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Choosing The Right Fence

It might not seem like a difficult decision, but finding the right fence can be hard to do. In addition to choosing a picket style, a color, and a height, you might also be concerned about abiding by city and neighborhood ordinances. However, all of these decisions are easy if you choose the right fence contractor. A few years ago, I found a great contractor who helped us to create a beautiful, functional backyard in a few weeks. Read this blog for more information about fences, contractors, and design styles that you won't regret a few years down the road.

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Choosing The Right Fence

How To Build A Picket Fence

by Chester Alvarez

Building wooden picket fences is a great DIY job to undertake on your property. The job can be fairly time consuming, but with the appropriate tools, you'll have it done in no time and you'll save a lot of money doing the job yourself. This article will go over the various steps in planning and building a strong and durable wooden picket fence.

To begin, you'll need the necessary materials to make this job go smooth. These include enough wooden pickets and posts to construct your fence, a nail gun, a circular saw, some concrete mix and enough string and wooden stakes to help with your layout.

Prep the area and begin layout

Once you've decided on the area where you'd like to see your fence, you need to hammer some wooden stakes into the grass or dirt and frame the area with some connecting string. This will give you a good idea as to the look of your fence. It will also make sure the necessary corners are perfect ninety-degree angles.

Start making the post holes  

With a picket fence, you can go ahead and measure the post holes to your desired length, but don't make them too far apart as it will make your fence weak. A good rule of thumb is to space them every six feet or so. This will make your fence strong and make less work for you. To dig your post holes, you can use an electric or manual post hole digger. Each can be found at your local hardware store. The electric ones will make your life a lot easier if you plan on digging a lot of holes.

Dig your holes about twice as thick as the width of the posts and about a foot deep. When the holes are dug, then you can insert your wooden posts and fill the surrounding area with concrete. Use a level to help make sure that the posts are sticking straight up and not angled to any one direction. Leave the posts and give the concrete enough time to firm up. 

Build the fence

Once your posts are set then you can begin building the rest of your fence. The first step is to start attaching the horizontal rails. These are the wooden beams that will connect each of your posts together. Use strong nails to attach the rails to the posts at the top, middle and bottom of the fence. Work your way around the perimeter of the fence until all of the posts are connected. 

When the rails are in place then you can start nailing in the pickets, which will serve as the body of your fence. Simply place the pickets vertically and use your nail gun to install them one by one, side by side. Be sure to nail the pickets into the rails. Stop to measure the angle of your pickets as you go to make sure that they are standing perfectly vertical. Work your way around the fence until the structure is complete.

For assistance, talk to a professional like Crispline Fence Systems fences.

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