Installing a fence by Drilling holes into Concrete Paver Bricks
Same day the paver bricks were finished being laid I went to work reinstalling the fence. To make this possible a few days before the paver brick work even started I visited the local hardware stores. There I got the parts and materials needed to be ready for drilling into concrete paver bricks to install the fence.
One main item I needed to get was a new drill to make my life easier when drilling into concrete paver bricks. Having drilled into concrete in the past I was not looking forward to it. In the past using a corded power drill or a high powered lithium Ion battery powered drill making a hole in concrete took quite a bit of effort.
If you want to see the first part of this project. Visit the Paver Brick installation process page by clicking here https://mommybs.com/installing-new-paver-bricks-for-patio-and-side-yard/
Hammer Drill and Drill bits needed to make drilling into Concrete Pavers Easier
From researching and testing many hammer drills to make my life easier. I settled on the Milwaukee Hammer Drill to make drilling all of these holes into the concrete paver bricks go much smoother.
I also bought some special drill bits that are made for hammer drills. These ended up working far better than the drill bits that can be used in a normal corded or battery powered drill. This drill and the drill bits made drilling into concrete paver bricks to install a fence much easier by reducing the amount of time to drill each hole.
Images of the drill and drill bits I bought to make drilling into concrete much easier are below. The 7/8″ drill bit worked perfectly for the size of the fence post and rebar for this application. More on that to come.
Hampton Bay Empire Fence Panels and Fence Posts
Fence panels and posts that I used (Are pictured below) are manufactured by Hampton Bay and are called the Empire Fence Panel in Black Finish. These were the ones that I purchased before as well when I originally put up the fence around the perimmiter of the backyard four years ago.
In four years the fence held up great. But when I removed the fence from the section of the yard where paver bricks were being installed some fence pieces bent. So I decided to replace the fence pieces in that section.
Hampton Bay Empire fence panels go in easily and are a no dig design.
Generally these fence posts are installed into soft ground. So before showing you how to install them into concrete paver bricks I’ll first show how it is done normally in soft ground.
You install the fence in the yard by taking the fence post apart from the fence post base that is a X shaped steak. You do this by removing the small phillips head screw holding the base and fence post together.
Then you take the fence post base and hammer it into the ground with a rubber mallet. See the pictures below.
Install the fence panel onto the fence post base
Once you have the fence post base in the ground you can then use the fence post rod to install that section of fence panel onto the fence post base. You do this by placing the rod through the two holes in the fence panel. Then insert the rod into the hole of the fence post base. This secures the fence to the base.
See the pictures below.
Transitioning from Installing fence posts into soft ground, to into concrete paver bricks
Now that you know how to install the fence into soft ground. Next is how to install a fence and fence posts into concrete or concrete paver bricks.
The general concept is the same but the way the fence posts are secured will be completely different. Obviously the same fence post base can not be hammered into hard rock, concrete, or paver bricks. So there are several changes that have to happen. Mainly in how we create a way for the fence post to be secured to the ground.
Below is the step by step process to install a fence into concrete paver bricks.
Step 1 Layout where the fence Line will be
First you have to layout where the fence line will be. Carfully lay out a string to form a straight line from where you want the fence to start and end. A tight string will be very benificial for you to help keep you in a straight line. While installing the fence pieces it is easy to swerve off track. A sight line of a tight string strung between two steaks will help keep you on a straight line.
Step 2 Layout your first fence piece
Layout your first fence piece. In this case I have some fence sections already installed in the soft ground with the fence post base style. To see how to install this fence panel in soft ground see the section above on installing the fence post base in soft ground.
These sections of fence panels are installed over the area where there is grass growing. See the picture below for reference.
Step 3 Measure where the next fence post hole will need to go
With a fence panel in place on one end now measure where the other fence post needs to go. Making sure to maintain a straight line with the fence. In the below picture you can see it now goes over the concrete paver brick area.
Measure the spot where the round fence post hole will line up over the paver bricks. Then mark it with a permanent marker. This gives the spot to drill into the paver bricks with the hammer drill.
View the two pictures directly below for reference.
Step 4 Drill a hole with the Hammer Drill into the concrete paver brick
The black dot in the middle of the round fence post holder pictured above is where you will need to drill a hole into the paver bricks.
Take the Hammer Drill with the special hammer drill bit attached and carfully line up the drill bit. Make sure the center of the drill bit is directly on the black dot. Now the hammer drill has a hammer function. A hammer and rotate function. Along with just a rotate function like a normal drill.
Use just the rotary function for drilling into paver bricks
I used just the rotate function of the hammer drill to drill into these concrete paver bricks. Reason being that the hammer function will make going through the concrete paver bricks faster but will will also create the possibility of cracking the paver bricks. So to prevent the possibility of cracking a paver brick I stuck to the rotary function of the hammer drill.
Even though only the rotary function of the hammer drill was used it still worked better than a normal drill with a drill bit for a normal drill. The hammer drill drill bits have a special way they attach to the drill, this give the drill more torque. And the special drill bit has 4 cutting surfaces that make going through concrete paver bricks much faster as well.
See the pictures below of drilling into the concrete paver bricks with the hammer drill and special hammer drill bit. You can see the close up of the drill bit and drill bit head as well.
After the Hole is Drilled it should look like it does in the below picture.
There will be concrete dust surrounding the hole.
Once the drill bit drives all the way through the concrete paver brick you will feel the drill punch through into the soft ground below.
Use the drill measuring tool on the side of the drill to let you know when you are close to going through the paver brick. This is called the drill depth guage.
Or if drilling into a concrete slab and not a concrete paver brick. You can measure how deep to drill each hole using the drill depth guage.
See the picture below.
Step 5 Position the fence panel to see if it lines up with the hole properly
Swing the fence panel until the fence post hole in the fence panel lines up with the hole to make sure it was drilled in the correct spot.
If the hole does not line up you may have to adjust your fence. Or replace the paver brick or bricks the hole is drilled into and start over.
See the picture of the fence hole lined up over the drilled hole below.
Step 6 Drive a section of rebar into drilled hole of paver brick
Once the fence panel is shown to line up properly with the drilled hole you can continue. Now take a two foot section of 1/2″ rebar. Line it up directly in the middle of the hole you drilled which was done with a 7/8″ drill bit.
Make sure the rebar is straight up and down then take a hammer and drive the rebar into the ground. I like using a four pound hammer for this to make it much easier.
When you drive the rebar into the ground make sure to leave about 6 inches of it sticking up out of the paver brick. This allows the fence to be held upright better and gives the fence more rigidity.
View the pictures below.
Step 7 Place fence panels over rebar and insert fence post
With the rebar secure in the ground. Lift the fence panels up and over the rebar piece.
Now take the fence post and place it in the top tabs of the fence panels. Then insert the rebar into the fence post. As the fence post continues to drop down the fence post will go into the bottom tabs of the fence panels. Then the fence post will go into the paver bricks.
Once the fence post is started into the hole of the paver bricks Hammer it in. Now take a rubber mallet and drive the fence post all the way down into the dirt until the bottom of the of the fence post ball is flush with the top of the fence.
Rubber mallet will help make sure you don’t damage the top of the fence post.
See the pictures below for reference.
Those are the seven steps for installng a fence into concrete paver bricks
You can repeat those steps to keep adding new fence panels or sections of fence.
After installing a few fence panels I then came to where I was going to put a gate. So this next section is how to add a gate to the fence you are installing in paver bricks.
Adding a Gate to your fence installed into paver bricks
Originally the fence in this section also had a gate when originally installed over where grass was. But with the paver bricks here I had to add a few extra things to make the gate usable.
The original base to the fence posts that is used for soft ground made the fence gate rotate over the top of the base. Now with nothing but the fence post over the rebar the gate when opened or closed would scrape on the concrete paver bricks.
So to combat this issue I made plastic risers out of 1″ PVC pipe. See below for an Idea of what I am referring to.
To make these PVC tube risers for the gate and fence
Making these PVC tube risers you need some schedule 40 1″ PVC pipe. I had some left over from when I redid some of the yard sprinkler systems.
Then you need a ruler and something to cut the PVC pipe with. A hack saw works but even better is a PVC and plastic pipe cutter.
See below gallery on measuring the PVC pieces, then cutting them with the Pipe Cutter.
Make enough PVC risers you need then Paint them
I needed two risers for each side of the gate. But then I also decided to add a one and half inch riser under each fence panel so that the fence bottom would never just sit on the concrete paver bricks. As the fence panel is metal I felt a wet fence section against the concrete paver brick could cause small spots of rust. With it being in direct contact would allow moisture to sit on the fence longer.
So I made enough 1.5 inch pieces to go on each piece of rebar I put into the concrete paver bricks to install the fence. Along with two sections of 3 inch PVC pipe to go above the fence panel tab and below the gate pivot point on the fence post.
Once I made all the PVC pieces I needed I then painted them black to match the Hampton Bay Empire fence panels and Hampton Bay fence gate.
Below is the process of painting the PVC pieces. I used a High Heat Paint from Rustoleum which works great. Simply put the pieces on a rope so that I could paint all edges of it in one shot. Then used a brush to paint the white pieces black.
Using the PVC risers step by step
First step in using the PVC risers is put one of the 1.5 inch pieces on each piece of rebar that was driven into the holes in the concrete paver bricks.
See the below picture for reference.
Now place the fence pieces on the rebar, then fence post as usual
Just as before place the fence pieces over the rebar. Then insert the fence post. The only extra thing you are doing is putting the PVC piece down first creating a barrier between the fence and the paver bricks.
When you get to the gate section this will make more sense as you will see below. You have the PVC piece down, then the fence panel over that.
For the Gate sections now add the 3 in PVC piece
Next add the larger 3 inch PVC piece onto the rebar. This piece will now go above the Gate Panel Tab.
See the picture above and compare it to the one below.
Now add the Gate piece
Add the gate piece which will slide over the rebar above the 3 inch section of PVC.
What happenes is the lowest piece of PVC keeps the fence off the pavers. The 3 Inch PVC piece then keeps the gate high above the concrete Paver Bricks so the gate won’t scratch on the concrete.
Now insert the Fence Post
Insert the fence post through the top tab of the fence panel. Second through the top hole of the gate. Then through the bottom hole of the gate (as shown above). After bring it through the 3 inch PVC piece. Followed by the lower fence panel tab. Then Lastly through the lower 1.5 inch PVC riser.
See picture below
Repeat the process for the other side of the gate
Simply repeat the process for the second side of the gate. While doing this you want to make sure the gate is going to be about 1/4″ away from the other gate piece when both are closed. So drill into the concrete paver bricks and install the fence post on the opposite side in a way to allow this.
Final Drilling into Concrete paver bricks to install the last fence pieces
The final drilling into concrete paver bricks to install a fence near the shed. The last few sections of fence were installed and completed the project.
The picture below was actually before the PVC risers were painted. So that you can see where they go below the gate attachment and above the fence panel tab.
Look at the entire project Before and After
Below is a gallery showing before the paver bricks in this area. Then once the holes were drilled into the concrete paver bricks to install the fence. And the final picture of the new fence installed over the concrete paver bricks.
If you want to see more about how the paver bricks were put down and how it was all done visit this link https://mommybs.com/installing-new-paver-bricks-for-patio-and-side-yard/
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