making trellis

[cambourne7]

Hi All

I have quite a bit of fencing and one bit is actually (as its the back of my neighbours fence the wrong way around so my plan was to use hubbies nail gun and nail some wooden battens down the fence and then nail gun strips of wood along this and make long and wide trellis. Any idea if A) this would work and B) what wood i might need for making the trellis? I might as well do this before i get the greenhouse sorted and a friend of mine has a spray gun so i was going to treat the fence and the wood i am nailing to the wall at the same time.

Climbing up will be peas/beans on 2 bits and honeysuckle and roses the rest :)

Thanks for any advice

Loopy

[cambourne7]

[SPUDLY]

Hi Cambourne7,
Not sure what type of fence you have. If it's the 6 foot panel type with 3 bracing struts that run top to bottom, attaching some trellis to it should not be a problem. I would use some timber the same thickness as the bracing struts. If your going to use a nail gun, i would constuct the trellis on the ground first then screw it to the fence Remember, safety first. Dangerous things nail guns.

[cambourne7]

Yes thats the type will be easy enough on one side but the other is actually the back flat side of the fence so no bracing struts visable.

Was going to order some feather board and slice them down the middle and use that to make up the trellis. And was looking at getting some posts (round ones) and see if i can buy them sliced in 1/2 and have the flat 1/2 against the fence pannel and use the curve to allow me to make the trellis level. Then nailgun these to the flat fencing and then screw the trellis to that? I need something to give the trellis some space between the fence and the trellis and though that would work and look nice?

[Tulipa]

Hi Cam, hope all is ok with you,

OH uses roofing battens (I think that is what they are called) to make trellis.  They are about 1" x 2" by 8' and are treated so will last a long time, they are a bit thicker than the stuff they use to make trellis in the shops but make a good strong frame.  I was trying to find a link but the places I looked all said to contact the supplier for quotes, I think it works out quite cheap, I use it for supports for netting in my veg plot too.

One thing worth considering is making it so it is easily unscrewed from the fence and can be propped up or laid down while you replace a broken panel or post etc without causing too much damage to whatever is growing up it.

Good luck with whatever you do  :)

[cambourne7]

Thanks Tulipa yep all good Harriets running around and i am told i am lucky as shes so independent and well behaved :)

Thanks for the tip on roofing battens defiantly looks like it will save me a lot of time cutting down feather board :) I need to call travis perkins this week so will get some prices someone else recomended i load the nail gun with staples and use that to stick them together (on the floor :) ) and then screw to the wall with metal hinges top/bottom which means if i need to do some maintaince i don't need to completely remove the trellis i can just unscrew 1/2 and let if open :)

Providing i can get a few other jobs done this might be my aug bank holiday project :)