Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with fencing

What is the name for this type of fencing?

imposster — Sun, 31 May 2009 16:35:43 -0800

What is the name for this type of fence? Fairly thin metal posts with lots of tabs punched out onto which a large metal mesh can be placed (not chain link) and fastened. (And where can I get some?) I remember this type of fence growing up but never knew the name of it. Now I like to get some, but I can't find it anywhere and since I don't know the name of it, and can't ask for it. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

All bark so far, but afraid there will be an eventual bite... help!

Unicorn on the cob — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:01:59 -0800

[pit bull filter]: Help me sell my house. Caveat: Three large dogs next door are scaring away buyers, including one very aggressive pit bull. I believe the way these dogs are left to roam outside may also be potentially breaking the law. My house is for sale; it's offered at a decent price, kept immaculately, staged daily, and the yard is manicured.

Now, to the problem: I am getting two types of feedback from agents showing my home...

Feedback 1: Awesome house, did not like the neighborhood. Too transitional. (I have accepted that there is nothing I can do about this; location is always a huge factor.)

Feedback 2: Wife/person would not even get out of the car due to barking dogs next door OR love house, neighborhood ok, worried about potential buyer's pet/children and neighbor's dogs attacking said pet/children.

I have a privacy fence around my house except for the one side I share with a neighbor, who own a purebred pit bull, a boxer mix, and a bloodhound/pit mix of some kind. All are large and aggressive and bark regularly.

The dogs are behind a wide-set metal fence that's not even five feet tall you can see here. They run loose all day, every day, and I do not have a real relationship with the neighbors (they are renters). These neighbors are home seldom; I see them only late at night, almost never on weekends.

These dogs know me and will bark once or twice when I drive up, but when I get anywhere near the fence or a stranger pulls up, they go absolutely apeshit. The gate is automated and the dogs could easily run out as the owner is driving in.

My question is truly three-fold:

1. What can I do, on flyers, in emails and through my agent to assuage the fears of potential buyers? Example: Offer to find a contractor that will finish out the privacy fence and add this into the contract, or reduce the price by the amount it would cost to build the fence and include the contractor's information.

2. Is it even legal to have these dogs running loose, behind a minimal, gapped fence, when there are small children and dogs tethered nearby which they could easily attack? My neighbors across the street have three small girls who often cower while trying to retrieve toys and balls in the driveway where these dogs live.

3. What is the best course of action in concern to these dogs? I cannot tell the owners just to put them up when people are looking at my home; sometimes I get 10 minutes' notice about a showing, or the owners of the dogs will be at work and therefor unable to comply.

I feel as though there must be some kind of law in regard to having these dogs living outside, in the Texas heat, alone 70 percent of the time.

Homeowners, neighbors of pit bull owners, Realtors, etc: give me your best advice. I am asking because a friend who does animal rescue stated that there are specific laws regarding pit bulls and fence heights, etc. and I am unsure if I have some legal recourse in getting them properly fenced/put inside during the day/contacting the city about them, not only so I can sell my house, but for their own safety and the safety of the neighborhood.

What happens to stolen GPS units?

Juffo-Wup — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:30:55 -0800

What is the eventual disposition of GPS navigation units that get stolen from cars in the United States? Specifically, what about GPS units that are locked with PINs? Details and more specifics inside. A few months ago, my friend was staying at a hotel in a relatively low-crime area. Overnight, someone smashed his car's window and stole his GPS unit which had been left attached to the windshield. This got me wondering about what happens to GPS units and other similar items that get stolen in this manner.

Since this happened in a hotel parking lot in the middle of the night, I doubt that someone who was otherwise going about his or her innocent business saw the GPS sitting there and thought, "Hey! I want one of these but they're expensive, so instead of buying one I'll just steal this one right here!" Given this, I imagine that the thief had something in mind to do with the GPS units (and whatever else) he planned to steal that night. But what might this be?

There are really two classes of stolen GPS units: Those which are locked with a PIN and those which are not. Unlocked units could be sold and used readily, but what about locked units? I searched the Internet (briefly) for methods of unlocking various popular GPSes and didn't find any instructions for doing so, which makes it seem unlikely that the answer is as simple as "open the unit and momentarily short pin 9 on the xyz IC with the test pad labeled w". The GPS units I've seen have long timeouts after entering a pin incorrectly two or three times, so a brute-force approach seems unlikely to succeed.

I thought of pawn shops, but then I read about various laws and practices that are supposed to reduce the ease by which stolen property can be sold at such establishments. I wonder how effective these measures are and what percentage of goods sold through pawn shops are stolen. I also wonder whether the proprietor of a pawn shop would want to see a GPS device turned on and working (which would presumably inhibit the pawning of PIN-protected devices), or whether he would just take it as-is.

I've heard about "fences"; guys who buy stolen property, but I've never heard much about what goes on once they get their hands on these items. Presumably they have contacts to whom they sell things, but eventually they must make their way back into the hands of consumers somehow, right?

With that in mind, I started thinking about where I would go if I wanted to buy a stolen GPS or really any other stolen goods, for that matter. I realize that I am not in close touch with the culture of the criminal underground, but I have spent some time in various lower-income parts of Detroit and I can't say I've seen any open-air electronics markets or lots of people selling things out of the back of trucks. But, perhaps stolen goods are generally sold on a personal-connection basis or in some other manner that would escape the scrutiny of an outsider.

That leaves the possibility of transporting the goods to countries (or regions of the US) where less-formal open-air markets and person-to-person sales are more common. Of course, at a certain point, it might become difficult to sell a GPS unit with a USA base map to a guy in Ecuador but if much of this happens, perhaps the same criminal enterprise that moves the goods re-flashes them with local maps for the destination markets? Also, perhaps such a criminal outfit would have a way to unlock any PIN-locked units that may come into their possession(?)

At any rate, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on what generally happens to stolen items of this sort.

Learning Fencing

comatose — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 09:38:38 -0800

Bitten by the olympic bug, I am interested in taking up fencing. Fencing questions inside. (Suggestions for other unique non-team sports are welcome) Previously.

I am 23, 6'-3" lean and in good physical condition. I need to participate in a physical activity as a distraction during my upcoming thesis year and would like to be able to carry over in a future 9 to 5 lifestyle. Fencing seems very appealing, but...

Does fencing fit in to a once, maybe twice a week hobby, or is it more of a time/lifestyle commitment?

It appears that I am past the prime of learning how to fence. Is it too late to learn, or should I take up a "lifetime" sport like golf or tennis?

What is the learning curve? Are there even tournaments for "older" people? I see a lot of "I used to fence in college" kind of thing.

Anything else related to how fencing would fit in to a lifestyle, not so much of what are the different types of fencing or what equipment I need to buy kind of information. Also, I live just down the street from the Cincinnati Fencing Club, which appears to be a credible organization.

Rotting fences make bad neighbors

mecran01 — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:49:49 -0800

I am shoring up a sagging fence that I will help replace in a year. The original posts are not in cement and are rotting at the base. I'm trying to figure out how to attach some support posts. 1) I am trying to put in those metal posts (not chainlink) that are used to build wire fences, and use them to support the sagging fence.

a. How do I get those green metal posts in the ground? Do I pound them in? Dig a hole adjacent to the rotting post? There are a lot of roots in the soil from an adjoining pine tree.

b. Is there a good webpage or a youtube that shows how to use those channel lock fence tool/pliers? I have got it partially figured out, but could use some tips.

c. Should I need to use guy wires to hold the fence up, how do I cheaply tension the baling wire, and what should I use as an anchor? Rebar stakes?

Thanks. I obviously didn't grow up on a farm...

I'm attaching the floppiest part of the fence to our adjoining shed with stranded 20 gauge baling wire. I know from perusing earlier threads that there are some serious load tying geeks out there and I hope to hear from you.

recommend a video camera that can clearly record small things moving very quickly

Grod — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 10:33:29 -0800

Video enthusiasts and professionals I need suggestions for a camera that will be used primarily to record fencing matches. (this question asked on behalf of my father) My youngest sister has become a very accomplished foil fencer and competes all over the country. Over the weekend I went to visit her and our parents (she's 11 years my junior) and my father asked if I knew of any portable camcorders in the $350 - $700 that would be especially good for recording her bouts. I said no but I knew where I could ask. For those familiar with video but not fencing: it is very, very fast and hard to follow unless you know what you're looking at; it's played indoors under decent lighting conditions; and bouts occur on a long, narrow strip between two people (dressed all in white with a black grill over their faces) who stay on their own side of the strip. Moderate zoom would probably get used but from time to time but the action is so fast that an amature videographer would probably find they got the best results by tracking/panning rather than messing with focal lengths. But I'm just guessing.

I suspect much of the footage will go directly to DVD. I don't know what if any post processing they have in mind but I'm assuming they'd prefer high def source. I don't know if cameras record interlaced or progressive frames, I don't know which would be preferable for their purposes. I don't know if devices record with the h264 codec or the nearly uncompressed DV or some similar mpeg format and I don't know what would be most useful for them.

To Sum Up:
All I know is that they want a camera that will allow them to record their daughter's fencing matches for later enjoyment so the top priority is a camera that costs between $350 and $700 and which can clearly record small things moving very quickly. I welcome any technical information you might have, any similar experiences, and any explanations (of optics, digital video versus film, pre-processing compression, pet peeves or whatever) you can offer in support of your recommendation.

Thank you.

Block off wooden porch steps for dog purposes, cheaply?

staggernation — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 10:42:08 -0800

Stairs (wood) lead from backyard up to outdoor deck (wood). Dog can run up. Want to install something to keep dog in yard, with stairs remaining usable, without hiring expensive contractor. Thoughts? Picture a house with an outdoor porch with a wooden deck, about 4' off the ground. Centered at one end of the deck, which is 10' wide, there's a set of stairs, 7' wide, leading to a backyard that's otherwise fenced in. Neither the porch nor the stairs has a railing.

Now picture a happy Labradoodle. The goal is to let this dog romp in said yard unsupervised, without being able to run up the stairs. But people still have to be able to use the stairs. In other words, this will involve either a length of railing + gate mounted to the deck (no side supports available), or a fence + gate around the three sides of the stairway. Or something clever I haven't envisioned.

And ideally, we'll accomplish this in an inexpensive and somewhat DIY fashion: with prefabricated components we can purchase, even if we need a pro to help mount them, and no concrete-pouring.

Any ideas?

I found some porch railings that might be suitable, but I'm not 100% sure which components would be needed, and it appears to get a little pricey when you add up the gate, railing, post mounts, and post cladding. This doesn't have to be aesthetically wonderful or especially sturdy—just gotta keep that dog in the yard.

How do I build a cheap, temporary fence?

zaebiz — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 17:35:44 -0800

Temporary fencing question : I'm going to foster a retired greyhound for a few weeks but have to somehow put up a fence on one side of the yard so he won't get over. The length needed is around 8 metres and runs along some hedges on the border of the neighbour's place. Probably needs to be about 5 feet high. I want to do this myself as cheaply and quickly as possible. Any suggestions?

Please help me recall an old arcade game I played as a kid.

utsutsu — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 13:57:38 -0800

Please help me recall an old arcade game I played as a kid. The only things I can remember are:

- You played as a pirate and the game revolved around fencing.

- It was at least two player co-operative against many computer controlled enemies.

- Played like a typical side scrolling beat-em-up except that there was a button to change which direction you were facing. I assume this was to allow you to back away from an enemy while still pointing your sword at him.

- I played this at Chuck E. Cheese's around 1990-ish.

Thanks in advance for any help, this has been stumping me for quite a while now!

Fencing!

urbanwhaleshark — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 16:50:25 -0800

I'm looking for accredited fencing clubs in London. I fancy a new hobby. If anyone is a part of a club, or could recommend one, I'd be grateful.

Road Block

TahitiBlue — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 14:21:48 -0800

I recently bought a house that fronts a busy street that is also quite popular with the bass thumping, custom exhaust crowd. Anyone have any advice on building a tasteful noise abatement fence or wall? It seems there are a lot of specialized commercial products out there, but not much for the average homeowner to purchase and install themselves. The local fencing contractors in Austin that I've talked to haven't been much help either. Has anyone here had any experience trying this, or can point me somewhere that might have good advice. Would a concrete block wall work significantly better than stucco? Would that make much more of a difference than board and baton fencing? It is a really large area, so I'm trying to get that the most inexpensive solution, but I don't want something that is so ineffectual that I have to staple pillows to the front of it just to open my window.

Obscure Chess Terminology

Manjusri — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 19:43:47 -0800

I'm trying to recall a phrase, probably french in origin, that refers to the character of a specific period in a chess game when both sides have developed their pieces, but are loathe to attack. It invokes the flavor of an equilibrium, where both players jockey for position, but neither is willing to take the risk of committing to offense, instead seeking a marginal advantage or preferring to respond to a counterattack. I originally read this term in an article in American Fencing where the author was drawing a very appropriate comparison to tactics in an epee bout. Can't recall the phrase, or find the article, and Google has yet to come through for me.

I've posted what I thought were complete unanswerables to askmefi before, only to be immediately enlightened. I suspect this one might be a stumper though...

Chain link and faux bamboo

mulkey — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 17:35:42 -0800

How do I successfully attach a "bamboo" screen to a chain link fence without the wind tearing it down? A while ago I bought some of those faux bamboo vertical privacy screens from Home Depot to put along the chain link fence in my backyard. I used plastic zip ties to attach them to my chain link fence. The screens do a great job of making the backyard more private and I'm happy with the way they look. The screen extends about a foot above the top of the chain link fence which gives even more privacy than I would otherwise have. I really like them.

Except for one thing. They keep falling down. I've fixed a few parts of the fence at least four times, it seems like the wind whips through a few areas of the fence and makes the plastic zip ties rub up against the chain link so that it snaps.

I'd like some suggestions about how I could better attach these things to the fence so that they won't fall down. I liked the zip ties because they were pretty much invisible. Would wire be a better idea? Should I pick a particular size/type of wire – particularly wire that wouldn't breakdown and can withstand some friction? The "bamboo" is pretty flimsy and held together by wire itself, and in a few places it's broken where the wind has separated it from the zip ties.

I'm getting pretty exasperated with having to keep tying them back to the fence, though I am loathe to get rid of my increased privacy. Any help would be appreciated!

restaining staining a wood fence

entropy — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 20:36:16 -0800

Restaining a wooden fence... I am planning on restaining a fence at my home soon and have a couple questions. I beleive the wood is cedar. What's the best/fastest way to remove the old stain? sanding? chemicals? Do I even need to? Much of the existing stain has already faded.

I also understand it needs to be cleaned before staining, should i rent a power washer or just spray it off with the hose?

Finally, I'd like to know if I should apply something over the stain to perserve it, perhaps some type of UV protection?

I found some information on google, but it's been sparse and contradictory. Any other tips or suggestions will be welcome as well. Thanks!

How do I learn fencing?

corpse — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 11:12:36 -0800

So after reading The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon, I've become interested in learning fencing. Where do I begin with this? What should I read up on? Are there beginner classes that I can take? Specifically in the Chicago area. Any mefi fencers out there? I'm in relatively good physical shape and the only other sport I play competively is tennis, how long would it take me to pick up the basics of the sport?