltalk761]

Sorry for joining late. Your dad's got a great strategy here, solid posts, professional installation, thorough paint prep, and quality welding will ensure this fence stands the test of time. The no-climb mesh is really sturdy. The only issue might be those saddle cuts, which could hold water, but with his painting system, it should handle that just fine. $10 per foot is a pretty reasonable price for that kind of quality.