Re-Post

 My back yard fence was first built in 1978 I assume because the house was built in 1978.  I have no evidence of this except the artifacts I dig up in the process of renewing the fence.  And it not like I find dated materials but I find things like soda can pull tabs, and glass coke bottles.  When I was cleaning out the shrubbery in front I found a very old schnaps bottle.  What I am getting to is the tasks that I am doing now.  Replacing rotten fence posts.  In this case I have to excavate the post stump.  I can't get a grip on the post or the slug, so I literally dig the thing up.

 These posts were planted at a 2 foot depth.  The photo above shows the mostly excavated hole with the remainder of the slug at the bottom.  I'm using a two pronged approach where I breaking up the slug with a hard chisel, and then dig around the circumference as needed.  I really don't like to do this because it breaks up the ground around the new slug, but we can work around this.  The post hole I am working on now is between the nursery pots below.

 In order to dig out this one hole I had to disassemble two fence panels.  One was already reworked, and the other is the old fence.  The post in question is the post that joins the two panels.  For this design it is the point where the fence in switching from outer bones to inner bones where east side fence starts.  The fence to the north is the outer facia towards the alley, and the east side faces the neighbors yard.  So I am going to orient the "pretty" part of the fence toward my garden.

 After I have finished excavating all the old post slug I have a post hole that is around 12 inches in diameter and 24 inches deep.  This is a lot bigger than my usual post hole.  So I want to fill up the extra space so that I don't fill such a large hole with concrete.  It is not hard to do, just fill it with concrete.  But I want to make consistent post holes, and slugs just for the design integrity, and also in anticipation of the future.  Some day I may want to dig up this post, and put something else here.  I'm gonna make it easier on my future self an put a reasonably sized slug here.  Part of the resizing the post hole process is filling the bottom of the post hole with gravel.  I want a 18 inch deep post slug.

 Now I have reduced the length of the post hole, and now we need to reduce the diameter of the post hole.  The companies that make concrete also make products to help you use concrete.  So, above is a concrete form which will help me make a nice uniform post slug.  I have reassembled the reworked fence to the north which will hold the new post in this hole.  At this point the post hole is finished, the concrete form is positioned, and the post is positioned.  But in order to pour concrete into the form we have to do one more thing, back fill the post hole.

 The concrete form is cardboard, and relatively light weight.  If I tried to pour concrete directly into it then it would just get knocked over.  I need to hold it in place to pour concrete into it.  So we are going to back fill the remainder of the hole with the clay soil that came out of the hole.  Again, because of the light weight nature of the concrete form, we have to back fill the hole in a uniform, and calculated way.  We want the post slug to be generally coaxial with the post, and keep this in mind when back filling the post hole.  I crumble the clay soil into small pieces to evenly distribute them,  During the fill I do some light packing of the back fill.  But don't pack it too much so as to deform the concrete form.

 The very last step in reworking this post is to add Mr. Concreto...  I like that the concrete form gives the post slug a uniform look.  You can even float the top of the post slug to make it look extra fancy, like it's finished or something...  Just one little note about the old rotten post, I'm trying to prevent that in the future.  After repairing the irrigation leak I think this section will do much better.  But, also, as general rot prevention I have used treated wood that is rated for ground contact and also a surface coating.  The rot starts at the surface, so stop it there...

 Now that the rotten post has been replaced we can put the fence back together so the yard is safe for puppies.  The fence panel on the left has been reworked.  The fence panel on the right in the one that is under construction.  The post I replaced this time was the one that joins these two panels.  Going up the east side of the fence to the right, south, there are several more post slugs that need to be reworked in this manner.  I'm glad this is fun for me, otherwise it might seem like work... 

Moisture and Fence Failure

 I had made note of the excessive rot in the fence panel I am working on now.  In the last post, Repair to Renew I noted of the advanced level of rot in this section.  The bottom runner was rotten.  Well there is usually a reason, and it is here in the same area.  The subterranean sprinkler...

 The riser is threaded onto the supply pipe at an angle.  This is the effect of making assumptions, and making blind connections.  The pop-up head that was in this place malfunctioned years ago.  I don't remember exactly what happened.  It could have been that one of the dogs decided to chew it up, I don't remember. 

I made an assumption that the supply pipe was rigid.  I unscrewed the pop-up head, and then screwed in a riser to make a fixed head.  It must have felt right at the time, and tested OK, but I didn't notice the massive subterranean supply pipe leak.  So, over the years I have noticed a inexplicable flow in that area on the property line, and assumed, again, that it was not my system, LOL!  Hindsight...
 

Repair to Renew

 So in picking the next section of fence to work on I usually go to the worst section first.  The one that needs the most help gets the first attention.  This section was very rotten at the bottom, the pickets, and lowest runner were falling apart.

 This is the East Fence I am working on now, by the garden.  This section has had scrap lumber piled up against it which helped the lower part rot.  I added some support posts in this area a long time ago, then went to work on other areas.  Now those other areas are reworked it is time to fix up this section.  Both of the old posts for this section were rotten as well.  I was able to clean out the post slugs a little to hold a solid Cedar posts temporarily.  I replaced the rotten runner, and put new planks on this section.

 This is an effort to strengthen the fence so that I can use it to hold the new posts when I am ready to set them.  This part is a little backwards.  I am repairing the old fence in order to hold the new posts when I set them.  After the new posts are set then I'll replace all the runners and planks.  Dior is very curious about the new view into the neighbors side yard.  There are critters over there she wants to chew on...

New View

 Now, a week later, I added the Bones, and Planks to the outside.  In this section the new fence is almost complete.  Now we have to deconstruct the old fence on the other side, and then mount the Planks on the backside of the new Bones.

 That sure does look nice considering what a mess it has been for decades.  But now we need to finish the new fence, but the old fence is in the way...

 The fence is double walled at the moment.  The old fence is still attached to the posts.  I deconstruct to control the disposition of materials.  Hardware get thrown in the recycle bucket.  The rotten cedar is just trash, really that bad.  Then I find some not so old lumber, previous repairs, that can be reused.

 What is neat about this part of the process is that as you pull away the old rotted cedar it reveals the fresh new fence behind it.  Its refreshing...

 Eventually all the bad parts are gone, and what is left is a nice fresh fence.  This is the idea of maintain containment so the yard is safe for Doggos, and keeps the Varmints out...

 After the old wood is gone all we have to do is put Planks on the inside of the new Bones.  I think I need to get some Gargoyle Post Caps...

 

Can you Dig It?

 Another post about posts...  Now I am working on the north face of the fence.  I did the complex parts first.  The Gates, and the Corners were the more difficult parts of the project, and well as the parts that broke down the most.  With the gates it is traffic that breaks them down.  The corners on the original fence were kind of feeble, and there were too many fasteners in a post that was not structurally adequate.

The thing that kept the old fence standing was the steel joiners that I added to the fence.  These allowed me to attach all the boards at a joint to the post with multi directional fasteners.  The wind has knocked this fence over many times, and each time I try to find ways to hold it together better.  But, after all the impromptu fixes really what I want is a fence design that is not going to break in the first place.  This starts with posts...

Its kinda of a standard the way posts are used in fences with a post at each end of the panel.  Almost all pre-built fences are like this.  You buy panels, and posts, and then assemble in your yard.  That is great if you property is flat, level, and square.  I live on a slope, and matching the slope requires scratch making panels.  It is just a fence panel right?

So any construction starts with a foundation, Mass, the bigger the better.  But these are fence posts, and I don't want to pour a lake of concrete in my back yard. So what do you do?  How do you make many?  I want to have a uniform shape to my fence post Slugs.  I want significant mass, and compact size.  I have seen foam footing for posts, and I won't do that.  I would make the Slug out of Ultradensium if I could get it.  A lead slug that weights three or four hundred pounds would be great, but it is not practical.  So what is a high density material that is cheap, and plentiful?  That's right it's your old friend Mr. Concreto.

 I have seen all the kinds of WTF? when it comes to Post Slugs.  I quit trying to figure out why they are like they are, and just fix it.  So back to the standard fence design for a moment, posts at each end of the panel.  So the panels are sharing posts.  There are two panel ends on each fence post.  So each end of the panel is really only getting half a post, and if you add both sides then you have one post per panel, plus one post at the end of the line.  OK, for aesthetics that gets an A+, but for strength if fails hard, like flat on the ground.

There is a physical weight that is supported by the fence like the runners, pickets, and hardware.  But that weight is small compared to the force exerted by the wind.  A fence is subject to forces that are similar to a Sailboat.  The wind is pushing sideways on the fence, with dynamic vectors.  This exerts force on the fence, and if you want to fence to stand, it has to resist this force.  With a Sailboat your resistance to the force of the wind is the Keel.  Likewise for the Fence its resistance to the force of the wind is the Post Slug.

 We have a measure of mass with each post.  The easiest way to add more measures of mass is to add more posts.  So, first, lets just double the mass, two posts.  But, also make the posts a superior material.  I wish I had a way to simply calculate the increase in strength.  Its also impractical to test it.  But I think I can say this will significantly increase the strength of each panel.

But, no, I want it stronger.  The answer is already there.  Increase the mass, add more posts.  So, on the North Side of the Fence I have four existing, and in good condition, posts that I am going to bind into this run of panels.  This adds one more post to each panel, and joins the panels together at the ends.

 In this process of restoration I am going for sort of an OEM Plus upgrade.  I want an contemporary six foot wooden fence, but constructed with advanced materials, coatings, and hardware.  The idea is to make it look like it did in 1978, but made out of 21st century materials...

In the shot above I am setting the posts.  The grey old fence is cross braced, and supported in the correct position.  I am using the old fence to hold the new posts in position while Mr. Concreto cures.  Setting posts is a task, and I am usually really tired after doing that.  The posts will have a few days to setup before I attach the new dog boards, and runners.

 While Mr. Concreto is curing I am converting other panels from a closed fence to the Shadowbox Fence design.  This is the west side of the fence, by the driveway.  These were the first couple panels I built back in July with the closed panel design.  It was after that set when I decided to go with the Shadowbox Design, so now I have converted those panels.  Something neat about the Shadowbox Design is that you can see though the fence a little at acute angles.  It is an interesting feature.  There is depth to the fence, and you can see further a little.  It plays with your eyes.  Your peripheral vision sees the fence change as you walk past it.

Northeast Corner Fence

 This corner is the bottom of the yard.  It is the lowest elevation on the property so it gets the voluminous drainage, and the silt accumulation. That also means there is an erosion problem here.  You can see it in the channels that form in the soil.  It has me wondering if I need some drainage control, or maybe a retaining wall.  Also, being the lowest point it accumulates a lot of the yard scraps like leaves, but also literal scraps fence wood mostly.

 This one corner took longer than expected because of the previously mentioned issues.  The ground in this corner is the least flat which makes building a square structure difficult.  One face of the fence here is fairly level, but the other two have different angles.  I pushed the dog boards around until I had fairly good coverage, and then I'll fill in as needed where there are sharp changes in the ground level.

 This is the intermediate process of placing the Bones on the Posts.  I have a need to have a physical barrier right at the ground, the ground critter control, and also to keep Dior from burrowing.  I want to have these Dog Boards sit directly on the ground.  Doing that is a little more difficult in this corner.  I'll have to augment this set of boards with some more "hidden" Dog Boards inside the fence, and maybe partially buried.

 Here I am starting to install the pickets.  This is the first panel where I'm going to start using the Shadowbox Design.  I've noticed a difference in the Shadowbox fence, and the closed fence which is airflow.  The design is for more airflow.  But the difference I've noticed is how I feel working next to a Closed Fence compared to working next to a Shadowbox Fence.  When it is really hot outside you depend on shadows and wind for cooling.  Working next to a closed fence restricts the airflow, so there is a pocket of still air there and you'll sweat a lot more next to a closed fence.

 In this last pic you can see the intended effect of the Shadowbox Fence design.  It is a privacy fence so you want it to block all of the straight line visibility.  But it is also a flow through design where air can pass freely from one side to the other through the fence.  The pickets are staggered in their placement so that the design blocks straight through light, but forms channels through the fence for the air.  This is the intended effect to allow air flow through the fence to prevent high pressure air pockets from developing on either side of the fence.  High Pressure Air pocket next to your closed fence is what breaks posts.  This does not normally occur around your fence except in special situations in which have high speed winds, like spring time thunderstorms.  A fence panel has a lot of surface area.  Then if you combine that with high pressure pockets of air caused by high velocity winds you have post snapping conditions.  So, now that we know this, we can design a fence that can withstand those conditions.

Fence Renewal

Replacing rotten Cedar posts again, but this time with the intent to replace all of the fence.  There are several reasons that I don't want to totally remove the old fence, and start from scratch.  First is to preserve the original fence line.  This is a repair, and not a new installation, so I want to mimic the original fence mostly.  But, second, and more important is to maintain the containment.  Dior would love an opportunity to bust through the fence and run freely.  Then she could get all the rabbits. 

 Another reason is that I mostly work on the fence alone.  I have to do this work in portions because this project is so big.  When I have to install posts it might take a weekend to do one fence panel.  This time I am working on a corner panel and it needs four posts.  The work on this corner allow me to complete another panel to the south of the corner.  This project took most of two weekends.

   

Some thing I have never liked about fence construction in general is that typically the runners are connected to the posts at the ends, and they hang in the middle.  The ends of the runners deteriorate first.  The insects really like the end grain because it is much easier to chew than the long fibers along the length of the board.  So the portion of wood that is holding the weight of the panel is venerable to insect damage, and decay first.  That just don't seem right.

 

 

Then to make this situation worse, in a irregular angle corner there are extra fasteners to damage the ends of the runners more, and leave the ends of the runners even more vulnerable to insects and rot.  So I'm saying No to fastening the runners to the posts at the ends of the runners.  The new construction on the fence I have been doing over the past 10 years has the main support posts in the middle of the runners.  

 

 This is not a new idea, but I am fixated on my old Cedar fence that I am working on at the moment.  I'm sure it was once a very pretty Cedar fence for maybe a couple years after it was built in the ? mid-1990s?  When we bought the house in 2002 this fence was always pretty tired and I have been working on it since then. 

 The difference is that now I am replacing the Bones of the fence, and renewing whole panels.  The new Bones are all pressure treated lumber rated for ground contact.  I have used both natural Cedar posts, and the pressure treated posts, and the PT Post is always better.  I've also started coating the posts before planting them.

 The pressure treated wood has to be dry before it will take the Stain/Sealer.  So I have to purchase the lumber in advance, give it time to dry, coat it, dry some more, and then we can plant them.  The project this weekend was to setup a station to do this that isn't in the way of regular things that have to happen like lawn service.  My patio work table is going to hold the lumber in a sunny place for drying.

 Then the temporary table is under the eaves to be the Stain Station.  I have a fairly large patio, so I think I can work around this stuff for a while. 

 

The long term project over the Summer is to replace the Bones of the fence.  I have an impromptu process setup so I can work on the fence when I get the time, but in the meantime the fence is secure, and safe for puppies.  As I rework panels I plan on giving all the Bones a Cherry Glaze (Stain/Sealer) and then the new Planks are stained a Walnut color.

 This is the inside of the Northwest corner that I have renewed over the last few weeks.  It is sitting on the same fence line as before.  I built the new Bones on the outside of the posts while the old bones were on the inside of the posts.  So, for a while both fences existed in the same space.  I add the new posts, and attach them to the old fence temporarily.  Then we build the new fence on the outside.  As the new fence comes together we start disassembling the old fence on the inside.  The net effect is that we replace the fence without demolishing the old fence, and leaving the yard open.  Then also the design of the fence changes, making it several times stronger. 

 One of the features that I have built into this fence are the Dog Boards which are designed to discourage animals from attempting to burrow under the fence.  But I have another deterrent that may be more effective, Dior.  She loves them furry little critters...  Wants to give them some kisses...  Carrollton city code says that the fence Bones should be on the inside of the planks.  But you can put planks on both sides of the runners to have that clean look inside and out.  What I am talking about is a Shadow Box fence design.  This is another feature I plan on adding to improve air flow through the fence.  We have had some issues with strong winds lately, and one of my objectives is to reduce the wind resistance of the fence in general.