Mike T. From Rapid City, SD Wrote: Here are some pictures of the Jerith #100 aluminum fence my wife and I installed last year. The layout of the fence is such that there are no two consecutive sections that are level and in a straight line (other than the double gate). It was quite a challenge putting it up, but after the first five or so sections, my wife and I got the hang of it. Drilling the post holes proved to be the hardest part. There are 30 - six foot high sections in the long run and six - five foot high sections in the short run along the driveway. Because of the terrain problems, we found that putting up no more than five sections at a time was optimum. We would auger the holes, set a section in place, plumb the post, loosely screw the section to the posts and set it at the appropriate level above ground with blocks (if necessary) and brace the post laterally. We would repeat this for up to five sections. Once we were satisfied with the overall alignment, we would tighten the screws and concrete the posts. We would recheck the alignment before the concrete set. Setting the overall alignment was an "eyeball" job. There was no way to use a string line on the uneven ground. I don't think that we were able to auger more than a couple of holes to full recommended depth. The soil conditions out here are something else. Because of the terrain, we could not use a large machine mounted auger. We did the job with a 4 hp, two man auger. We actually wore out one auger bit. There were several places where the post holes had to be moved a few inches because of rock or tree roots. Luckily, they were in the right direction (reducing the span). The Jerith design made it relatively easy to shorten a section. One comment about the Jerith design. The punch outs in the posts do not accommodate vertical deflection very well. On many posts, even ones with a small vertical deflection, we had to notch the bottom corners of the openings to permit the sections to slide in smoothly. Your suggestion about using the 2-1/2" industrial rated posts for gate posts and filling them with concrete instead of the 4 inch ones has worked out well. There has been no sagging or bending and they look a lot better. Here is a suggestion for you. Use an industrial size Shop Vac to clean out the holes. You have to clean the filter frequently and dump it out before it gets too heavy, but it sure speeded things up. It was my wife's idea. Picture descriptions - sorry they are not in numerical sequence. #5 - Looking at the corner of the fence - six foot high to the left, five foot high to the right. #6 - Looking down on the fence - five foot high in front, six foot high in back. Double gate is out of sight at the right end of the five foot section. #3 - Looking down again, but closer. #2 - The five foot section, showing the double gate. Notice that the bottom of the gate had to be trimmed because of the driveway slope. #1 - Looking along the inside of the six foot section from the fence corner. The five foot section is to the right. #0 - View from inside the fence, looking at the corner (between the two trees). Six foot to the right, five foot to the left. The Jerith fence transitions to a six foot chain link around the back of the house. That proved to be harder to install that the Jerith. We completed the fence back to the house with six sections of six foot Jerith and a gate this summer. I don't have a good set of pictures yet. If you are interested, I can describe a creative solution to setting a gate post over buried utilities.

Thanks for all your help and assistance,
Mike T.
Rapid City, SD

Hoover Fence Co. Reply: Thanks for the pictures Mike, looks great. You did a really nice job under some adverse conditions. You have a beautiful setting to show off a popular Jerith aluminum fence style. (Click images to enlarge)