This was about my 20th fence and practice does make perfect. Pictures on a.b.p.w, sorry for the quality, I was using a camera phone. A tape measure was only used to measure post hole depth and final post height after cementing them in and attaching the bottom rot board. PT lumber on every thing except for the cedar pickets.
My neighbor had a new fence put in about 3 years ago. He bragged about what a cheap price he was paying. He got lots of quotes and found a slimeball firm to build him a fence that barely stood there. I pointed out the poor construction and he kept yelling about how he got a 20 YEAR GAURANTEE!!
A big windstorm came up about a year ago and totally trashed his fence. Not from the wind, it was those big branches that broke off his trees and landed on the fence. Ir it had been built well, he could have just patched up the holes. But the fence was crap and the whole fence was just destroyed.
He was building the fence right this time himself. He kept complaining that the other guys were ripoffs because they had a "act of god" clause in their gaurantee. LOL
Well I am not a pro fence builder but have learned a lot. I prefer to add the middle 3rd rail to add strength and if the customer wants treated pickets they are less likely to warp being fastened top, bottom , and middle. The rot board on the bottom is a must. It helps the pickets last longer and it is cheaper to build the fence with the rot board than to save a few dollars on materials and not have a rot board. The beauty of the rot board is that you only have to level those boards and not worry about the height on the individual pickets. You simply set the picket on the rot board and nail it up. It is a huge time saver. If the customer does not want the rot board, he pays more. I have not had a problem selling the rot board with it explained that way. ;~)
Homeowners insurance ought to fix it for him.
Never built a wooden fence, but sure helped my dad build some hog fences when I was a kid.
Still remember digging all those post holes in hard clay, driving those staples into those locust posts.
Stretching the wire tight with a manila rope fence stretcher with maybe a
4:1 purchase, one strand at a time.I was all of maybe 8-9 at the time, but as you can see, have vivid memories of that project.
Lew
Yep hog fence is tough, you have so many woven strands. When I had to do it, I bolted a couple of 1x4's together to try to pull everything straight at once.
Fun times
Yeah I bet you can remember digging post holes in that clay. I have the same problem in Houston, clay, clay, clay. My buddy and I used a gas powered post hold digger on a previous job. To tell you the truth IMHO the gas powered post hole digger in clay is more work. First of all it digs a bigger hole so it requires more heavy bags of cement to fill the holes. It is marginally faster, if you hit a root a regular manual post hole digger is just as fast. It takes 2 men to control and it is pretty noisy. I went back to the manual labor method. Now in regular soil it may work much better of if the auger was on a PTO. ;~)
I suspect you did not have a staple gun for those locust posts. ;~)
There is a thought but in Houston that may not pan out. In coastal areas typical home owners insurance has a wind storm clause that usually requires that the deductible be double. Thank you Katrina. 2% of the value of the home is often more than the cost of a good fence. That's common in Houston but probably not every where.
Maybe it's because I was a little(lot) older, but the dirt here in SoCal seems to be a lot more difficult to dig hole in than that Ohio clay, but when I had to dig some holes here, sure appreciated that gas powered hole auger.
Yes, needed a helper, yes, needed hearing protection, yes it was smelly, but my tired old back felt a whole lot better, and it took a fraction of the time.
Back then, I suspect the best part of the guy who invented the pneumatic staple gun hadn't yet run down his father's leg yet.
Lew
Well if the clay is dried out it can be like digging in rock. Moist, it cuts OK but becomes sticky.
I wish I could say that he gas powered saved time for us. We did spend at least 1 hour drilling the 10 holes and chopping roots.
Yeah.
It wasn't long ago that I saw a distant neighbour in need of an ambulance because one of his crew hit bedrock when they were having an easy time drilling a 12" auger into topsoil. I guess the sudden stop flung two operators quite a ways.
I guess them little 13 HP Honda engines actually deliver what they promise...LOL
Yep, it's dry and yep it's like digging in rock.
After all, SoCal is desert.
Lew
It wasn't long ago that I saw a distant neighbour in need of an ambulance because one of his crew hit bedrock when they were having an easy time drilling a 12" auger into topsoil. I guess the sudden stop flung two operators quite a ways.
I guess them little 13 HP Honda engines actually deliver what they promise...LOL
We were not using one that big but to make the fence building fun and interesting I told Bryan, my son, that George and I looked like the top blades on a helicopter when our gas operated post hole digger hit root. :!) Actually it had a brake similar to a chain saw brake but what fun is a story that does not add mental visuals?
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.