I am taking down my 3' white picket fence to replace it with an 'iron' fence of the same height. (I can weld so I'll make the new steel fence.)
I want pour a continuous curb that will go under the fence. The fence posts (steel) will bolt onto the curb. I think I need to make the curb between 6 to 8 inches wide--haven't figured this out yet. I reckon 6" would be okay in the sense that there is no substantial weight bearing downward onto the concrete. However, the fence posts will have base plates welded to them and I might need a wider curb so the bolts do not get too close to the edge (to prevent cracking the edge of the concrete out where the bolts go in). Comments on this hoped for and welcomed.
Also, I am not sure how deep to go with the curb. We live on southern Vancouver Island with a climate like Seattle. We don't get much in the way of frost and it never goes deep. So, I thought I probably could go down around 16" below the ground surface and not have to worry about frost problems. (I think I'd like the curb to come about 2" above ground.) I don't know if this is right thinking or not so I'd be happy to get comments.
Finally, I think I need to also be concerned about going deep enough so the fence could not be pushed over if somebody leans on it. Is 16" deep enough for that?
Thank you in advance, David Todtman