How to Build a Fence With Rot Board & Metal Posts

• 1

  Determine the layout of the fence line. Mark each corner by hammering a wood stake in the ground, stretch a cord tautly between them and tie it off.

• 2

  Begin at one corner stake and measure 8-foot intervals along the fence line to the next corner post. Mark each 8-foot interval with chalk.

• 3

  Dig holes with a posthole digger at the marked 8-foot intervals that are 30 inches deep and 10 inches wide.

Setting the Fence and Rot Board

• 4

  Set a 2 3/8-inch-diameter galvanized post that is 8 feet long into the first hole. Place a carpenter’s spirit level alongside it and adjust the post until it is in plumb or straight up and down.

• 5

  Pour quick-setting cement -- mixed according to package directions -- into the hole. Pile the cement 2 inches above ground level and use a masonry trowel to shape it into a mound so rainwater drains off it.

• 6

  Brace the metal fencepost in place and allow it to cure for 24 hours.

• 7

  Continue setting a fencepost along the fence line in every hole by following the same procedure as was used for the first metal fencepost.

• 8

  Tamp the ground level around the base of each fencepost. Measure one foot up from the ground on the first fencepost and make a mark on the post. Tie a carpenter's chalk line around the post over the mark, draw the chalk line down the fence line and tie it to the last post. Place a 3-foot-long carpenter's spirit level on top of the chalk line at different points along the fence line and slide the chalk line on the last post up or down until it is level. Snap the chalk line to leave a mark where each rail is placed. Repeat the same process by measuring two feet above the lower rail to mark the spot on the first post for the upper rail.

• 9

  Place a round fence bracket around the fencepost where the first mark was made. Have an assistant hold up a 2-by-4-inch cedar fence rail that is 8 feet long, positioned horizontally between the first two posts.

• 10

  Drive 1 3/4-inch-long deck screws through the bracket into the cedar fence rail. Repeat the process on the next fencepost. Continue installing the lower line of fence rails between the posts until finished. Install the next set of rails on the spot you previously marked on the fencepost.

• 11

  Position the first 6-foot-long cedar picket board so that it is 2 inches off the ground and lined up vertically with the first fencepost. Drive two 2-inch-long deck screws -- side-by-side -- through the fence rail into the pickets to install them. Continue installing the remainder of the picket boards along the fence line.

• 12

  Place a 2-by-6-inch cedar rot board that is 8 feet long along the bottom of the pickets resting at ground level. Drive a 2-inch-long deck screw through the rot board into the back of the first fence picket. Continue driving screws through the rot board into the pickets every 16 inches along the bottom of the picket line.