I have built several ranch style fences in my time and always screw the boards on to the posts rather than nail. Obviously ranch style means not many screws needed.
I helped my neighbour build his fence today and his type was the vertical slats. So three rails between each post and then vertical slats all the way along. And he used nails. And hammer.
I can now see the benefit of nail guns must have been around 500 nails for the job. I will be putting ranch boards on my side of the post to match the rest of my garden. Reckon I will only need around 100 screws though!
So is there a better choice, screw or nail? I guess the pros will use a self loading nail gun for speed!
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Screws and a screw gun ideally. But as long as you put the right size nail in at the appropriate angle it'll be fine.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Thu 14 May 20 at 22:40
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My garden fence around the back garden is posts & boards - ordinary nails and the fence is still standing after 30+ years.
Maintenance? A walk around in the spring with the odd 3" nail & a hammer - mostly it just needs the old nail knocked back in & the odd new nail.
Painting takes me the best part of 2/3 days but only every 3/4 years thankfully - larger garden 40 metres of fence painting both sides on half of it!
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My rear fence is over 40 years old and surviving well with some TLC.
Soft wood feather edge on arris rails but concrete posts with a 4 x 2 bolted of both sides with sockets for the arris rails.
Long term problems.
No caps on the 4 x 2 posts and no caps of the feather boards so some rot.
IMO fit these. It is a cheap job to add lots of life.
Some rotting of the bottom of the 4 x 2s unavaidable.
I consder th gravel boards to be sacrificial and those have been replaced.
Gravel boards went metric so were too short so another challenge.
Tops of 4 x 2s rotted so spliced with nail plates. I needed to cut 4 x 4 post longways to match the existing.
Some arris rails replaced by splicing two lengths and thus fitting in the existing sockets
Eased out the galvanised nails and replaced in the same holes.
I have painted it several times over the years. Not sure if I will be doing it again.
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Impact screwdriver sort of does the best of both worlds. Can't imagine using nails for a fence. Seems like it'll just end in tears down the road.
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>> Impact screwdriver sort of does the best of both worlds. Can't imagine using nails for
>> a fence. Seems like it'll just end in tears down over the road.
There, fixed that for you.
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Fairly sure ours, panels made to fit and fastened to uprights, are nailed. The panels are OK but the Spring storms disclosed several rotted uprights. Thought we'd need extensive work to replace them but contractor used concrete supports buried 4 feet into ground and screwed to the, still sound, wood above soil level.
Solid as a rock now.
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Nails are traditional for jobs like fencing. I remember my father doing jobs like this. He was a very skilled man, a patternmaker who used a lot of screws in precision work and nails for functional joinery. He could knock most nails in with two blows and knew how to remove them. I inherited boxes of every screw size and type, and quite a variety of nails, brads and panel pins.
What has changed is the ease of putting screws in. I'd use screws because I can't knock nails in like my dad and I have suitable tool and bits for screwing 'em in.
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I believe the trade favour the Paslode nail gun guns for their speed. Of course mild steel nails eventually corrode but something like galvanised or stainless to give longevity.
I like screws because they are simple to remove should you require to do so. But eventually they give up the ghost and you can soon round out a Pozi head.
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Fences - screws or nails? - No FM2R
