Metal fence spacing and choices?

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I have a masonry stone wall that is 5 feet tall.  On one side it is flush with the soil on the other it is 5 feet tall (it is on a hillside).  I want to place a 4 foot decorative fence along the top so no one falls and gets hurt.  The wall is about 57 feet long and has various "corners" that zig and zag following the landscape.  It flows randomly so that I will not have any 8 foot spacing.  Most if not all  panels will have to be cut into shorter sections therefore spacing will be important.  I plan to buy factory built panels and cut them to fit but want them to look correct.My questions are:1) There are loop fence panels and picket only panels.  Am I correct in thinking that that the picket only panels will be a lot easier than the loop panels in making the panels fit and look right (no cut in half loops) at the upright posts?2) Since the upright posts will be randomly spaced, should I "space or center" the panel between the two posts? 3) Will it look odd that one panel could have a 2" space between the post and the closest picket and the next panel might have 4"? 4) The wall is about 15" thick with a stone top cap.  The wall itself is constructed of cinderblock (filled with concrete and rebar) with 6" thick stone front with more concrete filling the void.  To secure my uprights, should I use lag bolts or drill bigger holes with a masonry holesaw and epoxy the posts in place?I cannot find any DIY info that addresses these.  Any guidance and suggestions are appreciated.
Reply:I can think of a couple of ways to start the thinking process. Take some pictures and draw out the fence on it including posts this will give you and idea of what it will look like and which spacing might look best. You could use some clear plastic to lay out the fence so that it could be over laid and each set up kept. The other thought is to draw out the whole thing in the same way. It doesn't sound like engineering is your issue but aesthetics. There are several ways to attach the fence. I have used a connector called an anchor that fits into a drilled hole and as it is tightened it pulls the fastener tight in the hole. It is used a lot in industrial settings and is very strong and sturdy. There are quite a few different types of these anchors depending on the application.A man needs to know his limitations!
Reply:As far as anchoring, there are a lot of options. What you have exactly will determine what will or won't work well. For a light weight fence, Tapcons will work well. Just drill the pilot hole and drive. They also sell larger lag sized masonry fasteners very similar to Tapcons. They look a lot like lag bolts with a funny thread. Then there are lead shields and lags, drop in threadserts that take standard bolts, the expansion anchors listed above as well. Hilti makes an epoxy system that can be used to set bolts. Comes for use in a special caulk type gun or for use in a standard caulk gun. I used it last week to set anchor bolts for a roof in a solid block wall where we were afraid drop ins or expansion anchors might pull out. It's NOT cheap however. Also you have to work quickly. We had 3 minutes after "mixing" to set the bolts. The stuff "mixes" as it's extruded from the tubes. If it sets up in the mixing nozel you can remove the hard nozel and use another one, but that adds more cost. ( The system comes with one nozel to a tube of epoxy so be sure to get extra nozels.) We'd use up the 1st tube then move the mixing nozzel to tube #2 and save the extra nozzel. We had all the holes predrilled and cleaned before we started "mixing", that way we could keep moving and not stop. We used plain galvy all thread to set those and tightened the bolts after the stuff had cured 30 minutes. They also sell special screen inserts for use in hollow block with the epoxy. We had to use these in one section where the block was never grouted solid. Some home Depots carry the Hilti epoxys.Last would be core drilling and setting with anchoring cement or hydraulic cement ( epoxy could also be used here ). We would often do this for stamped concrete where fasteners didn't want to be seen or covered. The expense here is a core drill and bit or a hammer drill bit thats large enough for the post and cement.Some stones are harder to drill than others. This will determine what kind of hole you can make. Some stones like slate will drill easy, but won't take a load. For these you'll need to go deep enough to get into the crete, probably using drop ins, expansion anchors or epoxy set bolts. For harder stone it's often easier to drill larger holes so the bits don't over heat, or use a diamond core bit..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:The mentioned epoxy smells horrid when it burns, IMO.  It's grey death!  Anchor bolts with a properly sized hole are the way to go for mounting, but I don't have experience with cinderblocks and concrete as most of the anchorbolts I've dealt with were in solid concrete. If your hole is oversize (ala, the anchor doesn't anchor) fill it with epoxy and let it set with the anchorbolt within (ready rod will work in a pinch!).  It'll come out rock hard (the things one learns working with concrete companies), just be sure to blow the dust out of the hole or it won't adhere properly.Wherever the wall bends or changes direction, it's probably wise to put a post.  The picket spacing is a tricky one.  Ideally you would want the pickets to be evenly spaced for aesthetics.*edit*I would get your posts into place as well as your horizontal members.  Lay out your pickets, fit what you can and if you need to bend any pickets to say, wrap a corner, find your angles and if you have access too, or know someone with access to a breakpress (as a last resort, stitchcut, bend and weld up the cut stitches), bend the conflicting pickets to match the bends.  The end result will look skookum!  Keep the spacing even if you can.  Over a length of 57', you can cheat a bit here and there, but like a square yard fence, I would try to keep the spacing as even as possible for appearance.  After you get the framework figured out, the rest should be pretty straight forward.Like anything, a picture is worth a thousand words Last edited by mb_welder; 06-06-2011 at 01:36 AM.