Making a Slat Fence

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Here is a simple vertical slat fence that we made to keep our dogs out of our garden. We spent a lot of time (and wire) finding a practical method of wiring the slats together that is relatively easy to do, so I am sharing our experiences here.



 
To hold the slats in place at a uniform spacing while the wires were twisted, we made a wooden jig as shown. The width of the vertical pieces determined the space between the slats. The distance between the vertical pieces was 3 inches shorter than the desired distance between the wires in the fence so that the vertical pieces would not be in the way when we twisted the wires.


 


 


  Four rolls of wire are required, a twisted pair at the top and another twisted pair at the bottom of the slats. We found 16 gauge galvanized wire to be the best compromise between strength and ease of twisting. A heavier gauge was too stiff to twist easily, and a lighter gauge broke too easily. We started by twisting a pair of wires together at the ends as shown, leaving about 5-6 inches at the ends to tie pieces of fence together

 











A slat was placed on the jig, and the twisted pair of wires was hung over it. 











 

 




This shows the first slat in place on the jig with a twisted pair of wires at the top of the fence and a twisted pair at the bottom. Since the rolls of wire tend to unwind and tangle as you work, it was important to keep the rolls tied with string, unwinding only enough wire at one time to tie 2-3 slats.












 



The pair of wires was twisted 1½ turns to fix it in place on the first slat. 














 



 The second slat was placed on the jig, and the wires were given another 1½ turns to fix it in place.






 





 





A Phillips screwdriver was placed between the wires between the slats and twisted to tighten the wires around the slats.


 







 



With practice the wires could be twisted sufficiently to hold the slats firmly in place without over-tightening that would cause the wires to break.






 



 



The slats were then lifted from the jig and repositioned to place the next slat.


 

 




This shows two slats with the tightened twist between them and a third slat in place and ready to tighten the wires.


 







 
 





After each tightening twist, the fence was repositioned to add the next slat.



























The fence could be made in one continuous roll, but we found that fabricating it in pieces 6-8 feet long made handling much easier, and these pieces could be easily tied together as the fence was erected.














At the end of each section, we tightened the wires with a few extra twists to hold the end slat firmly in place.









 

 



One section of fence is ready to go, and another is in process.