Backyard Bamboo Fence

Bamboo is amazing, so I built a fence.

SUPPLIES:

8 standard cedar fence posts, 8' long, 4" X 4" from HD.

The bamboo is here. It comes with wire through the top and bottom, which I didn't want, so I used some wire cutters and cut the wire and pulled it out.

Then I purchased these for the fence rails. I needed 4 for each section between posts. I have 7 sections of fence, so I needed 28 of these fence rails. Each was precisely measured, cut, primed, and painted black.

For the 1" X 1" strip of wood screwed to the inside of each post, I ripped the rounded ends off a 6' 2X4 and then cut what was left in half, primed, painted black. I used 2 1/4" deck screws to adhere these to the inside of each post.

Deck screws.

Step 1: Posts

As mentioned, I ordered standard cedar fence posts from HD. Since I'm not good at lining up posts, digging holes, or setting posts in cement straight, I hired a handyman to dig and set the posts. He dug holes approximately 2' deep and approximately 6' apart. He did an amazing job. Before he set the posts, I primed and painted them black.

Step 2: Fence Rails

I purchased 28 fence rails, 4 for each of the 7 sections. Because I want the fence to look nice on both the alley side and on the yard side, I will have both back and front fence rails, sandwiching the bamboo. The rails will be screwed into the 1" X 1" section that is screwed into the inside of each post.

The yard is on a slight incline. In order for this fence to look right, I will have to stagger the fence rails. In order to do that, I measured 5" up from the ground for the bottom rail, and I will continue doing that starting with the lowest point of the yard up to the highest point of the yard.

After the bamboo was stapled onto the top and bottom fence rail, 2 more fence rails were screwed into the 1' X 1" section creating a sort of bamboo sandwich.

Step 3: Bamboo

The bamboo arrives as a naturally rolled bamboo fence panel, 6' high, 8' in length, which amounts to roughly 50 or 60 pieces, with 4 thick wires running through each piece at the top and bottom and 2 in the middle. I suppose it is manufactured this way for a reason. Since I only needed 61" pieces, I had to cut the wire in several places to remove it. I then had to cut each individual piece of bamboo to fit the distance between my top and bottom rails, 61" on this particular panel. I then used my air compressor attached to my stapler to staple each piece of bamboo into the top and bottom rails.

This bamboo is very good quality. Of course, over time in the elements, it will fade, but it looks good faded too.

Step 4: Scrap Bamboo

There are so many uses for scrap bamboo. Here I made a little path between some raised beds.