Vent: The neighbor who insisted my fence needed 4x4 posts when 4x4s are overkill

My neighbor Dave came over last Saturday while I was digging holes for a privacy fence. He told me I was wasting my time using 4x4s instead of 6x6s for the corner posts. I told him my fence is only 5 feet tall and not holding up a house. He spent 15 minutes lecturing me about wind load and frost heave like we're building a skyscraper. The fence has been up for 8 months now and not a single wobble. Has anyone else had a neighbor try to school you on basic math for your own yard?

3 comments

3 Comments

sage3083d agoRising Star

Dave's math is actually kind of off for a 5 foot fence anyway. 4x4s are totally fine for that height, and the standard post size is 4x4 for anything under 8 feet in most places I've seen. I built my own fence three years ago, used 4x4s on the corners and all the line posts, and it's still standing solid through storms and everything. Wind load really only becomes a big deal if you're doing solid panels in a super exposed area or the fence is over 6 feet tall. Frost heave is more about how deep your posts go than the size of the wood itself, so 4x4s set at 30 inches below the frost line are fine. Your neighbor was probably just repeating something he heard from a contractor once without understanding the actual specs. You did it right, man.

phoenix2463d ago

Yeah Dave sounds like he needs a hobby, that's a lot of opinions for a fence that's not his. Good on you for sticking to what made sense and not giving in to the overkill.

skyler_jackson271d ago

Honestly that frost heave point is what got me. I used to swear by 6x6 posts for everything because I figured bigger was always better, but I had this old contractor buddy tell me the same thing about depth being the real factor. I set my last set of 4x4s at 36 inches in gravel and they haven't budged through two winters now. Dave's whole argument about wind load doesn't hold up for a 5 foot fence unless you're living in a tornado alley or something. I'm kind of glad I saw this thread before I built my shed foundation too, saved me some money and back pain.