picket fence

[Dr.Faustus]

my picket fence is falling apart. ok most of its gone its that bad even the posts are shot. my yard is very large. i looked at home depot and sections of fence seem way way overpiced for what you are getting.

is there some secret to this? can i make the sections myself? well i know i *can* make them, but i figured if anyone has done this before, maybe there is someplace to get them thats a better deal than HD.

at hd's price, my DIY job will cost more than having a fence co. come, set posts and put the fence up while i sit back, relax and keep track of their progress

 

[woodsman23]

see the amish.. or diy treated posts and pine pickets painted white

 

[94ranger55]

Every day I am spacing my self farther from home depot as possible hahaha going old school latley ,lumber yard,hardware store you get the idea! Any ways sounds like something you can do yourself ,the post holes are already there so thats half the battle . Remove them and put in the new posts(two choices PT lumber or get cedar,fir or pine posts and treat the underground portion your self. Then get some # 2pine and you can pre-build the sections or snap lines on ur new fence posts and build them right in place !

 

[Later]

We have been replacing sections of picket fence one at a time. I cut the pickets, usually 20-30 at a time, stain them and nail them to new horizontal elements attached to existing treated posts. Each 8' section is a bit less than $25. Cheaper if I go to the Amish sawmill down the road.

 

[webbie]

Ah, just went though that.
Home Depot stuff is cheap, cheap...compared to anything else, even doing it yourself.

I needed 8 sections - to replace the old spruce stuff. The posts were still good. I bought the PT gothic picket fence (42") for 22 bucks per section. You can't beat that - took about 4 hours to rip down the old stuff and put up the new, including replacing the gate. Wife is happy. I am happy. End of story.

I thought about it before hand and realized I was being penny wise and pound foolish to try and make my own, etc. etc.

 

[Dr.Faustus]

still investigating. i figured so far it wont be too bad if i put up new posts, attach rails and then attach pre made pickets. cheaper than buying pre made 8' sections. i need 40 some odd sections. uggh.
bad news is the previous owners didnt install the posts properly! they only go like 6 to 8 inches down. how it even lasted this long in NY is beyond me. looks like they dug a shallow hole, poured in a small cement puddle and stuck in the 4x4.

i like the idea of doing 1 at a time until its all done. the first 20 are the most important to me. i might pick a day to just rent a post hole digger and dig as many as i can for the day. there is the good news, everything is pre measured and the old posts come out real easy by hand and take the stupid cement puddle with them.

another question, i've seen this work 2 ways. some people put the post in the hole, and pour the cement directly in and some people set the post in a bucket and then put the whole bucket in the hole. which is better? it sounds like theres not much reason for using a bucket first.

 

[jimbom]

The hardest part of the job for me is placing the concrete. That stuff is heavy and hard to mix. The post has to be just so to line up, be plumb, etc after the concrete sets.