So You Want a New Fence - Day 7
This project came to completion at the end of the seventh day. The final details included lopping the posts and capping them, installing the rest of the screws once all the planks were up, finishing up the details on the gate, and final cleanup. There were a couple of spots that the clients’ dogs could’ve maybe gotten out if they were really getting desperate, so Matt ripped some planks to accommodate for the uneven ground. While he was doing this, Shawn was cutting off the tops of the fence posts so that they were all even, clean, and cut right above the fence line. He then placed a cap on each one. The caps stay without any additional hardware.
We were lucky that the clients’ brother-in-law decided to come by and help again, so he took care of the remaining screws. It took him a couple of hours to do the outside of the fence, having done the inside screws the day before. As you can see, it’s much more efficient to come back and do the second screw all at once, instead of slowing down the guys putting up the planks. One screw is enough to keep the plank up until this final step.
Shawn fabricated the latching system for the gate while Matt was putting up the final planks on the second gate. Shawn made the push-pull latch and the receiving end, and also used conduit to allow the stopper to stay in place on the ground. Both the stopper and the latch match, which is really a touch of designers and skilled craftsmen.
I have called this a modern version of a basket weave, and I was lucky enough to come across the traditional version in the client’s neighborhood. The planks criss-cross to give the appearance of a basket. We like our version because it is easier to install and obviously we are using longer-lasting materials. Steel fence posts will last forever, instead of wood, that will rot eventually from the contact with moisture.
We specialize in the Austin area. Don’t forget to check out the project gallery on Facebook (and LIKE us while you’re at it) to see more pictures. Scroll back through the previous blog posts if this is your first time seeing the fence blog posts. I tried to show everything step-by-step so you can really see the amount of care and time it takes to put up a quality fence.
