How to build a cedar fence or any wood fence (part 1)

First and the most important thing is the planning of your project. If you get all your planning and desining done the whole project will go much easier and less frustrating.

PLAN

You will have two different approaches. 1. You replacing existing fence that is in the bad condition or
2. You are starting from scratch.

If you replacing an existing fence you have to do more work like doing the demolition and disposing of the debris, but you will save yourself a lot of time in trying to figure out the property line if you want to build a fence to separate from your neighbors and also it is much easier to figure out materials needed. In most cases you do not need a permit to replace a fence but you should always check with your local building department just to make sure. If you starting from scratch you definitely need to do so, chances are you will need a permit but that depends on the town you live in. Also I would recommend to have a locator come out to mark where all the underground utilities are, especially if you will use a powered posthole digger they usually are free and way worth the trouble, because if you hit a telephone line that provides phone service to half of your neighborhood you might get in some trouble.(trust me I know some guys who did that and the bill from the phone company was like $2000 to get that fixed)

Ok we got all of our questions answered with the building department and the ground utilities are all located and the property line is marked (you can find that information at your local building department usually there is a small fee for a worker to come out to your property and mark the property line) now what? Now we have to figure out the materials list. In case you already have the fence that you are replacing and you like the way it lays out, all you might have to do is count the posts, sections of the fence and amount of the fence boards you will need.  If you don't want to do that or you starting from scratch all you need to know is the total linear footage of the fence you want to build and start putting all that math skill you picked up in the 3rd grade to a good use.

MATERIALS

Most of the times I use (4x4x8' pressure treated posts, 2x4x8' pressure treated and 1x6x6' cedar fence boards) so I will be talking about this materials in this post, but you can definitely apply this to any kind of a fence you want to build.
The most common fence will be about 6' high and the spacing between post are about 8'. You can probably be ok to go as low as 6' between the posts, but then you are wasting materials. If you go more than 8' the fence will be week and shaky especially if you live in a windy area. I usually like to stay between 8' and 7' but never exactly 8' because if I make a mistake in measuring and it will be slightly more than 8' I will not be able to use 8' boards for framing, and trust me most of us miss measure an inch once in the wile so its better to be safe. I usually pore about (2) 60lb bags of concrete per post, but that depends on the soil you might need more or less.  You will also need (3) pressure treated 2x4's per fence section to frame between posts. Make sure when calculating fence boards find out the actual size of the board you will use, for example I use 1x6 cedar board but the actual size of the board is 5 1/2" so I will take my total linear footage of the fence multiply it by 12 and divide it by 5 1/2 and that will give me the most accurate amount of fence boards I will need. I also use simpson metal connectors to connect 2x4's to the posts.
Ok and the last thing on our shopping list will be the fasteners. If you decide to use screws or nails the main thing to make sure that screws and nails are galvanized or outdoor rated, because regular screws and nails will rust when are in contact with moisture and the chemicals in pressure treated lumber will speed the metal corrosion causing nails to rust really fast and you are back where you started really soon. If you are not sure when purchasing fasteners ask a sales person at the lumber store what screws or nails are ok to use outdoor in pressure treated lumber. Also very important, if you decide to use nails make sure you get ring-shank nails. The little rings on the nail will act kind a like screws and will be harder to pull out providing stronger connection. Most of the times you will get green lumber which means it is not 100% dry, so after you build a fence and time goes by, the wood will eventually dry out complete and the hole created by the nail might increase a little and might be enough to make the smooth nail loose and in time work its way out. This is the reason sometimes you can see a nail here and there popping out of the fence board, because wind will constantly create a slight movement of the fence causing nails to pop out and making the fence week.

Ok looks like we got our planning and materials list covered, in the next post I will go dipper in to details on how to actually start on building the fence.
I hope this helps if you have additional questions fill free to ask.

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www.vitconstruction.org
vitconstruction@hotmail.com

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