Hit 500 feet of continuous fence yesterday - no gaps, no sag

Always thought I was pretty good at this. But I kept having little dips every 50 feet or so. Finally watched a guy on YouTube tension his wire before hanging the panels. Tried it on a job in Toledo. 500 feet straight. Not one section sagged. That pre-tension trick made all the difference. Anyone else fight with panel sag or am I just slow to learn?

3 comments

3 Comments

craig.parker14d ago

Honestly, that pretension trick works because you're fighting the wire's natural stretch before the fence goes up. Most guys skip it and just hope the weight of the post and tension later will fix it. You're not slow, you just found the shortcut most people don't think to look up.

hernandez.gavin6d ago

My buddy Mike in Austin skipped pretension on his 5-strand barbed wire fence last spring. Three months later that thing looked like a hammock after a single rainstorm. He spent a whole weekend re-stretching every single strand while cursing himself out. Now he tells everyone who will listen that pretensioning is like flossing, skipping it seems fine until your teeth fall out.

jessica33114d ago

Wait, hold on. "Just hope the weight of the post and tension later will fix it"? That's what most people do? I mean, I knew people skipped pretensioning because they're in a hurry, but I didn't realize they were literally crossing their fingers and hoping the post's fatness would fix their lazy work. That blows my mind a little bit. I've always thought the wire stretching was the whole point of doing the work right, like you're already there, why mess with it later when it sags? It's not even a shortcut to do it right, it's just common sense not to gamble with your fence line. I honestly feel bad for the guys who learn this the hard way after a wet season.