Pandemic Projects - Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

We have an ongoing problem with the fence on the eastern side of the Summit house. We've had it rebuilt (most recently from Midwest Fence), but it seems to consistently have structural issues. How much of this was from rotting posts (for sure some) and how much was from the Boo Radley/Mrs. Havisham neighbor on the other side literally digging a trench along his side of it, we'll never know. But the fence was collapsing, and Patrick had to prop it up last year right before snowfall.

But now our friend Tami is moving in, and she has dogs, and "chase the Houdini pup" is not a fun game to play, so Patrick set to fixing it.

Once he took it apart, issue #1 was not only that the posts were rotted, but also that the ground is problematic. There's a lot of clay and rock, and so the holes were not dug deep enough by the previous fine builders. That, in turn, meant the concrete was not done right, and was almost impossible to extract. Then there's that problem of the trenching neighbors....

So Patrick dug new holes, farther apart, and then added some metal stability posts. This new fence is going nowhere, folks! Then re-did the supports, and finally the fence boards themselves.

Much of the wood in the slats could be re-used, but we had to go out and get some new cedar (basically flaunting our wealth at today's prices).

As anyone who has been swimming knows, our front gate was scraping across the ground as well, so he rebuilt that, too.

All in all, it was a kind of huge project that badly needed to be done, and Patrick's work on it saved us thousands of dollars. Plus it should create a sturdy base for the rest of the fence.