We do many barrier installations every year. I don't often document our work however I happened to think about it a few days ago and remembered to take my camera to document some steps in our procedure. This is the first step in framing a larger elevated deck. We do deck, sheds and exteriors of various types, sizes and heights off the ground to protect.
The higher decks require framing to support the wire so a bit of construction is required to do a good solid job. I finished the framing in a few days doing it by myself. My other employees were busy doing other jobs but I do pull one in for a few hours to help with some parts of the framing work that run easier with a helper. I rather do this work at my own pace to ensure it is what I want before attaching the wire on the face of the framing.
I will take some photos when the wire has been installed this week. You can see we have installed the Dig-Defence around at the base perimeter. The top is just visible in some photos. We needed to use the traditional apron wire grid barrier under the lower end of the deck due to the lower head space. We weren't able to get the dig-fence driver under it to drive the panels.
We only bury the wire a few inches in most cases. Then we stake it down with heavy duty 8" landscaping pins to hold the wire tight to ground. I found this works very well and eliminates a lot of extra digging. I put a bend in each leg of the pins about at a 45 degree bend to hold like a barb so as not to release and pull out due to the colder temperature frosting effect etc.
We have another building to do on the same property once this larger deck project is finished. It will be much easier to do since it is close to ground level around the foundation. Ground hogs, skunks and raccoon have been under both of these structures for many years. We will have to exclude some juvenile g-hogs next week prior to installing the barrier.
The juveniles are getting close to moving on by themselves anyway in these parts. We will leave a couple of panels out where the burrows are being used and evict the young hogs, then install them when the eviction is complete.
The other out storage building is 12'x 24'. I will get some photos of the landscape pins as they serve us well for shallow barrier aprons. Many areas I pin the wire to the ground surface which requires no digging. I contour the wire to the ground surface and pin it tightly down. The grass will grow through the wire in one season and you will not see it by the end of the summer.
With a little practice you can get on to this method when needed. We bend the front and sides of the wire edges at a 90 degree angle so they are pushed down into the ground. A straight edged shovel is used to cut a slot for the end bends to seat into the soil easily then pin it all down securely so it will not raise up over time. The rooting system will add support to hold the wire in place over time.