How to replace plinth to stop a neighbours dog getting in?

[belmccarty]

My next door neighbour has inground garden beds, they have 2 bigs dogs who are very friendly and playful, however they do not like not being able to see my dogs or us when we are out the back yard, so whenever we go outside the dogs ram the fence and or are digging under and even eating the palings. I tried bricking it up initially to deter but they just push all the bricks out their way. I was considering ( keep in mind I am renting so whilst I will cover the costs as it’s to keep my dogs, kids, grandkids and I sane, I just don’t want to spend a fortune) either some form of sheet metal into the ground attached to the fence, I guess act as a block and keep the fence looking decent without having to replace it, placing some pavers then some raised garden beds ( however my dogs may then play in the garden beds so they would be loitering near the fence, the other option was replacing the plinth timbers with concrete plinth/posts or whatever they are called, this would mean the dogs can’t eat the fence from the bottom and I guess I could put some wire or something in the ground to prevent digging under. I have to cover a 6m distance so trying to come up with idea that would look nice, not cost a fortune and also not require replacing on a regular basis. Is replacing the plinth as simple as pulling it off and then bolting the concrete plinth onto the fence posts? Do you have any other ideas. I have put some photos of an image chat GPT gave me and an image of the section in question that I am working with. Just feel like I might be wasting time and money with the garden beds idea.

 

 

 

[EricL]

Hello @belmccarty 

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us and thanks for sharing your question about your fence. 

For a quick fix, I suggest covering the plinth with three 200 x 50mm 2.4m Treated Pine Sleeper H4. These should be enough to cover the six-meter distance, I suggest using 400mm Plinth Peg Galvanised Steel to hold the sleepers in place. Generally speaking, you could speak to your landlord or the property manager about having the plinth replaced and repaired, but if you are in need of an immediate solution then the sleepers will cover that gap quite quickly. 

Let me call on our experienced members @Dave-1, @Nailbag and @AlanM52 for their recommendations.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[AlanM52]

Hi @belmccarty,

I looked at the photos before reading your post and came to this conclusion.

Someone (owner/renter) over the other side is damaging the fence and that plinth board is unable to withstand the soil load.

The cause is usually a raised garden bed that has not been properly designed and/or correctly installed.

You are in a position to simply report that to the landlord, step back and see what happens.

OK... that's the hard-line approach.

@EricL's suggestion is a good one but I am saying replace the actual plinth board. I also suggest you should work with the neighbour to remove soil on the other side before starting the repair job.

Cheers

[Dave-1]

Good Morning @belmccarty 

I was thinking of a flat gal strip 400mm high screwed along the base of your fence, preferably dug in but 100mm. That way you could remove it when leaving and also the dogs wont see any light through the bottom. 

I cant find any items that match the sheet metal strip in a roll from bunnings tho 😕 You could always cut a colourbond panel into strips to do the same. I was more after a flat piece so weeds dont grow up against the fence so easily.

If you cant do the metal then @EricL 's suggestion of the sleepers would be my next uption, just to close off the base (I would still dig it out a bit)

Dave

Dave