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Building The Crib

Building The Fence

Building The Fence

The fence was pretty straight forward, but was still a very good learning experience. It was the first thing I have ever built that involved basic structural construction.

The first thing I had to do was locate where the holes for the posts would go. Since I had an existing brick retaining wall and the cement pad at the top of the stairs, I used these as references. I used strings and stakes to layout where the fence would be. I made a little measureing gauge out of some 1x6 stock to check that the string was the same distance from the brick wall at all points. Then I just marked where the post holes would be.

Setting posts

Digging the holes varied from easy to almost impossible depending on how many and how big the rocks I ran into were. I tried to get all of the holes 32" deep. Once all the holes were dug, I put gravel in the bottom of them and then set the posts in place. The posts were squared and plumbed against the line for the fence, and then held in place with stakes and some braces nailed to the stakes and posts. I added another 6 inches of gravel around the post and then filled the hole level to the ground with dirt, packing it down every couple of inches.

Fence Sections

The fence was built in sections, and then each section was attached to two posts. I constructed the sections in my shop using a jig for spacing the rails and pickets. I just used the pressure treated pine available at any Home Improvement place.

Fence Joints

At first I was just going to attach the fence sections to the surface of the posts, but then I decided it would be much better if I cut dadoes in the posts for the fence sections to go into. I cut the dadoes that went all the way through with my circular saw and a sharp chisel.

Fence Joints

The joints that didn't go all the way through like the gate posts, I had to use a drill and a chisel. This was at least as hard as it looks and sounds, but it was worth it. I am not saying that I prefer to do things the hard way, but it sure makes you appreciate the mountain more if you have to climb it yourself.