DIY Menards premade fence panels ON a BUDGET

Hey everyone, this is CLSolem1 and today I'm going to show you how to install some pre-made fencing quick and easy without digging or using concrete. So I'm using some pre-made fence panels. I purchased these at Menards. They're 4 foot high by 8 foot wide. And I'm using some metal posts. These are terminal posts that are 2 and 3 eighths by 6 foot long. And I also purchased these at Menards along with all the other materials that are in this video. But most of your bigger hardware stores are going to have a similar product, but it might just be a different brand. And here's a look at the opening where the fence is going to be installed. And it's about 24 feet wide, so I'm going to be using 3 fence panels. And here's a quick preview of the fence after it's done being installed. And I had this installed in just a few hours. Alright, let's go ahead and start from scratch. So the first thing we want to do is run a string line so we have a nice straight line where your fence is going to be. So there's a lot of different ways you can attach your string line. You can use a small screw and tie a knot around it. Or if you have no structure to attach to, you can just try some stakes in the ground at each end of where your fence is supposed to be. Then tie a string between those two points. Alright, next we need to mark our posts. Our fence is 4 feet high, but our posts are 6 foot tall. So I'm going to make a mark on each post at 4 foot. And for whatever length post you decide to use, you want to make sure you get that post to the ground at least 2 foot. That way you have a nice stable post. So to drive the post on the ground, I'm going to be using a T-post driver, but these work great for terminal posts also. So what I want to do is line up my post to where it's just barely touching the string line and it's level from side to side and front to back. Once I have the post in position where I like it, I'm going to start driving it into the ground. And what I normally like to do is drive it about 6 inches in the ground. Then after that, I go ahead and check it with the level again and make sure I'm good from side to side and front to back. And if I need to adjust it, I just push it whatever direction it needs to go. Then I start driving the post again. And after getting it about a foot in the ground, the post should stay in place and you shouldn't have to adjust it anymore. In some situations, if there's a lot of rocks in the ground, you might not be able to drive the post. You might have to adjust the post 6 inches one direction or the other direction. And if that still doesn't work, you might have to dig. And if you end up having to dig, you might as well just fill that hole back up with concrete. But for me, I've done this fence method at multiple jobs and I've only had an issue maybe one or two times where the ground was too rocky and I couldn't do it. Okay, I got my fence post drove all the way down and I drove it all the way down to that 4 foot mark I made earlier. And my post stayed nice and level, but the top of that post did mushroom a little bit from driving it. But no worries, we're going to be cutting off the top of the post later. And here's a look at the brackets that I'm going to be using to attach the metal post to the wood fence. So these are terminal posts to wood adapters. So there's multiple brands of these adapters that are all pretty similar. So these attach to the post with a bolt and a nut. So I'm going to go ahead and attach these to the post and I'm going to put one on the top and bottom, but I'm just going to hand tighten them for now. Now it's time to grab a fence panel and we're going to put that in place. So the ground here is pretty level, so I'm just going to set all my fence panels right at level. But if the ground's not level, you're going to have to stagger your fence panels so it matches whatever the ground slope is. So here's an example of staggering your fence panels. So if you're using pre-made fence panels, they're already nice and square. And if the ground's sloped, you're going to have to stagger one panel at a time to try to make up the difference in the slope. So in a situation where you have to stagger your fence panels, if you're not okay with the way that looks, then the pre-made fence panels might not be for you. Okay, back to my fence panel. And what I've done is I've lined up the brackets with the horizontal lumber on the fence panels. Once the brackets are in place, I tighten the brackets to the post. Now I'm going to use some inch and a quarter exterior wood screws to attach the brackets to the panels. And I use four screws to secure each bracket. Now we're on to our next post and we can do this a couple different ways. We can either measure and put the post exactly where it needs to be, but I've found this is the easiest for me. I just install my bottom bracket to where it's sitting halfway on the panel and halfway off. And if you have to stagger your fence, the routine will be a little bit different and I'll show you that here in just a second. So with one bracket secured in place on the fence panel, I'm going to go ahead and insert my post into that bottom bracket and then eyeball my post as good as I can with my string line. Now I'm going to grab my level and what I want is I want the post nice and level both directions and just barely touching my string line. Now I'm going to start driving the post, but I'm only going to go about half a foot. I'm going to check the level both directions again. If I need to make some adjustments, I will. Then I'm going to continue to drive the post to my four foot mark. After driving the post all the way down, I'm going to go ahead and attach my top bracket. But before I secure that bracket in place, I'm going to go ahead and check my fence panel for level again and make any adjustments if needed. So if you need to make some small adjustments, you can stick a one by four under one side of the panel or a two by four or you can do a little bit of digging on either side to get that fence panel to the level you want. So my fence panel is already nice and level and it's ready to attach. And again on the top bracket, that bracket is attached to just half of the fence and half of it sticking off. That way we can attach to the next panel really easy. So all I have to do is line up my second panel level with the first panel and then I can start securing it with the brackets. So after joining your two panels together and they're level with each other, it should look like one continuous fence. And if you're joining panels together that are staggered, the process is going to be a little bit different. On your second panel, you'll want to remove at least one picket. Then you want to overlap the two panels. Then you want to center a post between the two panels. Then you want to attach two brackets to each panel. So you want four brackets total if you're going to be staggering. And there's multiple different ways you can stagger your fence, but for now I'm just going to cover this one way. All right, now I'm on my third panel and all's we do is repeat the process that we just did with that second panel. And we'll continue to do that with all the remaining panels until we get to the end. All right, now I'm at the end, so I'm going to go ahead and install my post first and get that in place. Now I'm going to measure about two inches past the post I just installed to the last fence panel I installed. And the reason I measure two inches past the fence post is I need to have room for my bracket to attach on both sides of the post. So now I'm going to mark a fence panel with that measurement I just made and make my necessary cuts. And if possible, try to make your cut where one of the fence picket ends. Otherwise, you might have to make a rip cut on one of your fence pickets. All right, now I have a cut. It's time to go put the panel in place. And this is going to attach just like the rest of the fence panels. I'm going to attach it to the existing fence first and then to the end post. So I'm going to slide my brackets in place, then tighten the brackets, then secure the brackets with two screws on each side. Now this step's not necessary, but it'll make those posts look a lot better, especially if they mushroomed out when you were driving them down. So I'm just going to make a mark on the top of each post where I want to make my cuts. Now I'm going to use a Sawzall to make my cuts. And they also sell caps for the posts if you want a more finished look, but for me, this is good enough. All right, I'm all the way done. Let's go ahead and take a look. And I forgot to mention earlier, these fence panels are pre-treated, so I don't have to spend any extra time treating them or staining them. All right, everyone, thanks for watching. If you liked that video, please click that Like button. And if you want to hear more from me, please subscribe. And if you want to see more of my videos, just click any of these links.