How to Grow a Fence

Yesterday was our day to make some progress on the south side fence.  We really want to get that side finished because it will give us privacy from not only the street but also from the messy yard and running children who come to the in-home daycare next door.

So how does one grow a fence?  One load of cement and one panel section at a time.  What certainly helped was that we had the holes all dug and cleaned up, so we did not have to bother with any ground preparation.  We simply had to follow our routine for each hole: fit the bottom rail to the previously installed post and modify the terrain so it lies level, mix Batch 1 of the cement, drop down a layer of stone into the hole, add Batch 1 to the hole, fit in the fence post, slide in the bottom rail and level it again, add the fence panels and top rail, plumb the post, check level on the top, mix and gently pour in Batch 2 of the cement, add more cement as necessary to fill the post inside to ground level.

And this is how the landscape looks as we "grow" our fence:

This was the state of the fence where we started yesterday.

Then we added the first post and panel...

and the second post and panel...

and then the third and final post and panel for the day.

Snow dusts the front flower garden as the daylilies
continue to grow. 

Snow and bitter cold weather greeted us today, so we planned on not working outside.  Instead, I did my regular Friday cleaning chores while Rick went to Home Depot for another 30 bags of cement.  He also ordered some needed materials to finish the gates on the fence. Those materials should arrive at Lowes in Appleton in another two weeks.

Our plans for tomorrow are to brave whatever cold weather lingers as we add three more posts and panels to the south side fence.  I never dreamed that we would have a fence completely surround our property before June 1, but we seem to be on the right track to finish this project on time.  See?  Staying at home does have its benefits.

Around the Corner and Into the Home Stretch

We have spent the past two days buying and hauling more cement, cleaning out the machine-dug holes, routing new openings in end posts to accommodate terrain changes in the back yard, and putting up fencing panels.

The east side is complete, and we were able to round the corner
to put in our first panel on the south side of the fence.

The south corner drops low, so we started to fill it in
with dirt taken from the post holes.

Today, after getting up early and beating the crowds at Home Depot as we purchased more cement, we started on the southeast corner.  That post and panel took a bit of effort since it was both a short section that Rick had to modify components to fit, and it was at an odd angle to avoid buried telephone lines.  In the end, we were able to complete the corner, although just as the other corner is, this one, too, is a wonky-donkey corner.  Our property angles in the back.  The front of the property is much wider than is the back property line, and our fence actually follows the strange line to the back corner.

We added one more panel to the north side
to completely block the neighbor's view of our back yard.

We also completed the panels needed for the north side of the fence.  We made one error in routing out an end panel, so that post will hit the scrap pile.  It happens.  The north fence now runs completely past our neighbor's den windows, so they no longer will have a direct sight line onto our patio and back yard.  The gate for that side may have to wait for another day.

The dirt from all of the holes will be just enough
to fill in a really low spot at the back of our yard,

We will try to put in three more panels on the south side tomorrow; however, I told Rick that if we get the predicted SNOW on Friday, I am not going outside.  A girl has to have her limits and stick to them!

Our deadline is next Friday, May 15.  The work on the fence must be completed on that day so Rick can have some down time before he faces Achilles surgery on Tuesday, May 19.  I think that we should be able to meet that deadline without too many problems.

Lots of Holes and Help from Owen

Yesterday we made more progress with the fence as we continued to dig holes and to erect fence panels. Lindsay and her family came over to check the results, and we put Owen to work.  He wanted to "help" build the fence, so Rick got him dressed in protective gear and let him help glue the tops to the completed fence posts.  Owen was a little insecure on the ladder, but Grandpa kept him safe.  The fancy caps are the finishing touch to this ornate fence.  By mid-afternoon, we were done with the work for the day.

Owen waits while Rick applies adhesive to the inside
of the post cap.

Apparently, the glue does not smell very good!

After the cap was in place, Owen had to hold
it down firmly for 10 seconds while the glue set.

We did not waste the rest of the day, however.  Rick contacted Home Depot, and we were able to rent the towable hydraulic auger so that we could dig holes on the south side of the lot today.  Of course, Rick could not wait to try it, so in our good clothes, we had to try to dig a hole... with not great results.

The first hole we tried, the auger went down a couple of feet and stopped dead.  We had hit a large tree root, so that was the end of that hole.  Rick will have to take his SawzAll to that hole to eliminate the root, and then we can dig the rest of the hole by hand.

Not to be defeated, we tried a second hole.  We got down a few feet again, but we had a terrible time getting the auger back up.  Rick was tired, frustrated, and ready to return the auger right then and there.  He figured out, however, that cutting through the grass was part of the trouble as it gummed up the blades, so we decided to try something different this morning.

Owen tries his hand at cleaning out one of the shallow
holes by using Grandpa's post hole digger.  He actually
got quite a bit out of the hole.

Ten covered holes (to keep out children and
baby bunnies) now line the south side of our property.

Today, we went out, located where all of the holes should be, and then cut out the sod and dug down about a foot so we would have a "starter hole" in which to place the auger.  That system worked very well.  Although the auger still took both of us to push down and to frequently pull up to expel the dirt, by noon today we had completed 10 holes!  Success!

Lindsay half-filled the wheelbarrow, and
Owen used his strength to take it across the yard
to our dump site.

Christopher brought Owen over to watch the auger since he is fascinated with machines, and afterward he helped us move some of the dirt across the yard to where we need to fill in low spots.

Tomorrow, we will continue to put up fence panels.  We still need to dig one hole on the north side.  That must be done by hand so we do not cut through our sump-pump drain line.  We also need to hand dig the southeast corner post hole since that hold is very near utility lines.  Once all of the holes are dug, we can spend the rest of the time just "planting" poles and filling in the fence.  We hope to have everything completed by next Friday.

Two for Three

Well, our plans to get the auger to dig all of the remaining holes fell through last night when we went to Home Depot.  Rick had called; the man who answered said that the auger was there and that we could come and get it.  Our bad.  We ate dinner first, and by the time we went to Home Depot someone else had come in and rented the auger for today.  We both were disappointed, but life goes on.

So instead of digging lots of holes with the power auger, we opted for digging two more holes (we already had one dug on the north side) and three more panels.  The work has to continue if we are going to get most of this fence up before Rick's Achilles surgery, so two holes for three more fence posts was what we did today.

The day actually started with me taking care of some inside house work while Rick went back to Home Depot for 30 more bags of cement.  What a way to start the day!  He was tired before we even started to work on the yard, but we needed the extra cement if we wanted to continue with our building process.

The first hole on the east side went smoothly.  There is little to get in the way, and the soil is moist on that side of the yard, so Rick had that hole dug in about half an hour.

The hole on the north side took a little more time.  The ground is both higher and drier there, so the clay has to be broken up like concrete.  Speaking of concrete, in the hole he dug today, Rick actually found a large chunk of it.The chunk definitely was poured by someone a long time ago.  I figure some past owner of this house had a clothesline pole in that location, with the opposite end of the lines connected to the back of the house.  With a little prying, Rick was able to get the chunk out without too many problems.

Rick walks away from the first completed panel of the day.

We put the first post in about mid-morning.  Rick had cut holes in two end posts yesterday so we would be able to step up the north side fence again today.  How great it was to have that option available today! We started with the north side because we wanted to put up two posts on that side today. We put in the first one, and while that post's cement had time to settle and to set, we moved on to the east side panel.

The east side panel almost reaches behind our shed.  With the next one,
we will block out that part of the neighborhood.

We put in the second post and fence panels just before lunch.  I am so happy to get those panels in to block out the rental properties behind us.  The renters have a bunch of loud children, and they neither rake nor mow the back portion of the property more than a couple of times a year.  Having them out of sight -- and having them not being able to see into our back yard and patio -- will be a relief.  With the panel we put in today, we almost have our privacy on that side of the yard.

This fellow really was a turkey as he decided
not to help us build our fence!

After lunch, we went out to complete the third panel.  As I went to the front yard to sweep out the cement debris from the back of the truck, my neighbor across the street, Kathy, started to yell, "Look!  A turkey!"  Sure enough, an absolutely huge tom turkey was walking down the middle of her neighbor's yard.  Then the turkey crossed the street and walked between our house and the neighbor's house.

"Ah, help at last,"  I thought.  Sadly, he veered away from our yard and took off down the adjacent street.  Maybe he got wise when he smelled what I have in the crock pot for dinner tonight-- a turkey breast!

The two new panels on the north side almost give us -- and our neighbors --
privacy from each other.  One more panel will block them from seeing
our patio and back yard from their den windows.

We finished the third panel about 2:00 p.m.  This panel required the stepped up post that we cut yesterday, so when we add more panels on that side, we will be ready to just build out from there.

With the digging and cement work done, we cleaned up the yard.  Then Rick took the box of post caps and installed them on our finished posts.  We cannot put caps on the posts from which we need to build tomorrow, so those were the only ones he did not complete.  As he was doing that, I took the shovel and the garden rake and tired to redistribute the dirt that we had removed from the holes.

With each hole, post, and panel, we get closer to our goal of completing the fence -- with the exception of the gates -- before May 19 when Rick is due to have surgery.  With each hole, post, and panel, we also gain more privacy in our back yard, and that is our ultimate goal.

Four More

We had to take advantage of the beautiful weather today by getting outside and putting in another long day building the fence.  The results?

• Four more panels installed, two on the north and two on the east
• 32 more feet of fence to give us privacy
• 1, 642 more sore muscles and joints (Lead me to the Advil!)
• Seven hours of work
• Two happy (and exhausted) people

The pictures will tell the story.

This is where we started this morning.

Our first panel needed to go up on the east side.  Note the stick in the middle
of the dumped dirt pile.  That marks the spot for the first fence post today.

With the panel installed on the east side, we turned our attention
to the north side.  We needed to step the fence up on that side to allow
for the grade in the landscape. 

Note how the latest panel on the north side is a step up from the rest.

Our final picture shows that the added four panels are starting
to create a "fenced in yard" feeling to our landscape. 

We have just enough cement left to install one more 8-foot section of fence, but since the weather is supposed to be wonderful tomorrow, we have decided to dig holes instead.  To that end, we will go tonight to rent a power auger for 24 hours, and with that auger, we hopefully will be able to dig all but four of the remaining holes.  I'll let you know how tomorrow goes...

Make Up Day

Yesterday we had rain and wind all day long, so it was a lost day as far as making any progress on the fence was concerned.  Rick tried to make up for that lag in time today, and he almost worked himself and me to death in the process.

We are waiting for a new router bit before we can add panels to the north side fence.  The land gradually goes uphill from the back corner of the yard, ending a full 12 inches above the corner where we have already put in the fence. We are glad that the yard is shaped this way because the water drains away from the house in the back yard; however, we knew that we would have to "step up" the fence on that side to accommodate the changes.  In order to cut the new design of the top and bottom rails into the blank side of a post, Rick had to buy a router bit that would easily cut through 1/4 inch plastic.  The bit should be delivered sometime today.

 The lack of a bit did not stop us from working in the yard from 7:00 this morning until about 3:30 this afternoon, though.  Did I mention yet that I am tired?

We began the day with an early-morning trip to Home Depot to purchase 30 more 60-pound bags of cement.  We have gotten to know one of the workers in that department, so he kindly put 30 bags onto a skid and fork-lifted them into our truck.  Of course, the problem is that we do not have a fork lift at our house to unload the bags from the truck!  We put 15 into a stack at the front of the garage and hauled a few of them into the back yard to use today.

The boards with bricks on top each indicate a place where Rick
dug a 48 inch deep hole for the next fence posts.

Then we tackled the holes.  In all, Rick dug three holes on the north side and two holes on the east side.  The east side holes gave us no trouble, but two of the three north side holes had really compacted dirt that we had to almost chisel loose to take it out of the hole.  That was hard work!

Rick dug two more holes to the right of the existing fence line
on the east side of the property.

We finished the last hole just after lunch.  Then Rick decided that we should try to get at least one fence panel in before we stopped for the day.  We used the transit to determine that we have about a 7 inch dip in the middle of the property line across the east side fence line.  We talked about dropping the fence down, but since we have had so many loads of dirt from the holes we have already dug, we decided to fill in the lower part of the yard with that clay and dirt, and then just run the fence straight across the back.  If we had not done that, we would have had to drop down two panels of fence and then bring the fence back up again as the landscape rose.  We both thought dropping the fence and then raising it again would look rather strange, so I am glad that we agreed to just run the fence at one level. We can fill in the yard in front and behind it to level the dip in the property line.

The piles of dirt on the right hand side of the picture show where
we have to add soil to build up the indentation in the yard.

Since we could build no further on the north side, we added another panel to the east side.  Unfortunately, we failed to understand how much water had really filled the hole due to all of the rain we received yesterday.  As we poured the cement into the hole, the water rose and started making a royal mess of everything.  We finally reached the top of the hole with cement, but we both feel that that particular post will be a weak spot in the whole structure due to all of the water.

A few days ago, I heard the little girl who lives in one of the houses behind our house say to her brother, "I wonder what they are doing over there.  Mama says they are just making a big mess."  Today, I would have to agree with that little girl's mama.

One more panel gives us just a little more privacy from
the adjacent street and the neighbors behind our house.

We learned our lesson.  Tomorrow we have enough holes dug to put up at least three more panels of fencing.  However, before we mix the cement, we will be sure to check for water and to bail out all of the holes.

Four-Panel Progress

I am really tired tonight, so this blog will be brief.  We made great progress on the fence today, partly because we already had four holes dug and ready for posts.

Our starting point this morning was our off-center post.  The good news
is that we were able to correct the problem with the next panels.

This morning started damp and foggy with the promise of rain by 3:00 p.m.  We figured we would work as long as we could before we had to stop due to weather.  While Rick ran to Home Depot to get more cement, I set up the back yard for a day of work.

With the first two panels in, we "dry fit" the lower
rail on the next section of fence.  We had to slightly
bury the bottom rail to follow the contours of the lot.

The first two panels were only four-foot panels thanks to the roots and wire issues when digging the holes.  We figured those would go quickly, but since we have never used this exact fence design before, completing the first two panels took a bit longer than either of us would have liked. We worked from 7:30 until a little after noon getting the first two panels assembled and cemented into place.

The design on this fence is a little more ornate than the fence we installed in Florida.  While that fence had fairly straight tops and bottoms, this fence has a much more detailed design.  That makes sliding the top and bottom rails into the posts a bit more complex, and I am guessing that this fence also will be a royal pain in the rear to wash and to keep clean.  On the plus side, the panels on this fence seem thicker and the tracks into which they slip are deeper.  That feature will help the panels stay into place through all types of weather.

After lunch, we decided to try to get the next two panels in before the rain.  Now that we knew how to install them, these two eight-foot panels went in a little more quickly.  We still have challenges ahead of us as we know that we will have to step up the fence on the north side of the yard and step down the fence on the east side.  Such is our landscape.  We finished our work around 3:00 p.m.  The rain did not arrive until 4:00 p.m., so the weather cooperated with our timing.

The first four panels outline the northeast corner
of our back yard.  I want to plant a lilac bush in this
corner to replace the one that the tree cutters destroyed
two years ago.  This corner will be perfect!

We now have the start to our privacy in the back yard.  While we will have to take a bit of time to adjust to the more enclosed area, we no longer will have to worry about the unkept yard behind us or the prying eyes of anyone who drives down the street around the corner from our house.  The yard will be ours, free of leaves blowing in from the neighbors, and free of intrusion from the neighborhood children and dogs.

Rain is predicted for all day tomorrow, so we probably will have a day off from the mud of the back yard.  That will give us time to get inside chores completed before getting back outside.  We look forward to continuing our work.

First Post

Anyone who watches the show "Barnwood Builders" knows that as the crew disassembles or rebuilds an old log cabin, one member of the crew always shouts, "Last log!" as the last one comes down or the last one goes up to complete the job.  Today, Rick and I now can shout, "First post!"  We have had a busy weekend.

Rick took a "butt shot" of me digging a hole,
so I had to reciprocate for him.

The post hole digger is a great tool, but as the hole
gets deeper, I am not strong enough to use it.

We started yesterday again in winter parkas and hoods, but as the day warmed, we both shed layers of clothing.  We actually got to just sweatshirt weather by the end of the day.  Once again, this was a day to dig holes with the idea that if we got enough done early, we could put in the first post.  As usual, our plans were greater than our share of time or our store of energy.

Rick finally reaches the bottom of the corner pole hole.

The corner post hole that seemed so promising on Friday turned out to be a bear in the end.  As Rick dug deeper in the hole, he encountered some deeply buried roots.  They fought him all the way for about two feet until he finally broke through to clear soil, although that turned out to be stubborn clay.  We have learned that in that corner of the yard, once the clay or soil starts to get moist, we have reached our 48 inch level.  Every hole in that area has filled with about a foot of water once we finish digging it.

The corner pole is "dry fit" into the hole to see if
the hole was deep enough.  Then we took it out
for proper installation on Sunday.  Note the new
orange cement mixer.  It was a life-saver.

One of the other posts was also a problem with stubborn roots that seemed to criss-cross like an underground spider's web.  That, too, took more time that we had hoped it would, but in the end Rick got it down the required 48 inches.  The final of the three posts only took about 40 minutes to dig. It was virtually root-free and the clay portion of the soil was mixed with generous amounts of sand, so the digging was fairly easy.  (Rick deserved an easy hole after the other two!)

The patio houses all of the "through posts" and the "end posts"
that we will cut as we raise the fence or drop it down
to follow the contours of our wavy back yard.

We spent the rest of the day sorting the posts and moving them onto the back screened-in patio.  We are promised rain for Monday - Wednesday, so they are probably safer and easier to keep dry on the patio.

We had planned on cementing in the corner post yesterday, but we ran out of time and energy to do so.  That probably was good because getting up today and starting with a task that we have not done for a long time was better to do while we were fresh.

Cement work is the easiest part of this whole fencing process.  The new cement mixer we purchased is almost identical to the one we use in Florida, so there was no learning curve with the machine. We soon were back into our old routine working with the cement.  To make things easier, we put an old door on two sawhorses to act as a work table. We put the required bags of cement up on the table where Rick was able to simply slide one to the end, cut it open, and let the cement fall into the waiting mouth of the mixer.

Our wonky-donkey post that is plumb but not exactly true to the
square of the yard.  Ah, well, we can't all be perfect.

In a little over an hour, we had the corner post firmly cemented into the ground.  Unfortunately, we both were so concerned about getting it plumb that we both neglected to make sure it was perfectly in line with the other holes!  So our new fence post is pointing about 10 degrees off from where it should be.  We have a wonky-donkey corner post, so that is our whimsy point of the yard.  We will be able to recover our line by nudging the next panels into more in-line posts, but the corner post will always be a little off.  That's OK.  In this family, being a little off center is just who we all are.

Once the corner post was up, Rick decided to dig a couple more holes.  The instructions for this fence say that one can put up two sections of fencing and two posts all in one day.  With the two holes that Rick dug today, we now have two holes completed for both the north and the east sides of the yard.  If we need to cement in two in one day, we can do so.  As I said, cementing in the posts is the easy part.

The dirt from the holes is spread around to fill in
the low spots in the yard.  

We keep dumping the dirt from each hole into a really low spot in the yard.  We hope that if we can fill in that section, not only will we have a more level yard to enjoy, but we also might not have to step down the fence so much in the middle of the east side.  We'll have to see how much that dirt settles if we really receive heavy rains in the next few days.

At this point, all we can do is to keep on digging and keep on planting posts and fencing panels.  While we both will miss seeing the grove of birch trees through our back yard, we will not miss seeing the un-raked and uncut yard beneath those trees.  In the end, our enclosed yard will give us a private "outdoor room" to our Green Bay home.