Terminal posts and line posts are different animals
Everything about a chain link order starts with one distinction. A terminal post is any post the fabric is anchored to: an end post, a corner post, a gate post. It takes the full tension of the stretched fabric pulling in one direction and nothing pulling back, so it is a heavier section, is set deeper, and gets more concrete. A line post is a post the fabric merely passes and is tied to. It carries almost no horizontal load, and it is lighter and cheaper.
Counting them is where orders go wrong. Terminal posts are easy: ends plus corners plus two per gate. Line posts are what is left, and the arithmetic is per stretch rather than per fence. Each separate stretch of fabric between two terminals needs the number of spaces at your spacing, minus one, because the terminals at each end are already counted. Add those up across the fence. A corner does not merely change direction, it terminates one stretch and starts another, and so does every gate.
The consequence is that a fence with many corners has more terminal posts and fewer line posts than the same length of fence run straight, and it costs noticeably more. A closed rectangle with four corners and one gate is six stretches, six terminal-post positions of which two are the gate, and the rest of the posts are line.
The fittings, in the order you fit them
Chain link is assembled in a fixed sequence, and the fittings exist to serve it. Knowing the sequence is the fastest way to check an order is complete.
| Fitting | Goes where | How many |
|---|---|---|
| Post cap | Top of every terminal post | One per terminal post |
| Loop cap | Top of every line post, the rail runs through it | One per line post |
| Brace band | Terminal post, carries the rail end | One per terminal post |
| Rail end cup | Bolts to the brace band, the rail lands in it | One per terminal post |
| Tension bar | Woven vertically through the last mesh of a cut fabric end | One per fabric end |
| Tension band | Bolts the tension bar to the terminal post | Several per bar, roughly one per foot of height less one |
| Tie wire | Fabric to line posts and to the top rail | Per your tie spacing |
| Hog ring | Fabric to bottom tension wire | Roughly every two feet, if a bottom wire is used |
The count that surprises people is tension bars. Not one per terminal post: one per cut end of fabric. An end post has one. A corner post has two, because the fabric terminates on both sides of it. Each gate opening has two, one on each gate post. Order the bars against fabric ends, not against posts, and the tension bands follow from the bars.
Fabric, rolls and the joint nobody thinks about
Fabric is sold in rolls by length at a given height, and the length you need is the run minus the gate openings. Where two rolls meet, they are joined by backing out one vertical wire and screwing it back through both ends, which reweaves the two pieces into one continuous fabric. That means a roll boundary does not have to fall at a post and you do not need to plan the layout around it, which is unlike almost every other fencing material.
Height is where the ordering error lives instead. Fabric height is the mesh dimension and it sits above the ground by whatever gap you leave, so a four foot fabric on posts set with a two inch ground gap gives a fence whose top is four foot two above the ground. If the fence has to reach a specific height, work from the top down. And if it is a containment fence, the gap at the bottom is a real opening across the whole run, which is what the bottom tension wire is for: it holds the fabric down so that it cannot be pushed up and crawled under.
What the arithmetic does not decide
Post depth is a local question governed by frost where frost governs anything, and this page takes no position on it. The fence post calculator works out the concrete for whatever depth you are given locally, and the concrete footing calculator handles a larger footing for a heavy gate post.
Nor does it decide where the fence goes. That is a survey question, and it is worth being blunt: the position of an old fence, a hedge, a mown line or a set of stakes someone else drove is not evidence of a boundary. A fence built over a property line is a legal matter rather than a construction one, and the remedy can be taking it out and rebuilding it in a different place.
For a chain link fence around a court, where fabric height and backstop netting drive the design, the sport court fence calculator is the better starting point. For wire fencing on agricultural runs with braced corner assemblies, the livestock fence calculator covers the strained-wire arrangement instead. Sloping ground is easy in chain link but still changes the post lengths, which the fence on a slope calculator works out, and the gate at the end belongs to the gate sag and brace calculator.
Questions people ask
How many tension bars do I need?
One for every cut end of fabric, which is not the same as one per post. An end post terminates one piece of fabric and takes one bar. A corner post terminates the fabric on each of its two sides and takes two. Each gate opening interrupts the run and takes one bar on each of its two gate posts. So a closed rectangular fence with four corners and one gate needs eight bars for the corners and two for the gate, not five. Each bar then needs its own set of tension bands to bolt it to the post, which is why undercounting bars quietly undercounts bands as well.
Do I need a top rail?
It is not universal, and the alternative is a top tension wire, which is common on agricultural and longer runs. The rail does two things a wire does not: it holds the line posts in line against a push, and it gives the fabric a straight edge to be tied to so the top does not wave. A wire is cheaper, faster and copes better with uneven ground, but a fence with a top wire flexes noticeably when leaned on. For a residential fence around a yard the rail is worth having. Note that choosing one changes the fittings list substantially, since a rail brings loop caps, brace bands and rail ends with it.
What line post spacing should I use?
Ten feet is the figure most residential chain link is built to and it is the default here. Closer spacing stiffens the fence and is normal as the fabric gets taller, since a taller fence catches more wind and has more leverage over each post. What you should not do is stretch the spacing to save posts on a tall fence: the load does not disappear, it moves into fewer footings and into the fabric itself, and the failure shows up as posts leaning uniformly along the run after the first serious wind. If the fence is tall or the site is exposed, spacing is worth asking about locally rather than defaulting.
How is the fabric actually tensioned?
With a bar woven into the free end and a stretching tool pulling against the terminal post, so that the mesh is drawn taut before the bar is bolted on. The whole design depends on it: an untensioned chain link fence sags into a hammock within a season and the fabric can be lifted by hand at the bottom. This is also why terminal posts are heavier and set more substantially than line posts, and why a corner post has to resist the pull of two stretches at right angles. Anyone who has watched a well-built chain link fence bounce back when pushed has seen the tension doing its job.
Can chain link follow a slope?
Better than any other common fence, which is why sloping boundaries are so often chain link. The fabric is a diamond mesh that distorts freely, so it follows whatever line the top rail and the bottom of the fence take without needing to be stepped or specially made. The rail is bent gently at grade changes and the fabric conforms. What still changes on a slope is the post lengths and the ground gap, both of which are worth working out before ordering rather than after, and the calculator for that is the fence on a slope page.