Fence Pt.3

With all the posts and stringers up it was time for boards. A quick word about pressure treated lumber. Put it up quickly and treat it afterwards. If not you run the risk of warping. Even if you do everything properly you will lose some boards. I got lucky and only lost 5 out of 180.

I'll treat them and place them under some pressure to try and save them but at about a buck fifty per board I don't use any that are too bad. Like these.

Ok. I topped all the posts at 4 inches. This is where all that preparation when setting the posts and stringers comes in. At first I was using a string to set the board height but after a few feet I decided that was too slow so I made a jig. The jig is a 2x6 with a 1x2 set at the board height. With the posts topped uniformly I simply screw the jig to the post tops and set the boards right up against the bottom of the 1x2. The ability to use the tops of the posts for a jig instead of trying to set each board individually will really speed up the process.

After the jig was built the boards went up reasonably well.

If not exactly speedily.

The work tends to be repetitive and slow when done solo. It's important to keep the bottoms of the boards out of the dirt and keep them as plumb as possible. Make a mistake here and let them get too far out and it's an error you'll be chasing and paying for down the line. I trimmed the bottoms of most of the boards (uneven ground and slope) and checked plumb about every fifth one. They don't have to be perfect but as close as possible saves time and effort later.

Tools of the trade. A compressor and a nail gun. I considered screws but with 175 boards in the fence and 6 fasteners per board decided that discretion was the better part of fence building. Did I mention how hot it was? It was hot. Just sayin'.

 After a full day, and I do mean a full day, it's done. 80 feet of 6 foot pressure treated fencing.

It's straight, plumb and the tops are even. A reasonably nice stretch of fence if I do say so myself. It's amateur built as opposed to professionally built but if you take your time, use good installation techniques and pay attention to the basics it's not really too hard to do. In my remodel/build scale of difficulty it's about a 3 out of 10 for planning/design and a 4 for physical difficulty.

I still need to build 3 gates, 2 small and one large. In the meantime I used some of the old wrought iron for temporary gates. Angus inspected my work and pronounced them "totally not fair."

I still need to spray treat the entire fence to prevent severe warping. I'll probably do that this week. It's really straight forward. Just buy the stuff, pour it into a spray gun and apply liberally. After that cures for a couple of months Lu and MIL will discuss paint, colors and whether or not it needs it.

I think the fence looks good. It partially covers the garage and breaks up it's silhouette as well as showcasing  the garden area that the in-laws have created. It's 6 feet tall so both keeps the back yard private and should (hopefully) keep the Barking At Everything Because It's Clearly A Burglar Or Maybe A Squirrel from a certain young black dog to a minimum. Yeah, right.

Next up will be some perimeter fencing for the front yard. I'm thinking rail and post but that's not yet set in stone. Then there's that whole roof thing I keep putting off, hoping the roof gnomes will finally show up. Lazy bastards.

More to come.

Six