Backyard Fence Project (Pt 1)

Ever since we moved in to the house we've been wondering about the old fence - it has been collapsed into our southerly neighbor's yard for many years and not much of it was left when we moved in. It is a charming old picket fence, but since much of it was either burried or not cared for, it doesn't take long out here for rot and mold to take over. So, we were pleased when she approached us to put together a replacement plan. We collectively decided to tear it down and replace it with a new similar picket (a bit higher) so that her pooch, and our future pooch could remain contained... So we started on Saturday with the demo - it only took Louisa and I about 2 hours to complete, at at the end there was only a pile of debris and alot of lonely Lilacs. This photo is taken on Jessi's side of the fence looking West. You can see some detail of the old fence.

The next morning after demolition, construction began in earnest. Once we got the area for the fence cleared and determined the spacing and location of our posts, posthole digging began in earnest. This is our neighbor digging away at the Western end.

Here's Abby (the local cat) investigating the post holes. You can see the alignment - we wanted to preserve as much of the existing Lilac bushes between the houses as we could and we planned accordingly.

More post holes. Each hole was eventually filled and tamped using 5/8 minus ungraded gravel (white bags) in leiu of concrete. Easier and better for the environment.

Here's me and our neighbor levelling the posts before gravel and tamping. The posts are pressure treated, the bottom of each hole get a little gravel to discourage wet post ends.

We set the end posts and then used stringlines to set the heights and top and bottom rails. Two of the posts and the stringline are visible here.

Once all the posts were set (this was alot of tamping and we can all attest), the top rails were measured and cut. We matched the detail of the old fence railing, with the top rail continuous across each post - no post cap (the top rail keeps water off the cut end of the post) and a clean look. Also no coordination of post to pickets.

Here's a photo looking from our yard towards the frame of the new fence. You can see a little taller, but essentially similar design. The old fence is in our yard (the pile). It is quite a change! - see the earlier photo from a similar angle. Eventually we will probably replace the chain link in the front, and also add a length of fence between house and garage to make an enclosed backyard.

Here's a view from the South side looking East, showing the new fence frame in place and complete! Next step (next weekend) is placing the pickets. We are working on design/size ideas this week. More to follow...