How To Build A Spray-In-Place Concrete Fence - Monolithic

This particular fence starts with twelve feet
straight, then a two foot deep triangle on
the right, then twelve straight feet of fence,
then a two foot deep triangle to the left, and
continues with alternating triangular niches.
These niches create wonderful landscaping
opportunities for benches, roses, anything.
This fence acts as a 4 foot thick fence. It is
extremely stable under all conditions.
There are few limitations to creative design.
One could build a variation of the above
using square offsets instead of triangles. The
fence can be built serpentine. The spray-inplace
concrete fence allows for the imagination
to run wild.
center. The straight fence should have
posts 8 foot on center.
The Zigzag Fence — Disadvantages
The zigzag fence takes up a little
more space. If you want a zigzag
fence the neighbors must absolutely
determine where the fence posts are
going to go. To be fair the posts
should zigzag across the property line
so that each of the parties have the
same amount of property taken up by
the fence itself. It takes a little more
layout. It is somewhat nontraditional.
Summary of the Principle Difference
The major difference in the
strength dynamics of these two fences
is — what it will take to knock the
fence down.
The straight line fence is held in
place by the soil. Force against the
fence does two things. One, it tries
to snap the post off. But, the concrete
post is very strong. Secondly,
it tries to make the post hole bigger.
Force acting against the top of the
fence forces it to rock back and forth,
enlarging the hole. The fence, to a
certain extent, is only as strong as the
soil.
For the zigzag fence the dynamics
are totally different. It is not a soil
issue, or snapping off of the posts.
Here, force acting against the fence
tries to tip the fence over. The posts
serve mainly to keep the fence from
sliding sideways in the soil -- the
fence itself is the strength. A zigzag
fence that zigs one foot off center one
way and zags one foot off center the
other acts as if it were a two foot thick
fence.
Soil Considerations: Moving Ground
Many parts of the United States
have expansive soil. This means that
when the ground gets wet it expands
and when it dries out it contracts.
Where we are here in Italy, Texas,
it is extremely bad. The contraction
will pull all of the dirt away from a
post, or it may lift the post, or in the
case of the concrete fence, it may try
to lift the fence.
If you are building in that type of
soil condition, we suggest again that
you very seriously look at the zigzag
fence. If you don’t look at a zigzag
fence, then look at a very sizable size
post. The four foot high fence would
have a three foot deep post. An eight
foot high fence would have a four to
five foot deep post. The straight line
fence should have at least an eight
inch post. The zigzag fence could get
by with a six-inch post and in all cases
it doesn’t need to be especially deep,
three feet would be just right.
If the soils persist in moving the
fence around, then you can dig the
soil out from under the length of the
fence and that should stop. I am hesitant
to dig out from under the fence
in most areas because that invites animals
to dig under the fence. In most
places there is not going to be enough
expansion or contraction to bother the
fence itself. You should just monitor
it and if it looks like it is going to be
a problem then dig out half of the soil
out from under it, or two thirds, or all
of it if you need to.
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