How to Install a Wire Fence on a Hill

Planning

• 1

  Drive stakes into the ground with a rubber mallet at the top and bottom of the hill slope. Loop twine around the top stake and tie it down snugly. Push that loop down to the stake to ground level. Tie the other end of the twine to the stake at the bottom of the hill in the same manner.

• 2

  Adjust the twine up or down the lower stake with the aid of a carpenter's level until it is level. Measure the distance from the twine to the ground at the lower stake, which yields the distance the hill slope drops.

• 3

  Measure the length of the slope by walking it with a measuring wheel and determine the number of posts you need. For wire mesh fences, posts must be set every 8 to 10 feet. If you have a 50-foot slope and want to place posts every 10 feet, five posts are needed.

• 4

  Divide the drop of the hill by the number of posts to determine the stepping distance. If the hill drops 2 feet and you need five posts, the mesh must drop in 4.75-inch stages between each fence post.

• 5

  Cut sections of wire mesh with wire cutters, one for each space between posts on the slope. These sections should be roughly 2 feet wider than the space they need to cover, which in this example is 10 feet, so the sections should be at least 12 feet wide.

Post Placement

• 6

  Walk along the hill slope with a measuring wheel and drive a stake into the ground to mark where the fence posts go. In this example, that is once every 10 feet.

• 7

  Measure the height of the fence posts (or look it up on the invoice). Normally, post hole depth is equal to 1/3 the height of the post. But in this case you must add the stepping distance (4.75 inches in this example). If the posts are 7 feet tall, the post holes for this hill slope must be 32.75 inches deep.

• 8

  Dig the post holes to the depth specified by Step 2 with a shovel and post hole digger. Use a tape measure to ensure the depth is correct.

• 9

  Drop a post into a post hole and, with the aid of a carpenter's level, adjust it until it is plumb. Have an assistant hold the post in place while you mix a batch of quick-setting concrete. Pour the concrete into the hole and fill the hole to within 1 to 2 inches of the top. Allow the concrete to harden sufficiently to let go of the post and move on to the next hole. Set all the posts in this manner.

• 10

  Fill in the remainder of the post holes with dirt one or two days later, after the concrete has cured.

Installing the Wire

• 11

  Set the first section of wire by the first fence post on the slope. Have an assistant hold up the section and check it for horizontal straightness with the level. Once it is level, secure it to the post by looping the extra horizontal strands left over from cutting the section around the post and tying them back to the wire mesh of the fence section.

• 12

  Reinforce the wire fence section by stapling it to the post by hammering in heavy fence staples, one for every other intersection in the mesh.

• 13

  Skip the next post in the line and go to the third post. Attach a fence spreader to that post by looping the spreader's chain around the post and hooking it onto the spreader. Hook the spreader's triangle to fence wire mesh. Adjust the spreader and triangle so it is on a horizontal line and crank the spreader's winch to tighten the wire mesh. On the horizontal lines in the mesh are curved sections. When these sections are pulled out by about one-third, the fence is at its proper tension.

• 14

  Fasten the wire mesh to the second fence post in the line (the one you skipped in Step 2) at every other intersection by driving in heavy fence staples with a hammer.

• 15

  Release the tension on the fence spreader. Tie down the wire mesh section to the second post by looping the extra strands around the post and tying them back onto the fence, as you did in Step 1.

• 16

  Set up a new section of wire mesh fencing on the second post. But this time, either raise or lower it by 4.25 inches to "step" it in conjunction with the hill slope. Repeat Steps 1 through 5 to install this next section and continue up or down the fence slope until the slope is covered.