How Important Are My Fencing Braces? H-braces Explained

Get out and get to work! When it comes to fencing that’s a good place to start. With a little sweat equity, fencing sets boundaries. It keeps animals in and predators out. It can encompass entire ranches or just protect the vegetable patch in the backyard. Whatever it’s needed for, fencing has many uses. That’s why in our Fencing Section we make it easy and break it down for you.

In this guide, we’ll answer questions like what type of fence is best for your animals while explaining what tools you’ll need to get the job done. And, we’ll tackle topics such as spacing and cost. It’s more doable than you think. You’ve got this and we can help.

Braces are considered the backbone of your fence. A weak brace will cause your fence to fail. Plus, a well-built H-brace can hold up to 6,000 pounds of force.

Hi, everybody. My name's Keith Taylor with Bekaert Corporation. I've been with Bekaert for about 28 years and we're here partnered with North 40 Outfitters.

There's a lot of questions in the market. How important are my braces? Braces are the backbone of your fence. A weak brace will cause the fence to fail no matter how good the fencing products that you have purchased. Always get your posts as deep as you can and build a nice, wide H brace. An eight-foot minimum or a 10-foot minimum wide H brace can hold up to 6,000 pounds of force.

There's a lot of areas of the country that are starting to use pipe braces. Pipe braces are perfectly fine. Pipe is easy to drive. It's very accessible. Any of the areas that there's oil and gas exploration, you can get a lot of used pipe for very cheap and it lasts a long time.

When building an H brace, Bekaert really stresses to never notch your post. If you notch your post, it creates a point where water is trapped and the post will begin to rot. We always use a brace pin system when we're building our H braces. In a pin system, you drill through your post and you use a three-eighths galvanized brace pin to support your cross brace. Generally, with a high-tensile product, you can go a full 1,320 feet or a quarter mile with an H brace. You can go a full half mile by exploring an inline brace. An inline brace is a three-post system where the product is tied in between the third post and stretched in two opposite directions.

Thanks for watching today. If there are any more fencing questions, feel free to visit any of the North 40 Outfitters stores or visit them online at north40.com.