Back Yard Fence: Part 2

And so it begins...

We have pondered back and forth as to what height of fence we wanted and what finish and look that the whole thing should have. So now we took the plunge or more like the shovel and started diggin'.

We sprayed around the post itself and then sprayed a second square 3" bigger on all sides to allow for the space for pouring concrete.  Then we took our flat shovel and started cutting away.

It didn't take long to realize that we were going nowhere fast.  No matter how much we jumped up and down on that shovel, all we where doing was taking off the top layer of grass!  Ahhh!  Well, Dustin decided that we live on concrete and not dirt, so he headed to Home Depot to pick up an Auger.

 

           While he was away, I kept cutting and cutting...

and cutting...

Then this big guy arrived!  We were thrilled at first, until we realized not even the Auger could handle the rock bed we call "dirt."

We needed to go down 1/3 the height of the post and our posts are 6 ft. high, so we needed to sink the posts 2 feet down to give us a 4 ft. post above ground.  We measured the Auger 2 feet to the center post so we knew how far down to take it.  If we could just get through the hard ground to get to the soft dirt we would be "Golden."

In came Mr. Pick Axe.  We dug until we hit softer ground and then used the Auger the last few feet down.  Best workout EVER!  We are still in pain three days later! 

You must level the posts before you pour the concrete.  To do that, we used the string to make sure all of the posts lined up together. Start with the end post and make sure the string touches completely against it and the run your string from corner post to corner post.

 

Then we nailed the stakes to the post to hold it in place. Then we set the posts in concrete using Quickcrete. Make sure NOT to fill the hole to the top with concrete. Leave about a 4 to 6 inches on top to fill with dirt (once the concrete is dry). This gives plenty of room for grass to grow on top :)

All set up and drying! 

So, now that the posts are all set up, we can start building the rest of the fence.  Only problem, we still have to "dog ear" the pickets.  We have gotten through a small stack of them, but we have many more to go.  The hubs has given me a quick lesson on the "how to" of dog ears to get it nice and straight, so hopefully, if time permits, I will be able to get some cutting done this week :)

We have also been working on building the shed.  So stay tuned for the progress on the shed and fence.  Fingers crossed, if time is on our side this week, we should have the shed finished off over the weekend.  So a special early thanks to my brother in law and hubs for working so hard on the shed to get it finished off.  They are awesome!

I am getting excited for Dustin to have his own shed!  I know that may sound silly, but he has been talking about wanting a shed since we were married 14 years ago.  We just didn't have any room at all to build one at the old house.  He is like a kid on Christmas morning and all we have so far is the platform.  I can't wait to see what he will be like when the roof goes on or when he is putting his stuff in the shed ;)