DIYers: Here's the picket fence I built

[FONT=&quot]Well my biggest project to date is finally over. There is a little more staining to do but I've delegated that duty to the wife. :D We've been wanting a fence for some time now to keep our dog Molly safe and also have a place for her to run while we're both at work. I saved over two grand undertaking this myself. AND its built better than what any fencing company could have done. I'm confident in that. It took me approx two months.

Every single post is hidden by a picket which are evenly spaced. This was more time consuming but worth the extra effort in the end. If you look at my fence straight on, you won't see a post. All posts were cut off at an angle to shed water. All treated wood using galvanized ring shank nails.

This project led to many smaller projects. Landscaping, ditch-digging for guttering drains, etc. I built this fence completely by myself and I'm very proud. I've gotten tons of compliments from the neighbors. One even said he's lived in the neighborhood 21 years and my place is looking better than ever.

First I had to cut a "danger tree" that was leaning and have eventually fallen onto my fence. It was half dead.





Then came the fun part. Doing this myself I could splurge and rent some good equipment. I was still fairly intimate with post hole diggers b/c there's tons of dirt still left in the hole.









Some holes had to be hand dug with a digging bar to chip the rock out. Thankfully this was only a few of 60 some odd holes.



Post jig I threw together to provide me a "helping hand"


All posts dug and posts temporarily in place.


All posts plumbed and set


Starting the rails.














The one day I recruited a buddy for help and he tamps about 20 posts way out of plumb. This is us replumbing.


Rails are done.



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I don't have any pics installing pickets. Trust me....it sucks. Time to test fit gates.


Gate w/ temp braces and anti-sag kit installed






Double-gate for backyard truck access


Made this one to open to inside.




















All single gates have self-closing hinges


Spruced up walkway


Mulched the bank. We plan to plant a lot of stuff here soon.



Pic from upstairs of the house. Thats the shed I built last summer.

 

This helped the entire process

 

Forgot to mention....installed a doggy door on the garage side door for Molly to seek shelter, stay cool, eat, sleep, etc.

 

Finch, being a little bit of a carpenter / DIY'er myself, that looks fantastic.
A couple of questions tho:
#1 - Is your dirt there all that red color ? What causes that ?
#2 - Wait till the dog starts digging under the pickets to try to get out !! LOL

All in all, fantastic looking fence.

 

I know it feels good to finally have that done. And the pride of doing a project like that yourself is an awesome feeling. Yard looks good, dude

 

Iron!!!!

 

Its just red clay...I guess. Well, I see iron causes it according to Hooker. Didn't know that either. Either way, its a pain and very messy.

AND if my dog digs out...I'll kill her. :D She's been doing fine for the past couple weeks. We've left her in there for upwards of 12 hours or so.

Thanks, Hook! I take pride in my work and hope it shows. I'm a bit OCD which is annoying sometimes but I like doing things once and doing them the right way.

 

Your soil is rich in ferric oxide (Iron III), but not many organics.

 

I was going to make fun of your dirt... but it's already been covered.

Nice job! Looks great!

How much did that post hole auger thingamabob cost to rent?

 

I don't think "normal" people would care if someone made fun of their dirt but I somehow take offence to it. Should I dig it all up and replace with something else?

It cost about $220 for that day. It was well worth it up along the wood-line with all the tree roots and such. Went right through em.

Btw...also forgot to mention in my initial post that my fence is 490 feet long.

 

It's fine, but if you ever want a garden back there, you will need to add alot of organics.

 

Looks great man, congrats on a job well done. I know how much work something like that really is.

 

I had a garden but built a shed on top of it. I'm more into container gardens now.

Thanks buckeye!

 

Wow! Nice work, Finch! That looks like a ton of work, and it turned out great.

I think I may be renting one of those augers for my deck posts here shortly.

Your landscaping is great as well, if my wife's see's these picture, she will kill me (our landscaping is non existent). :D

 

Awesome job on the fence, mighty fine looking newcastle there too!!

 

Thanks for the info. We're putting an extension on our pole barn so we need to dig some holes and I really, really suck with a manual post hole digger.


BTW, this is dirt.

 

BEAUTIFUL place you've got there buddy... the fence turned out really nice!

 

Awesome work, you got one sharp property.

 

Awesome. Looks fantastic.