A DIY Halloween graveyard fence is built in 8 foot panels. Each panel is two 1×2 boards and ten pieces of 1/2 inch PVC pipe, screwed together and painted black so it reads as wrought iron after dark. Our build is six panels for a total of 48 feet, with all 60 pickets cut from 15 pipes and zero waste.
Every graveyard needs a fence. Tombstones sitting loose on the lawn look like decorations, but put a nice 3ft tall crooked black wrought iron fence around them and suddenly it is a cemetery, and people slow down when they drive by.
One great part about this build is that the only wood you cut is a few short dowel stakes (and maybe some more for the optional finials). The furring strips (1×2 pine rails) go on at their full 8 foot length, straight off the rack. Everything else is PVC, and I worked out a cut list so every single inch of pipe gets used. The pickets step down from the ends to the middle of each panel, which gives you that sagging, old iron fence shape without any fancy joinery.
It is the perfect partner for our plywood Halloween yard silhouettes if you want to go all in on the yard this year.
Full tutorial on YouTube!
- Size: 48 feet long, six identical 8 foot panels
- Pickets: 60 pieces of 1/2 inch PVC, 10 per panel, from 26 to 34 inches tall
- Skill level: beginner. If you can drill a pilot hole, you can build this
- Time: about 3 hours 40 minutes: 20 minutes to cut PVC, 1 hour to drill the holes, 1 hour to screw and set the pickets, 40 minutes to spray paint, 20 minutes to cut stakes and 20 minutes to do the finials
- Cost: about $173 all in: $75 for the 15 PVC pipes, $20 for 12 furring strips, $15 for 3 cans of spray paint, $8 for 2 poplar dowels (1/2″), $44 for 50 finials and $11 for a box of screws. We already had the screws, so ours came in around $162
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What Do You Need to Build a Graveyard Fence?
This list covers the full 48 foot run. If you want a shorter fence, every panel is its own unit, so divide everything by six and multiply by however many panels you want.
Materials
- 12 boards, Furring strips are 1x2x8, for the rails (two per panel)
- 15 lengths of 1/2 inch PVC pipe, 10 feet each, for the pickets
- 2x 72″ 1/2″ diameter wooden dowels
- 120 outdoor deck screws, #8 x 1-1/4 inch
- Plastic adhesion spray primer, optional (see the paint step)
- Black spray paint for the top coat
- Finials sized for 1/2 inch PVC (0.84 inch outside diameter), optional. We used a pack of 50 and spaced them out
Tools
- Tape measure and a pencil
- A PVC cutter, hacksaw, or multi tool for the pipe
- A drill with a pilot bit
- Hole saw kit
- Safety glasses
That is it. If you are still putting your first tool kit together, here are the beginner DIY tools I would buy first.
How Tall Are the Pickets and How Far Apart?
Each 8 foot panel gets 10 pickets spaced 9.5 inches on center, with 5.25 inches of rail left at each end. The pickets are 34 inches tall at the ends and step down 2 inches at a time to 26 inches in the middle. The top rail sits 24 inches above the ground and the bottom rail sits 4 inches above it.
That dip in the middle is what makes it look like an old cemetery fence instead of a new picket fence. Line six of them up and you get a scalloped run that looks way more expensive than it is.
| Picket | Center, measured from the left end | Height |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5.25 in | 34 in |
| 2 | 14.75 in | 32 in |
| 3 | 24.25 in | 30 in |
| 4 | 33.75 in | 28 in |
| 5 | 43.25 in | 26 in |
| 6 | 52.75 in | 26 in |
| 7 | 62.25 in | 28 in |
| 8 | 71.75 in | 30 in |
| 9 | 81.25 in | 32 in |
| 10 | 90.75 in | 34 in |
How Do You Cut 60 Pickets with Zero Waste?
Cut 12 of your pipes into a 34, a 32, a 28 and a 26 inch piece. Cut the other 3 pipes into four 30 inch pieces each. Each pattern adds up to exactly 120 inches, which is one 10 foot pipe, so 15 pipes give you 12 pickets of every height and nothing left over.
Two tips here. A PVC cutter pinches the pipe and loses nothing, but a hacksaw eats a tiny bit with every cut. If you are sawing, cut the 26 inch piece last on each pipe so any lost length lands on the shortest picket, where nobody will ever notice. And sort your pieces into five piles by height as you go. You will thank me at assembly.
How to Build the Graveyard Fence, Step by Step
- Cut all 60 pickets. Follow the cut plan above so you end up with 12 of each height.
- Mark the picket positions on both rails. Measure 5.25 inches in from one end, then make a mark every 9.5 inches. You should have 10 marks per rail, and the last one lands 5.25 inches from the other end. If it does not, measure again before you drill anything.
- Drill the holes for the pickets with a hole saw. Use a 7/8″ hole saw. It is a nice snug fit for the 1/2″ PVC pickets. A 1″ hole leaves only about 1/4″ of wood on each side of a furring strip, so go slow and keep the bit centered on your mark.
- Slide the pickets through the rails. Lay the two rails parallel, 20 inches apart so they end up 4 and 24 inches off the ground, and push the pickets through the holes in order: 34, 32, 30, 28, 26, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34. Line the bottom of every picket up with the ground line. Check your spacing now while it is still easy to fix.
- Pre drill every picket. At each rail, drill a pilot hole through the rail and into the picket. Do not skip this. Driving a screw straight into PVC without a pilot hole can crack the pipe.
- Screw the pickets in place. One screw through the top rail and one through the bottom rail into every picket, so nothing slides up or down. That is 20 screws per panel.
- Repeat for all six panels.
- Paint the panels. I set all 6 panels up staggered and hit the whole thing with black spray paint. If I wanted to be more thorough I would have done plastic adhesion primer first, then the black top coat. I wasn’t worried because it didn’t need to look incredible, but I did go back and do touch ups once the fence was in the yard.
- Cut the dowels into 9″ stakes and stake the fence. Hammer a 1/2″ dowel 5″ into the ground at each end of the fence length, then slide the bottom of the PVC picket over the stake.
- Finials (Optional) We ordered 1/2″ finials and they did not fit on the outside of the 1/2″ PVC so you can either just glue them on top or do what we did, cut the dowel to 2″ lengths and glue them tothe finials and then drop them on the tops of the pickets after painting.
Once everything is standing, touch up the screw heads with a quick shot of black and slip the finials on if you are using them. Glue or screw them in place so they do not wander off in the wind.
How Do You Make PVC Look Like Wrought Iron?
Flat black and finials. That is the whole secret. Round PVC already has the shape of an iron bar, so once the white is gone your brain fills in the rest, especially at night.
I skipped primer on ours because it only has to look good for one Halloween, and a few touch ups in the yard covered it. Regular spray paint does not grip PVC very well though, so it can start chipping and flaking over time. If you want the black to last more than a season, put a plastic adhesion primer underneath.
The finials are optional, but they are what take it from painted pipe to cemetery gate. We used to 1/2 inch finials which would not fit over the PVC, which is 0.84 inches on the outside. So you can glue them on the top or do what we did, cut the dowel to 2″ lengths and glue them in the finial and then drop them on the tops of the pickets after painting. One on every picket would be 60, but we bought a pack of 50 and spaced them out across the fence.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why use PVC pipe instead of wood for the pickets?
PVC is light, it does not rot sitting in wet grass, and it is already round like an iron bar. It also cuts clean with a simple PVC cutter, and the only wood you cut is a few short dowel stakes.
Can I make the fence shorter or longer?
Yes. Every panel is its own 8 foot unit, so build as many as your yard needs. One panel takes two 1x2x8 boards, 10 pickets, and 20 screws. Two panels use exactly five pipes, so build in pairs if you want to keep the zero waste cut plan.
Why is my spray paint peeling off the PVC?
Regular spray paint does not bond to PVC. Use a primer made for plastic before your black top coat and the paint will stay put.
Do I really need to pre drill the PVC?
Yes. Driving a screw straight into PVC pipe without a pilot hole can crack the pipe or the 1×2 furring strip. A pilot hole takes a few seconds and saves you from recutting pickets.
What size finials fit 1/2 inch PVC?
A 1/2 inch finial will not fit over the top of the PVC, which has an outside diameter of 0.84 inches. We glued 2″ long sections of 1/2″ dowel into each finial and slipped them on after painting and glue or screw them in place. One per picket is 60 for the full fence, but we used a pack of 50 and spaced them out.
Want the stuff that does not make it into the blog? Every week I send one email with what we are building next, what it really cost, and what went wrong along the way. It is free and it is the first place I share new projects.
Rather watch than read? The whole fence build is on my YouTube channel, and that is where every big Halloween project lands first. Subscribe so you catch the next one.
Questions about the build? Email me at hello@selenebuildsthings.com.
Read Next
- The plywood silhouette scene that lights up the whole side yard
- A life size coffin built from free pallets in about 2 hours
- How to drill pumpkins so they glow with string lights
Until next time,
Selene
