Chain Link Fence

STEP 1,DIG THE POST HOLES

Finish filling in the corner, gate and end postholes with concrete. Check the posts for plumb after every few shovelfuls and adjust as needed. Slope the top of the concrete so water drains away from the posts. Let the concrete cure for two to three days. Do not fill the holes for the line posts with concrete, and don’t put the line posts in place.

STEP 2,ATTACH TENSION BANDS AND GATE HARDWARE

Slide tension bands onto each corner, gate and end post. The bands will help hold the mesh in place once it’s installed. You will use 3 for a 4-foot fence, 4 for a 5-foot fence, and 5 for a 6-foot fence. Put hinges and latch hardware onto the gateposts at roughly their final positions, to install later. Use a rubber mallet to drive end post caps onto the gate, corner and end posts, and slip a brace band over each installed post.

STEP 3,INSTALL ALL CAPS

Install looped caps, end post caps and rail caps. Drive looped caps onto the line posts with the mallet and put the posts in their holes, but don’t fill the holes. Bolt a rail cap to each brace band, tightening just enough to hold the cap in place. Feed the rails through the looped caps. Cut rails with a pipe cutter or hacksaw, if needed. If you need longer rails, join them together using rails with a slightly smaller wedged end that fits into a full-size rail.

STEP 4,ATTACH THE RAILS

Fit the rails into the rail caps and raise or lower each cap to the final height of the mesh, including 2 inches clearance at the bottom. Tighten the brace bands, fill the holes around the line posts with dirt and tamp until firm.

STEP 5,UNROLL THE MESH AND INSTALL A TENSION BAR

Lay the chain link mesh on the ground outside the fence. Run a tension bar through the links at the end of the mesh. The bar makes the end of the fence rigid and provides something to attach to the posts.

STEP 6,ATTACH THE TENSION BAR TO THE POSTS

With a helper, stand the mesh up and use a socket wrench to bolt the tension bar into the tension bands on one of the end posts. Align the mesh so it overlaps the rail by 1 to 2 inches and sits about 2 inches above the ground.

STEP 7,STRETCH THE MESH

Chain link mesh must be pulled taut or it will sag. Stretching is done with a tool called a fence puller (A). Note location of the tension bar (B). Insert a pull bar through the unattached mesh a few feet from the final post (C). Attach the yoke to the pull bar.

STEP 8,TEIGHT THE MESH

Crank the fence puller until the loops of the mesh move no more than ¼ inch when you squeeze them together. If the mesh changed height or became distorted during tightening, pull on it to reshape it.

STEP 9,INSTALL A TENTION BAR

Without releasing the fence puller, insert a tension bar in the mesh close enough so it can be fastened to the tension bands on the end post nearest the fence puller. To remove the excess mesh between the tension bars and end post, open a loop at the top and bottom, then twist and pull the strand free.

STEP 10,INSTALL A TENTION BAR

Pull the tension bar into the tension bands on the end post by hand, and then tighten the bolts on the bands with a socket wrench. Release the fence puller and remove the pull bar to which it was attached. Repeat the entire hanging and stretching process along the remaining sides of the fence.