PVC fencing, supplied and installed in Ottawa.

How a Backyard Gets Its Fence

1. STEP 1

   Agree the line

   We walk the yard with you, measure the run and settle exactly where the fence goes. Utilities get located, and an old fence on that line leaves with us.

2. STEP 2

   Dig the holes

   Holes go in around the yard on eight-foot centres, below the frost line. Ottawa ground heaves every winter, and a post set short of that comes up with it.

3. STEP 3

   Set the posts

   Every post is set plumb in concrete, with a galvanized steel stiffener down its core. It is what keeps a six-foot fence from flexing under a January wind.

4. STEP 4

   Run the rails

   Rails go on bay by bay, the bottom one with its full-length aluminium insert already fitted — the part that stops an eight-foot span settling into a curve.

5. STEP 5

   Close it in

   Tongue-and-groove planks slide down into the rails and the yard closes in. Nothing is fixed through the face of a plank, so there is nothing to work loose.

6. STEP 6

   Hang the gate

   The gate goes on self-closing adjustable hinges with a proper latch, a flat cap finishes every post, and the offcuts and spoil leave with us.