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...