Fences and Gates - Fences on asphalt?

I need to build a short (5') fence about 36" high. ^Trouble is, it has to go on asphalt, and I can;t dig a hole. There's a shed on one side and some stairs on the other. But how do I anchor the fence, and make it strong enough for a gate in it as well?

Thanks

Welcome to the forums! With structure on both sides, you may be able to place a plumbing flange for a 1 1/2" pipe where you want the post, screw it to the asphalt with tapcons, insert a 30" x 1 1/2" threaded iron pipe into it. Then you can slide your line post on top of it. You can strap it to the structure for a more secure holding capability for the gate.

Tomg1190,

The opening is 5'. I would suggest that you plan on hinging the gate off of the shed. That's the strongest point that you have. You only need to worry about getting a post in the asphalt that is strong enough to be used as a latch post.

Make the gate 3' wide, and fence the other 2'.

Using Tapcons to attach the latch post won't work. Tapcons work great in concrete, but they won't hold in asphalt. It's too soft.

A masonary drill bit would be plenty to drill thru the asphalt so that you could dig a small hole to set a post for the latch post. Doesn't have to be much, and it doesn't have to be all that deep. Open an 8" round hole in the asphalt and clam shells will allow you to dig the hole itself once the asphalt is out of the way. 18" deep and set the post in concrete.

Not sure what you are thinking about for fencing, but a steel post (1-5/8" chain link) would be plenty, and it won't rot.

Asphalt is usually only 2" or at best 3" thick. On a warmer day you can dig right through it with the use of one end of a tampping or digging bar. All you need do is score a line of the size of the hole you wish to dig. After doing so, you continue to pick away at the line pushing the bar deeper and deeper into the asphalt until you hit the soil or crushed stone base. Once doing so you need to pry the top cap of asphalt away from the surrounding asphalt. Then using post hole diggers you dig down to your desired depth. For such a short span of 5 feet long and such a short height of only 36 inches high I would say that 18 to 24 inches or so would be fine for digging . Cementing the post in of course.

If this is an old driveway you should determine if there is cement under the asphalt before assuming not. If there is a cement driveway under the asphalt then you could go about it with a few different ways. One of which would be to take a few short cuts with bracketing your terminal posts onto your structures for support. Another way would be to dig through your asphalt as I described above then to drill through the cement with a core drill and then using a epoxy cement to adhere the post in place. Another option would be to get to the cement base and use a platform base for whatever type of post and then use cement shields drilled and set into concrete.
If you have access to a core drill, I would go with that method. If you want to avoid a lot of back breaking work and affix your post more easily I would go with the use of whatever types of brackets needed to affix the posts to the structures nearest to your job.

**At no cost should you attach to the house. Sheds are ok, but never to the home structure itself.

Good luck with your project and surely do come back to DoItYourself.com for all your questions in fencing .

Gregs Fence ~