Building a Fence
when I moved house a couple of years ago, there were a a few selling points that really had me keen to buy. However, when visiting the garden, i was a bit put out to see that there was only a knee-high wire fence separating me from the neighbours! Now, I was sure they were delightful people, but I like some privacy in my garden, so one of the first things I did was to build a fence.
If you have visited a DIY store recently, you have probably seen the pre-made wooden panels of fencing that are for sale. and if you have taken the time to check out the price tag, so have probably turned away pretty quickly as well! i wanted something that would look good, and be far more solid and cheaper than these flimsy things.
The first thing to do is take your material list from the plans to a lumber yard. a basic fence will be composed of posts, rails and planks. There are literally hundreds of possible designs. Even something as simple as setting the wood horizontally or vertically will change the appearance of your fence quite a bit. i went for a simple vertical design.
The first step is to set your posts in concrete at intervals of 6 to 8 feet. This was all marked very clearly on the plans that I was following. They reminded me to make sure the posts were aligned. This is a key step because if you forget it, you will have a hard time digging out the concrete and starting again!
I used a simple vertical design, with 4 inch planks screwed to the cross-beams. This was a good choice for my yard because the side is not completely straight and it allowed me to follow the curve. I made the whole thing a touch under 6 foot high, again just following the plans. Once finished, i whitewashed the whole thing which gives it a clean, old-fashioned look.
