In-Ground Aluminum Fence Panel Installation

If you’re reasonably handy, you should seriously consider installing your aluminum fence panels yourself. If you download our installation guide and study it a bit, you will see that our installation process is simple and straightforward. You can recruit a friend to help for the price of some pizza and soft drinks. Below we outline the process in a nutshell. Don’t hesitate to call if you have questions.

First Things First

Take care of some preliminaries before you order and install your fence. Be sure you know the boundaries of your property. You don’t want to build a fence and then learn it’s on your neighbor’s property. Furthermore, some communities require your fence to be offset from the property line, i.e., set back a minimum distance. A surveyor can determine your boundaries, or you can look at a line plot.

You must contact local utilities to determine the locations of any underground pipes or cables that might lie under your fence. You can disrupt utility service if you dig in the wrong place, and even if you don’t do that, your fence can be removed if a utility needs to dig underneath.

Be sure to also check for any legal restrictions in your jurisdiction and the regulations of your homeowner’s association if your community has one. Associations can have various esthetic issues with fencing.  You can also perform a quick search online for your local building codes.

Stake out the outline of your proposed fence. Run strings between stakes and mark post locations. Make sure it looks good to you and that you see no potential problems with the installation. Measure your fence runs and count the posts. Do it a second time to confirm your counts before ordering from us.

Count everything upon delivery. Call us if anything is missing, and don’t start the installation unless you have everything you ordered.

Tools

Have all of your necessary tools on hand before starting the installation. These should include a post-hole digger, rubber mallet, saw, level, tape measure and a chalk line, or alternatively, stakes and some string. For concrete, you will need a wheelbarrow for mixing, along with a shovel and hoe.

Installation

Determine the clearance your fence will have. This is the distance from the ground up to the fence’s bottom rail. 2 – 3 inches is typical. Check for additional regulations if you’re putting up a DIY pool fence. You may also need pickets spaced no more than 4 inches apart for a DIY pool fence.

Install the gate first, and then work outward with your fence panels, installing each panel as you go.  Do not cement or install all of your posts first.  The size of the hole and the amount of concrete needed will vary according to the post size and your local codes.

Wait for the concrete to harden before you hang the gate. Dig your post holes and install one panel, then check that the fence is running level.  Then, you can setup and install two or three panels at a time.  It’s easy to use the included self-tapping screws to connect the panels into the posts.  You may have to trim a fence panel. This is easy to do. You’ll also have to cut a few notches, but this is remarkably simple.