Homes Builder

A Quick Guide to Mesh Fencing

Whether for DIY projects or professional landscaping, mesh fencing can be put to a wide range of uses around your property and comes in a variety of different types. But do you know your border fencing from your chicken wire? Here’s a quick guide to help you get started with how and where mesh can be used.

Animal fencing

Wire mesh is a common sight in animal enclosures everywhere from back gardens to commercial farms. The most familiar type is probably chicken or rabbit wire, a highly flexible and versatile type of steel mesh netting with a characteristic hexagonal mesh. But while chicken wire is ideal for small animal coops and enclosures, it is fairly lightweight and not up to the job of fencing off larger areas to contain bigger livestock.

Stock fencing provides a much sturdier galvanised steel structure assembled under high tension which can be run between fence posts to create strong, stable fencing. As an alternative, deer fencing is an extra-strong plastic mesh which is usually used to keep wild animals away from a particular area rather than trying to keep livestock in.

General-purpose mesh

Mesh fencing can be put to a wide range of purposes aside from building animal closures, whether it be pest control, erecting partitions or simply for decorative purposes. General-purpose mesh fencing is available in steel and plastic varieties, it is bought in large rolls and, compared to things like timber fencing, has the advantage of being very easy to put up – just run it between posts, cut to size and attach. Steel mesh tends to be sturdier than plastic and is a better option for more permanent structures as it holds tension better than plastic for greater strength and durability.

Specific types of general use mesh include border fencing, which is usually low, lightweight and used for marking growing areas in gardens and allotments, and windbreak mesh, which helps to protect exposed areas from high winds.

Posts and supports

As mentioned, the benefits of mesh fencing are that it is extremely flexible and versatile and also easy to erect. You can just as easily nail strips of mesh to a timber frame to create an animal enclosure as you can to fencing posts to create a sturdy border. Timber tends to be the material of choice for mesh fencing as it makes it easy to attach, although for temporary structures steel fencing pins that you push into the ground and hook the mesh on to are also a handy option.