Installing Your Own Aluminum Fence Panels
We design our aluminum fence panels for self-installation. You should consider installing your fence yourself. Get a friend or two to help, and it will be done in no time.
Go For It
Our aluminum fencing is easy for ordinary folks to install because we designed it that way. Our aluminum fencing panels are made to work together as a system. In addition, aluminum fence panels are light and easy to move around. You will quickly master the process, and soon the job will be done.
Our website has an installation manual. Download it and study it for a bit. You will quickly learn the simple process for installing an aluminum panel fence. If you have questions, just give us a call.
You should have at least one person to help during your fence installation. If you like, you can hire someone to do this, and you can even hire a handyman to do the whole job if you really don’t want to tackle it on your own. You certainly don’t need to hire an expensive crew of professionals to erect your fence.
Once you’re confident that you can do the job, measure out your fence runs and order the materials from our website. You can call us instead if you prefer.
Post Installation
Your first task when installing aluminum fence panels is to plan where you want to start. You can start with a gate or a panel but don’t cement or mount all of your posts first. They’re typically punched so you’ll want to build the barrier with each panel and post. It’s actually faster this way. Posts going in the ground, which is a typical, will require you to do some digging, and you’ll need to fill the holes with cement to secure your posts in place. The exception is when you want to surface mount a fence, such as on a deck or a porch. In this case, you will have to purchase welded plates, and you won’t need to dig any holes. Instead you’ll need to purchase tapcons or lag bolts based upon the surface material you’ll be building the fence on.
We sell straight and swivel mounts available to be used with non-punched posts (angles, curves, steep slopes and stairs) or if you’re ending (and connecting) direct to a wall or column. Straight mounts are clearly for stair stepping, and horizontal swivel mounts can be adjusted to make angles are curved fence runs. If you’re running a fence up a steep slope or a stairwell, we have vertical swivel mounts. Pre-punched line, corner, end and 3-way posts can be used for slight and/or medium slopes. Our normal posts are pre-punched to accept fence panels. We also sell blank posts for racking panels for stairs or steep slopes and for other specific purposes.
Gates Go First
Many customers start their fence installation with the gates. You will set the gate posts and hang the gate, and then you will work out from either side and install one fence panel first, then work yourself outward with two or three panels at a time. Be sure you have proper space so the gate opens and closes easily. After checking the spacing, dig the gate post holes. Then you can place the hinges and attach the gate.
Set your first fence posts on either side of the gate, then insert a fence panel so the rails engage with the slots in the posts. We provide the panel-to-post connection screws you will need. After you’ve installed a few sections, check the alignment. When you get to the end of a run, you can cut a section down with a hacksaw if necessary. This is not hard. You will have to cut notches in this case, but this is a lot easier than it sounds. We call it: Trim-To-Fit and it is just one of the benefits of our diy aluminum fence system.