In Defense of Building a Fence

Since almost the entire nation is in lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, people are spending a great deal more time at home.  The one positive outcome of all of that home-time is that people are beginning to find time to do all of those home improvement jobs that they were able to ignore in the past.  Home Depot, Lowes, and Menards are doing booming business.  Of course, we are no exception.  We always can find something else to do to improve the property.

I promised Rick last year that if we did not move, he could build a fence around our property this year.  We have lots of trees and blowing leaves to our north, and lots of rental properties to our south. Also, since we are only one house in from the corner, people can see right into our back yard and our back patio from the street around the corner.  We are spoiled by the privacy we have with our fenced yard in Florida, and we want the same thing in this house, too.

The survey helped us locate the back corner of the lot.

Our first step was to get our land surveyed.  We had a pretty good idea where the lot lines were, so that survey gave us more legal peace of mind than any new information.  We did a preliminary stake-out of the fence.

We ordered the white vinyl fencing material from Lowes in Appleton, and last Tuesday they delivered it to our house.  Sadly, the semi-driver had a large forklift which was great at getting the three pallets of materials off the truck, but it was too heavy and too wide to carry those pallets to our back yard.

Rick and I spent quite a bit of time in bitterly cold weather disassembling the pallets so we could haul the materials to the back yard.  We had a small garden cart, so with some creative stacking, we were able to take back three fencing panel packets at a time.  We stacked the panel packets and then all of the fence posts on a slab next to our garden shed.  Then we wrapped the whole pile in tarps to keep it both together and somewhat dry.

The fencing materials are all piled together next to the shed.

Of course, in the midst of doing all that moving, klutzy me tripped and fell on some pallet debris.  I fell back on my behind, which is good since I have more padding there than on any other place on my body.  The bad thing is that I am still sore, so I suspect that I badly bruised or even broke my tailbone.  Thank God for Advil.

Rick ordered a cement mixer from Home Depot which he picked up and we assembled this week.  We have not ordered the cement mix yet since the evening temperatures are still dipping into the 20s. We could not pour cement yet anyway.  Right now temperatures are 30 degrees below normal for this time of the year.  We hope that they soon will warm up so we can start to build the fence in May.

Until then, we have taken out our new transit to measure the high and the low points of the yard.  The yard dips down a total of 19 inches from its highest to its lowest point.  Lots of measurements and drawings later, Rick thinks we have a plan of where to step down (or up) the fence so that the tops remain level.  We did not want to follow the terrain as some fencing companies do.  I would get dizzy each time I looked at the fence if we did so.

Of course, the orange mark indicating a telephone cable is right
next to our property line.

The first disappointing news came when we called 811 to have the utility lines marked.  The electrical lines are no problem, but the telephone lines run right along the property lines.  That foiled our plans to use a power auger to dig the majority of the holes since state law says one cannot use a power auger within 18 inches of any underground utility lines.

The frustrating point is that most people do not even use the telephone lines anymore.  However, since we have rental properties next to us and all along the road to the south of us, we have to be careful of the lines and to give the utility box at the corner of the property proper clearance.

Rather than waste time waiting for the weather to warm, we decided to dig one hole a day.  That way, we will have many of the holes completed when we are ready to start building the fence, and we will not kill ourselves trying to dig holes and build fences all in one day.

Rick dug the first hole near the sump pump outlet on the north side of the house.  The sump pump drains into a mini storm sewer that the previous homeowner had put in before we bought the house.  We were not quite sure where the sewer line was, so Rick carefully started to dig a hole.  He actually never hit the storm sewer, so we were lucky in that respect.

Unfortunately, what Rick did find was the composition of the soil.  The ground started with about a foot of good black topsoil.  They Rick hit a layer of clay for another foot or so.  That layer ended, and we were back to dirt for another couple of feet before Rick hit a second layer of clay.  The hole finally ended in dirt, but the first dig confirmed our worst fears: we would have to dig through clay.  Right now, the clay is still moist from the winter thaw, so it is fairly soft.  As the soil dries, however, it will become rock hard.  We need to keep digging while we still have spring conditions!

What every digger does NOT want to see: a root going
directly through the hole he is trying to dig.

Rick dug the second hole today.  Again, he started with black dirt, and then a layer of clay.  As he returned to a layer of dirt, however, he ran into another obstacle that I had warned him we would find.  He hit a root from one of the trees that we had had removed from the property.  The root was about 4-5 inches in diameter, and it had one fairly large side root branching off from the main root. SawsAll to the rescue!  We learned with our house in Florida that a SawsAll with a good pruning blade can work miracles when it comes to removing roots.

Rick and the SawsAll tackle the root.

The root took a few creative cuts and a bit of prying up with a long bar, but Rick finally was able to work past it.  A few other roots buried lower were more annoying than being an obstacle, so we kept on digging.  We had to use the bar to break up the clay as we got to a deeper level before we could use the post-hole digger to bring up the soil.  Then we reached the next challenge.

"Sher, I think we hit water," Rick said as he pulled up some very moist, heavy clay.  Sure enough.  We have always known that we had an underground creek and high water table toward the back of our property.  That is why our sump pump drips constantly this time of year.  As Rick finished the last couple of inches of the 48 inch deep hole, the hole slowly started to fill with some water.  Thankfully, concrete will cure even under water, so life will go on.

A pail full of root pieces shows who won in the end.

Wavy landscape, wonky underground wires, clay, roots, and water.  I certainly hope that those items will complete the list of things we have to deal with on this project.  In the end, I know we will be happy that we have added a fence.  Let's just hope we can get it up without it getting us down.