Backyard Fence: Part 1

I thought I would write today about another spring project that we have under way. We decided several months ago, that our next big outdoor project needed to be a backyard fence. Since we have a bulldog that enjoys a little freedom, we feel like we really need to get it done before this summer hits. You would think deciding on materials and the look of the fence would be simple, well not such much for us ;-) . We went back and forth, but ultimately came down to wanting a 4 foot white picket fence.

Here are a few inspirational pictures that I liked.

      VIA

I love the angle cut on the picket.  What I like about this fence is that it has a weightyness (sure that's a word) to it.  The base board is nice and thick!  What I thought of was to do 6 x 6 posts instead of the standard 4 x 4 post.  I hope the vision in my head transfers to how we are going to build it. 

Via

I like the base of this fence, but I like the pickets with less of a point. 

 

 

This is the what we put together for the template we will follow.

This is not a good shot of the fence outline, but the connect the dots look are the fence posts and the distance between each post.  After everything was measured, we had 31 sections and needed 33  6 x 6 posts.  We chose to do the three gates, one on either side of the house and one at the bottom of the yard.

Here is the lumber ready for the fence.

We really like a

This is going to be the tedious part of the project.  Cutting each one of these, but it saves us quite a bit doing it this way.

We measured the post so that we could cut them down to size.

My mark is the one that's off on the side, so Dustin did another measurement that was a bit straighter ;)  Straight lines and I are not really that close! 

Dustin did a cut and rotated the beam until he had made it all the way around.  I am sure that there are different ways to do this, but this was his quick and easy way!

So for now, all of the posts have been cut down to size and a few stacks of the the fence pickets have been cut.  There is a lot more to do, but we will chip away at it bit by bit. 

In the morning, we will be heading on our spring break trip to Canada.  So, I won't be able to post until I return next week.   I will get lots of pics and share some of them when I return. 

Have a great week and Spring Break!!!