Digging

Good old fashioned digging requires the least equipment, but is also the hardest way to bury your fence.

First dig a very narrow trench about three inches deep with a pick axe or narrow hoe, going about one yard at a time.  Place the wire in the trench and then bury the wire with the soil you removed.  Tread on the soil to compact it, then move on to burying the next section of trench.

If the wire does not seem to want to stay in place when you place it in the trench, use lawn staples to hold them in place before burying.

The whole thing can be rather slow going, so budget about three minutes for each yard, longer if you have hard clay soils.

If you have soils that are particularly easy to work with, you can try the following shortcut.  Cut the earth with a shovel, then push the shovel forward to create a v-shaped gap in the ground.  Place the wire in the bottom of the v-shaped gap and then move the shovel and continue the process.  Again this only works if you have soil that is very easy to work with, it will only cause frustration in rocky or clay soils.

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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

Gale September 21, 2009 at 10:57 am

Regardless of the wire burying method, is the 3 inches mentioned here, at any danger of damage if constantly run over by a heavy ride on mower. If yes, would the 18 gauge wire be letter in the long run?

ADMIN – Hi Gale,

If you go down three inches you will be fine even if running it over with a heavy ride-on. No need to do 18 gauge, but it certainly would not hurt.

mary perva January 13, 2010 at 8:59 pm

My question is what do you do when you get to a sidewalk ? do you go under and if so how is this done? thanks mary

ADMIN – Hi Mary,

You can dig under. There are a variety of ways, but one of the easiest is to use a piece of PVC pipe to burrow under.

But, most people will cut a shallow slot or use an existing expansion joint. Lay the wire in the slot and then seal over.

There is a lot more detail in the “driveways and pathways” under the installation menu of the dropdown menu.

Joao January 25, 2010 at 6:03 pm

what is the maximum dept the wire can be buried without compromising effectiveness? Thank you

ADMIN – Hi Joao,

If you go deep, you just need to turn up the boundary width to compensate. This is not a problem unless is causes an issue in some other part of the yard where the wire is not buried as deep and the boundary will now be too wide.

In most circumstances you don’t want to go down much more than a foot.

Kevin R December 9, 2010 at 5:06 pm

Hi; Quick tip for those using the shovel method. If you buy an edging shovel things will go faster and you’ll get straighter lines. Edging shovels have a flat and straight blade on them. As mentioned above, push it into the ground a few inches, pry it back and forth a bit, then move on. Won’t take long to cover 10′. After you lay the wire down, all you have to do is walk on the opened ground to compress it. Kevin

Sergio September 3, 2011 at 8:06 pm

Hi, while I bury the wire if I go deeper than 3 inches the strength of the signal will be reduced in that section only?

ADMIN – Hi Sergio.

That is correct. If you bury the wire deeper in one section of the installation, the signal will be weaker in that section and that section only. This is because the signal will need to travel through more ground to get to the surface in that section and that diminishes the potency of the signal.

Jon Pietsch October 23, 2011 at 5:24 pm

Can the invisible fence wire be buried next to metal edging material without affecting the signal?

ADMIN – Hi Jon,

Well, I’d lay above ground beside the metal edging material and plug up the fence and test it before burying it. Technically, any kind of metal is a potential risk for interference. However, it doesn’t mean interference is automatic. The best way is to test it before finishing your installation.

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