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

Fence Building Is Painful When You're Stupid

After some delays I've finally got the stringers in. The stupid part? I'll get to that momentarily.

But first an Angus picture. Just to get you in a good mood.

Ok. Stringers. There's two ways to do this. Level or parallel. Level is self explanatory. Use a spirit level on each stringer. The problem comes in when the ground isn't level. My lot slopes gently up from back to front. It's not a lot but it is there. If I simply make each stringer level the stringers will be off in height by about 3 inches when comparing the first post to the last and will be obvious when the fence boards are installed. For me, in this instance, parallel is the better choice. Instead of making the stringers each level I measured up from the ground on the first and last post to the point where I wanted the top stringer to go and then ran another line. It looks like this.

From there I used the old Mark 1 Eyeball and lined up the string starting at the middle again and working out so the line was straight and true for it's length. I stapled the line to each post to make sure it didn't sag and throw me off.

Here's a look at what I'm talking about. The string level is a bit hard to see but if you look closely you'll see the bubble is just a bit off, indicating the line isn't perfectly level. That's Ok, in fact it's exactly what I wanted. It'll all work out as you'll see in a minute.

This is a fence stringer hanger. It's screwed into the post. The stringer ends fit into the hanger and get screwed to it in turn. I used the line I ran earlier to set each of the top hangers.

Once all the hangers were on I set each of the top stringers. I then checked visually to ensure they were parallel to the ground. The eye is naturally drawn to things that are out of square which is why I chose to hang them the way I did. They won't be visible from the fence side but they will be from the house side and if they're off, even by the three inches I mentioned, it'll completely ruin the line of the fence and look terrible.

You can see here that the stringer is parallel to the ground and looks correct. Of course there is one problem here. Can you spot it because I sure didn't. Until it was too late. Far too late.

See, I set the top stringers at 5 1/2 feet from the ground. When you're 6 feet tall and walking toward the fence with your head down (Lu said with it up my fourth point of contact) the stringer is just about nose height. How do I know? This is how I know.

So there I was, minding my own business when suddenly, and completely without warning, someone hit me across the face with a pressure treated 2x4. Anyone who says I stupidly walked into the fence is totally lying. I swear. The impact wrenched my head back and sprained my neck. I didn't see stars but I did see black for a few seconds there. I thought for a few minutes I had actually broken my nose. The blood ran out like someone had installed a sinus spigot and turned it on to full.

This is the next day, after it'd had time to scab over a bit. Looks painful huh? Yep, mighty painful. Abject lessons often are. Somebody needs to find whoever's responsible for this and lock him away in a rubber room. What a maroon.

So I gave myself the rest of the day as well as Sunday off. Without pay of course. I started up again today.

After getting the rest of the top stringers installed (and the blood cleaned off one in particular) I used them to set the next two rows. I measured down from the top stringer 2 feet and 4 feet and marked the post. I used those marks to set the hangers for those rows of stringers.

From there it was a simple matter of putting in the rest of the stringers. I put each stringer in crown up (with one obvious exception, darn it) so as they settle they'll more firmly press their butt ends into the post and end up straight without me having to fudge them as I install the fence boards.

Finally done! All the stringers are set and the skeleton is ready for boards. Each is parallel with the others and the look is visually pleasing.

Is it straight? Not too bad if I do say so myself. There's that one board I put in upside down. I'm trying to decide which fix requires the least effort on my part. Re-doing it or fudging. Since it's covered by the garage I may go total lazy sleazoid and just pretend I never saw it. What?

Lu and I went down and picked up the boards for the actual fencing. One hundred eighty 5 1/2' x 5/8" x 6' boards. Tomorrow I'll top the posts to a uniform height and start installing the boards.

I figure we'll come in at right about $800 for the 80 foot run which isn't too bad. Hey, I figure I'm buying myself some new toys by doing it myself and I hate to pay someone else to do things I can do.

Of course there is that nose to consider. There's still plenty of opportunity left for buffoonery.

Six

Fence

Excuses are gone. It's time to get back to work on the house. I decided to go ahead and put up the fence between our house and Sarge's. It runs along the north side of the house, beside Sarge's driveway, from the back of the property to the front corner of the garage. I put up a temporary fence last year to keep the dogs in the yard. It consisted of some chain link and black wrought iron I already had. The chain link started to sag and look terrible so it's time to replace it permanently.

Materials consist of eleven 8' pressure treated 4x4s, eleven 50 pound bags of post concrete, thirty 8' pressure treated 2x4s with screws and galvanized steel hangers. I'll buy the actual fence boards in the next day or two, just before I put them up.

Here's how the area and old fence looked.

Looking back from the front of the garage.

You can see the chain link and the wrought iron sections. I used the WI to make a temporary dog fence until the new fence is up.

Really, that's just embarrassing.

I ran a string along the property line and then drove in a stake every 8 feet. Those are where I'll later dig holes for the 4x4 posts. I then laid out the posts with one bag of post concrete per hole. It didn't actually take all 11, I used 9 1/2 bags for 11 holes but for 2' deep 6" holes for 4x4 posts one 50 pound bag per is a good rule of thumb. It actually depends on depth uniformity and how much you have to hog out the hole for fit.

I was going to dig the post holes by hand. Then I remembered that I'm actually lazy. And I'm a guy so you know, power tools. Plus I got to draft some cute help.

Holes drilled and posts set in place.

Now it's time to make things more or less permanent. This may not be the way others do it. It might not even be the best way to do it but it's the way that works best for me.

I started out by setting the two end posts and leaning the others back.

I then ran a string from the first post to the last. I'll use this string to set the rest.

I then set the center post of the run. I now have two ends and the center done. This will break up the run into two halves and allow me to more easily get the posts set correctly.

After the center post was set I broke it again and set a center post in the two half runs. The rest went from there, working from back to front.

A word on setting posts. This must be done correctly to get a straight and plumb fence. Time spent here will pay off when putting up the fence boards. The better the posts are set the less finagling and fudging you'll have to do later. The posts are the foundation. Get this right and the rest is a lot simpler.

I start off by checking plumb while the post is set at the string line. If the post is plumb but not touching the line the entire post has to be moved toward the line. This was necessary for me because the fence is located on the property line. I had to drill the holes on my side of the line so some fudging became necessary. You can see here that the post is plumb but about an inch away from the string.

Time to hog out the holes. Done the old fashioned way.

Now the post is straight and plumb and as close to the string as I prefer. I don't rest the post on the string. If the posts push against the string even just a bit it'll tend to create a cascading error that will make the fence either wavy or bowed. Instead I leave a gap of between 1/16 and 1/32 of an inch between the post and the string. That will tend to cancel out any errors and make the fence much straighter.This is also the time to ensure the post is square to the line. It's not critical, a little error is acceptable, but the better the posts are set the easier the fence boards are to put up and the better the fence will look. Am I harping? Well, maybe a little. There, perfect. The post is plumb, square and right at the correct distance from the string. Let's set that sucker.

A word on post concrete. The big box home remodel store was out of actual post cement so I went with a quick dry concrete. I set the posts dry and add in water in stages as I fill the hole. Get the post aligned correctly, add in a little concrete. Check the post. Correct and add in some water. Check the post again, Correct and add in some more concrete and water. I do this until the hole is filled with concrete and water and the post is set correctly. It's a little time consuming but it allows me to set the posts alone and check and correct all the way to the top. Others may click their tongues and chastise me for this practice but I've done it many times and had good luck with it. The concrete draws in the water and will cure in the hole as well as if poured wet. Hey, it works for me. Your mileage may vary. True post cement is designed to do this very thing and the only real difference between post cement and quick dry concrete is gravel, the name and cost.

Eleven posts later and it's done. The posts are set, straight, plumb and square. Ready for stringers and boards.

This work actually took me two days because I'm retired and lazy and no one was paying me to finish on a deadline. One day to prep the site and auger the holes. One day to set all the posts. Tomorrow I'll be putting in the stringers and getting ready for boards. This weekend I'll put up the fence boards. All 160 plus of them. There will also be two gates, one at the back corner and another at the front of the garage.

More tomorrow God willing and the creek don't rise.

Six