Thread: PVC Fence Questions

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Hey! It's time for me to start building props for my haunt! Pretty excited!

I purchased all of the materials a few days ago to create a PVC cemetery fence. Today I cut the 1/2 inch, 10 foot PVC into pieces varying from 4 feet to 4'5- giving it a staggered, random look when I put it together.

Now, the furring strips is where my questions are.

I bought 1x2x8 furring strips. I was looking at 1x3x8, but it looked too big. When I went to drill holes, the 1x2's looked too small. Should I return the 1x2x8's and get 1x3x8's or keep the 1x2's? For those who have PVC fences, what did you use?

Also, the 1/2 inch drill bit made a hole that the pipe didn't fit into. An inch bit made the whole too big. What in between bit would work the best? I was thinking 5/8, but not sure.

What should I use to secure the wood into place? I've seen a few fences that use bolts to hold it up, but is there an easier way to do it?

Also, does anybody have any ideas for what to do with the PVC scraps? They're too thin to make PVC candles, but I have no idea what I could do with them. I'd hate to throw 'em away!

Thank you in advance for any help!

I think from what I've seen that 1 x 2 inch strips were what people used. Trying to visualise it I'd think 1 x 3 would be too wide.

As for the hole, I'd say 5/8 might be ok, but best thing is just trial & error. Do you have metric out there? We have both metric and imperial (which can play havoc a lot of the time as similar measures are just that - similar, but not exactly right!) and often you can get round things like this as metric have sizes in between imperial i.e., 9/16 or 11/16 might be spot on but you may not have those size drill bits, but if you had metric you could try something like 13mm, 14mm or 16mm.

I think I've also read that people just use some hot glue to keep things in place, but you could drill small holes through the wood strips into the side of the pipe and secure with small screws - face them away so they can't be seen.

As for the scrap pvc? No idea! Is it too late to go for 4 and a half to 5 and a half foot long poles?

This might help. I did this 3 years ago:

The fence is DONE!! Turned out really well.

I used the 1x2x8, they work but I have had one or two crack due to the thiness of the side wall once drilled. 1x3 should be stronger, I think it would look fine.

My holes were too small so I dremeled them with a sanding drum/cytlinder attachment, you can enlarge them quickly this way. I used short drywall type screws thru the wood into each pole(after driling a small pilot hole) to hold it all together.

Originally Posted by Industen

This might help. I did this 3 years ago:

The fence is DONE!! Turned out really well.

I used this last year to build mine, worked out great. Thanks.

To prevent the 1x2 from splitting you should pre-drill your holes and then put screws in. That's what I did and no issues with them splitting. Takes more time, but I didn't have to worry about the wood splitting on the last pipe being installed. And spray paint, lots of it. I had to make a second trip to get more. Getting all sides of the PVC takes an incredible amount of paint to accomplish. You don't think it will take that much since the surface area is so small, but you end up wasting a lot. I had mine on a rack I built, placed side by side so that over spray from one would coat the pipe next to it. I still went through a lot of paint. You will use even more if you paint after you've built and assembled your fence.

Originally Posted by Phil-the-fear

I think from what I've seen that 1 x 2 inch strips were what people used. Trying to visualise it I'd think 1 x 3 would be too wide.

As for the hole, I'd say 5/8 might be ok, but best thing is just trial & error. Do you have metric out there? We have both metric and imperial (which can play havoc a lot of the time as similar measures are just that - similar, but not exactly right!) and often you can get round things like this as metric have sizes in between imperial i.e., 9/16 or 11/16 might be spot on but you may not have those size drill bits, but if you had metric you could try something like 13mm, 14mm or 16mm.

I think I've also read that people just use some hot glue to keep things in place, but you could drill small holes through the wood strips into the side of the pipe and secure with small screws - face them away so they can't be seen.

As for the scrap pvc? No idea! Is it too late to go for 4 and a half to 5 and a half foot long poles?

That was my thought process once I was in the store, too. 1x3 seemed too large, yet 1x2 looked too small. I'm really on the fence with this, it's driving me CRAZY!

The problem is I don't have a 5/8 bit. I have the 1/2 and then a 1 inch. I'm going to have to have a good look at some bits at the store and compare them to the PVC.

Hot glue sounds interesting, yet I'm thinking now that the bolts/screw method might be sturdier and are the best option.

As for making 4 and a half or 5 foot poles goes, I decided not to do that. I plan on attempting to make columns and a gate, and I felt 5 foot poles would take away from the effect I'd be trying to get with the gate being higher.

The scraps I have are a foot or foot and a half feet tall. I also have the same issue with extra sheets of lattace. No idea what to do with them!

Originally Posted by Industen

This might help. I did this 3 years ago:

The fence is DONE!! Turned out really well.

I took a look, and I see a few good tips in there. Thanks!

Originally Posted by Tsloth

I used the 1x2x8, they work but I have had one or two crack due to the thiness of the side wall once drilled. 1x3 should be stronger, I think it would look fine.

My holes were too small so I dremeled them with a sanding drum/cytlinder attachment, you can enlarge them quickly this way. I used short drywall type screws thru the wood into each pole(after driling a small pilot hole) to hold it all together.

I used one piece of furring today to use to use as the experiment piece. I did crack a small section while drilling a one inch hole. I realized after that I did not line it up to be directly in the center, so it cracked. I tried again on the other end of the wood and it worked fine.

I can try your sanding method if I'm not happy with any other bit sizes. Thank you for that tip!

Originally Posted by mraymer

To prevent the 1x2 from splitting you should pre-drill your holes and then put screws in. That's what I did and no issues with them splitting. Takes more time, but I didn't have to worry about the wood splitting on the last pipe being installed. And spray paint, lots of it. I had to make a second trip to get more. Getting all sides of the PVC takes an incredible amount of paint to accomplish. You don't think it will take that much since the surface area is so small, but you end up wasting a lot. I had mine on a rack I built, placed side by side so that over spray from one would coat the pipe next to it. I still went through a lot of paint. You will use even more if you paint after you've built and assembled your fence.

For this, are you saying to start to drill the hole, stop, and place a screw in instead of just drilling the whole all the way through before moving on? I'm a little confused as to what you mean.

I don't plan on painting until early September, and I already know that process will be the most annoying.


Thanks everybody for the replies and the help!

I just built 12 8ft sections of fence using 1x2x8 and schedule 40 gray 1/2 pvc,, I drilled the 1x2 with a 7/8 speedbor bit, the 1/2 inch pvc fits perfectly nice and tight

I am building some fence sections its just some 1x2x8 cut in half 4 foot sections
1/2 inch pvc pipe in 36,34,32, and 30 inch peices. I us some rebar to hold it up just slide the ends over it and done. As for paint I used the cheap 97 cents a can flat black from the home depot and 1 1/4 inch fine thread dry wall screws

Here are some Pics

Originally Posted by TheGraveyardCareTaker

That was my thought process once I was in the store, too. 1x3 seemed too large, yet 1x2 looked too small. I'm really on the fence with this, it's driving me CRAZY!

The problem is I don't have a 5/8 bit. I have the 1/2 and then a 1 inch. I'm going to have to have a good look at some bits at the store and compare them to the PVC.

Hot glue sounds interesting, yet I'm thinking now that the bolts/screw method might be sturdier and are the best option.

As for making 4 and a half or 5 foot poles goes, I decided not to do that. I plan on attempting to make columns and a gate, and I felt 5 foot poles would take away from the effect I'd be trying to get with the gate being higher.

The scraps I have are a foot or foot and a half feet tall. I also have the same issue with extra sheets of lattace. No idea what to do with them!




I took a look, and I see a few good tips in there. Thanks!


I used one piece of furring today to use to use as the experiment piece. I did crack a small section while drilling a one inch hole. I realized after that I did not line it up to be directly in the center, so it cracked. I tried again on the other end of the wood and it worked fine.

I can try your sanding method if I'm not happy with any other bit sizes. Thank you for that tip!



For this, are you saying to start to drill the hole, stop, and place a screw in instead of just drilling the whole all the way through before moving on? I'm a little confused as to what you mean.

I don't plan on painting until early September, and I already know that process will be the most annoying.


Thanks everybody for the replies and the help!

The problem with DIY ("Do It Yourself" - do you use that term over there?) and general work around the house/car is that you often don't have the right size 'this' or 'that' and it's incredibly frustrating!

However, this is very easily resolved - just go out and buy one (or two) of the general purpose tool kits where they have a selection of sizes of all sorts of things (spanners, Alan keys, Hex keys, wood/metal/masonry/flatwood drill bits etc.).

To be honest, I've bought so many of these sets and luckily I can easily convince the wife that "Yes, I do need another set - this set is different...................".

When boring larger holes I usually use flatwood bits like here;

http://www.toolstation.com/images/li...bbig/44945.jpg


These can be really useful for widening a hole to make something fit, but sometimes they make the holes bigger than they should be due to the amount of play/wobble when drilling. If you have a regular wood drill bit of the size mentioned by jnelson217, use that instead as that should be a more precise cut/fit.

As for drilling the pilot holes, I think Mraymer means to drill small pilot holes right through the 1" side of the wood strips (and probably into the pvc as well), a little smaller in size to the screws being used. That way neither the wood or the pvc will/should split when putting screws in - you've already got a narrow hole in place so putting the screw in means you have a little space to displace the wood without cracking it - screwing straight into the wood, due to the size being 1", will inevitably lead to it cracking unless you pre-drill small pilot holes first.

Hope this helps.