Wood Fences

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Infilling

With the frame in place, put on your infill. A fully boarded fence should go up quickly. Just be sure all infill boards are spaced with tops the same distance from the top of upper rails. To do so, measure and mark all boards at the same time with a pencil line along the inside where the tops meet the top of rails.

To space pickets, measure and mark spacing along both rails. Or make a spacer, a picket-length board the precise width of the space between pickets with a "T" nailed on square at the back edge to rest on the top rail.

Let it ride along the top rail, pressing it loosely between pickets as you nail them on. To keep pickets from splitting, drill single 1/8" pilot holes for nails through pickets where they meet top and bottom rails. With 3" or wider boards, set two nails into top and bottom, each 1/2" or so from board sides to prevent splitting. Then tack on all infill boards of the first flight or two; don't hammer nails home till the spacing is correct. If spacing still comes out uneven, fudge the error by removing boards and spacing them a bit closer or farther apart. Correct the error in further building.

Cut cap and foot rails, trim to measure and install them one bay at a time. If you pre-cut them all, you are sure to find that some are too long or too short simply due to variations in post width and final bay dimensions. All joints between boards should be snug, but not so tight that they exert pressure as they swell and contract in the weather—which will tend to loosen nails or bow horizontal members over time. Nail with a pair of 6" nails.

Finish

Painting fences is a laborious chore that must be repeated every five years at minimum, or each time you paint the house. Paint must be gotten into cracks, on undersides of cap rails, and onto all sides of pickets. It's just not worth the hassle. Worst of all, paint actually accelerates rotting. Instead try a solid color stain.

A good oil-based stain will look great and protect a wood fence for a good four to seven years. Sealers and sealer-stains required by pine, spruce and other common building lumber don't need meticulous re-application, but they must be renewed periodically. If you use a clear-coated finish, go to a reputable, well-experienced paint retailer and ask for guidance for the finish that best matches your lumber and climate and will keep your wood from fading.

Best bet is to choose wood that doesn't need a finish, such as redwood or cedar, or pressure-treated wood. These will all weather naturally to a pleasing gray. A quick and occasional treatment with deck preservative will enhance its longevity.

Fence for Stock

Sheep can be contained with a shorter fence, but boards should be closer-spaced so they can't get their foolish heads caught in the cracks. A 4'-high, three-board fence will hold them. A hogtight fence should be 4' high, with 8'-high, 8"-square posts sunk 4' deep and spaced 6' apart. Leave no space between thick boards. The bottom board should be of Pressure Treated lumber, buried 6" deep so hogs can't root under it.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print