Fence Progress

Our first time at fence building is a success, so far...We did it over the Thanksgiving long weekend. The actual work only took about 2 maybe 3 hours tops. But after we poured the concrete to secure the post on the first day, we realized the concrete needs to set over night, forcing us to stop working for the day. We resumed working the next day with help from my dad. The nail gun we borrowed kept getting jammed, so Justin ended up securing the pickets the old fashion way, with a hammer and nails. I feel so proud of ourselves for fixing the fence.

We got quotes from three different fence companies to fix this part of the fence and they ranged from $500-$700. Our DIY route only cost around $150 for materials and supplies. Yay for being frugal and saving 400 bucks! We are still going to hire someone to build our front gate, we know our limits and when to call the pros in.

I was so excited to take down the fence in order to fix it up that no photo was taken of the toppled fence. It was a hot mess and we lived with it for almost two years.

This is a random fence that I found online, it is to represent how our fence looked like for the past year and a half. Good thing it was on the side of the yard that we share with our neighbor, and there is an ugly shack right next to it to block it from the neighbor's view. Don't we feel classy...

Digging out the concrete that held the rotted post turned out to be the hardest part of the project. The tarp covered shack is our neighbor's "garage", a relic from the previous owner. 

Justin and my dad took turns hacking the thing out which left a gigantic hole in the ground.

We used two 50 pound bags but we were still few inches below ground after pouring it all in the hole. 

Our crude attempt to keep the post in place. We held it in place with two pieces of old boards from the demo-ed part of the fence. 

The concrete will be even harder to dig out the next time this post needs to be replaced. Notice the concrete is about 3 inches below ground level but needs to be at the same level as the ground. 

Instead of pouring another bag of concrete into the big hole, I devised this frame out of a cardboard box to add another few inches to the concrete. Aren't we clever? :) 

Voila, new fence, off to a good start wouldn't you say?