Stop Digging Predators Without Burying Wire

The apron is an L, not a wall. Fasten a band of galvanized wire to the bottom plate of the run, bend it outward so it lies flat on the ground, and weight it down with soil, gravel, or pavers. Nothing is buried vertically. The wire's job is ground contact and width, 18 to 24 inches in ordinary soil and more in sand, so that anything digging at the base of the wall meets wire before it gets under the frame.

Kneel at the bottom plate and put your hand flat where the wood meets dirt. That seam is the target. A raccoon works it, a fox works it, a neighbor's dog works it, and so does a groundhog that has decided your run is in its way. They all dig in the same place, because it is the only place where the wall stops. Above the seam is lumber and wire. Below the seam is nothing at all. The animal scrapes, shoves the loosened soil back between its front legs, and keeps going until the hole is wide enough to slide through. It is not a clever maneuver. It is the path of least resistance, and the path of least resistance is always the seam.

So that is where the wire goes. Not in a trench six inches out. Right at the seam, attached, and then folded outward.

The bend is the detail people skip

Plenty of advice says bury the wire. I have dug those trenches. In clay it is a fight with a mattock. In sand the walls slump back in before you finish, and you end up with wire that is buried at the bottom and loose at the top. Worse, a trench only defends a vertical plane, and a digger that gets under the bottom edge of a vertical skirt is already past it. The trench also puts the bottom plate in a hole that holds water, which is the last thing you want around wood.

The L fixes all of that with one fold. Run the apron wire up the outside of the wall, overlap the wall wire by at least 2 inches so there is no seam to work, then bend it outward at the bottom of the plate and lay it flat. One continuous piece of wire from the wall out to the apron's outer edge. No gap at the corner, because there is no corner, only a bend.

That bend is where I see people go wrong. If you are using welded wire with 2x4 openings, the welds will pop if you fold it hard over an edge. Lay a 2x4 on the ground, lay the wire over it, and press the fold down along the whole length so it has a radius instead of a crease. Half-inch hardware cloth bends like cloth and does not care, and it is what I would use on an apron anyway, because it stops the small diggers and not just the big ones. A rat or a weasel goes through a 2x4 opening without slowing down.

Fastening: screws, fender washers, and that 2-inch overlap

Attach the apron to the bottom plate, not to the wall wire hanging above it. The bottom plate is the structural piece, and it is also the piece sitting at ground level, which is where the load is.

I use 1 1/4-inch exterior screws with fender washers, every 6 to 8 inches, driven through the apron wire, through the wall wire, and into the plate. The washer is the point. A bare screw head pulls through hardware cloth, and staples rust or get pried. Screws and washers hold the wire flat against the wood and keep holding it.

Where the apron meets the wall wire, lap them at least 2 inches and catch that lap in the same screws. Two layers of wire under one washer makes a locked seam. One layer is a hinge, and a hinge is a gap waiting to happen.

Width: 18 to 24 inches, and why sand changes the number

The apron does not have to be wide because the animal walks out and starts digging at the far edge. It has to be wide because the dirt it scrapes out has to land somewhere, and the animal will not back up to find a new spot. It digs at the wall, hits wire, and stops. Eighteen inches is enough for that in most yards. Twenty-four is where I start if the ground has any give to it.

Sand is the exception, and it is the exception that matters most. In sand a tunnel does not hold its shape. You can scoop a hole and the walls slide right back in, which means the animal can keep working without the hole caving on it. That is the whole reason sandy ground is digger heaven. So in sand, go 24 inches minimum, and 30 if you have the wire for it. Or take the other route: pour a footing, set the bottom plate into it, and run the apron wire out of the concrete and bend it outward from there. More work, more money, and it ends the conversation.

Rocky ground is the opposite problem, and it is the one where the apron is basically the only option. You cannot trench rock. You probably cannot get a staple in, either. Lay the apron over the rock, follow whatever the ground does, dip it into the gaps and let it ride over the high spots, and then use the rocks you could not dig out as the weights. A line of large flat stones along the outer edge holds the wire in contact and, more usefully, makes fresh digging easy to spot. Displaced rock, scratched gravel, a ridge of soil pushed out from the seam: those are the tells.

What goes on top

Cover it. Not deep. One to two inches of soil is plenty, or gravel, or pavers. The cover does two things. It keeps the wire in contact with the ground, and it keeps sunlight off the wire. Exposed galvanized wire holds up for a long time, but wire that has drifted up out of contact is the failure you will actually get.

That is the part nobody warns you about. An apron does not usually fail by being too narrow. It fails by losing contact. Soil washes off in a storm, the wire lifts, and now there is space between wire and dirt for something to work. Pavers, or a heavy line of rocks along the outer edge, keep it down.

What an apron does not do

An apron handles digging and nothing else. It does not stop a raccoon that climbs, and it does not stop anything reaching over the top of the wall for a bird standing near the fence line. Roof and height are separate problems, and if you have a climber, the apron is not the fix.

Walk the perimeter after a hard rain, after the first freeze and thaw of the season, and after the leaves come down. You are checking contact, not width. Push down on the wire with a boot. If it moves more than you expect, add weight. If a rock has shifted, that is information.

The apron is a boring piece of construction, and that is what I like about it. A fold, a row of screws, a cover, and then you stop thinking about it.