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I almost built a horizontal fence by myself

Once upon a time, I really wanted a new fence. One that wouldn't potentially kill my kids with a tetanus infection or gauge their eyes out. I called around and got a few estimates to have our old 1940s metal backyard fence removed and replaced by one of those vinyl 6 foot vertical jobbies. After I stood up from my fainting couch after receiving the holy-crap-it-really-can't-cost-the-same-as-a-whole-year-at-community-college rate, I found myself pacing the lumber section at Menards, over and over, day after day.  I Pinterested and decided only a horizontal fence would do. I studied, I researched and then it rained.

And it rained. And it rained. And I got so sick of the rain, that I went outside and started pulling one the old metal fence posts out of the ground. To my surprise, it wasn't cemented into the ground and with the days of rain, the ground had become soft and I was able to rip out the whole fence by myself. I got a little sore and started wearing wrist bands.  The guys at Menards started to recognize me after my daily pick-up of as much lumber and cement my little Honda axle could handle. They liked me a whole lot better when I started lifting all the lumber myself and just waved to them. Did I mention I lost 13 pounds building this fence?

I experimented a little bit with the board size and decided on 1x4x8 with 4x4x8 posts.  I had hoped to do the whole thing without boards in the middle, but a few mismeaurements with the posts and the fence wasn't exactly straight. Oh well.  But, once you put a vertical line down the middle, you really can't see how they don't quite line up.

 

My next door neighbor, who had just graduated from nursing school and was studying for a big test and needed a break now and then, helped me out by helping me dig and cement the posts and then drill each board into the posts. It took me about a month, but I almost built a fence by myself! (with a little help from my neighbor).  We're going to build her a fence this summer!

 




 
That's my dad's hat. I used it quite a bit to protect myself from the sun and to remind myself to focus and concentrate while lifting and using dangerous power tools I borrowed from several neighbors.

 

There was quite a bit of extra wood left over, so I built my seven-year-old daughter a little lemonade stand.  The neighbor let me have some of her old bricks and I lined them up to create a little border around the fence.

 
After waiting two months to let the green-treated wood dry out, I painted the fence a dark chocolate brown. The neighbor, a professional painter, came and finished the job with a beautiful coat using his painting spray gun.  I love it and will post some more pictures when the snow melts and I get a little grass growing! Check out my pergola, patio, and hanging planter stories too.

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