Ich Bin Oklander
Well it's not a wall we're putting up but a big ole fence just the same. Now this fence is not complex in design. It does not have recessed panels in the mission style. It does not have horizontal planking in a subtle nod to the modern. It is, in fact, a simple redwood fence, built by us, to do 2 jobs. 1. To hold in the dog and 2. to hide the garbage cans. So far, at holding in the dog it is an unqualified success.
We spent the weekend tearing down the rotted portion of the existing fence, digging all postholes, anchoring corners and gate-holder holes with cement, planting poles, hanging rails, skinning the first 35 feet, and building 1 gate. It is a simple, sturdy, and VERY pink new fence.
Still to come is the remaining 35 feet of railing and skinning, one gate, and one lovely arbor. It is this portion that will hide the garbage cans. Oh and yes i will be staining the whole shebang as i do not care for the pink of natural redwood. Where am i, Miami? No.
Things I love:
1.the new skil cordless drill/driver with 2 batteries that take only 1 hour each to recharge
2. The AUGER!! rent it.
3. the striped hammock from pottery barn
4. beth's new non-janky gate
5. the fence portion that no longer relies on a tomato cage to stay closed
Things i do NOT love:
1. The varying pink and salmon color of the redwood planks
2. The fact that home depot told us we needed twice as many heavy ass bags of concrete as we actually did forcing us to lode/unload them TWICE
3. That the hammock poles dug 3 feet into the ground and sunk in concrete STILL came out of the ground (oh yes, it will be remedied)
4. the bruise on my back from where i fell onto a pile of lumber
posted by merideth @ 6/07/2005 01:44:00 PM
6 Comments:
Fence building is very satisfying. I built 3 of them at my last house. One was the 8.5-foot tall Great Wall of Eureka I built to hide the neighbors from my view. Two neighbor kids bugged me every day while I was building it. One asked me what I was going to do with all the dirt I had piled up from the fence post holes I had dug. I said, “I don’t know, what do you think I should do with it”. He thought for a moment, and then his eyes bugged out, and he said, “Why don’t you dig a hole and bury it!” Brilliant!
We just finished out fence, well except for the staining part. It's still too wet here for that. Ours is to keep the kids in, since we live on a major street. Redwood sounds cool, since it's rare to see it here. Everything is cedar or pressure treated. Next year we plan on a fence for the front yard. We need a permit to build an arbor/pergola, since it's over 4'. I wish I could bury some dirt, I've got way more than I know what to do with.
You don't have to stain. If you give it a year it will fade out nicely to a "weathered grey." Our tree house is redwood, and if I remember the explanation correctly (no guarantees there) redwood doesn't need it as it as a preservative. Plus, once you stain it you will have to stain it again. And again. It would look nice stained though. A much more finished look.
mindee oh i know i dont HAVE to stain...i just dont like the gray that wood becomes in its natural state...i want it to stay the lovely "mission" brown that put on the swing stand and pergola
grex "great wall of eureka"? nice. and i fully laughed out loud and the idea of burying dirt...too funny
derek dont you feel all proud of yourself? and, added bonus: kids safely removed from traffic
A mighty sniggering comes from Los Vegas... Greetings from Sin City, I just took a conference break to get my blogging fix and laughed out loud at the innovative solution for dirt removal - sounds like a government program.
I take it redwood is more prevalent and therefore cheaper down there? My first question was why you'd use it instead of cedar. I can see where you might want to stain your fence to match the pergola.
Sounds like everybody is building fences this summer, us included. Ours will contain the dog and hopefully keep our little biped out of the road and creek.
I'm interested in what your plan is for the hammock posts. We have a similar project on the horizon and I'm trying to decide whether to brace above or below.
Yep - around here, redwood's the better choice. And because it is so pest-resistent, rot-resistent, etc., that's what we used. The house itself is actually framed in redwood, which helps explain how little pest damage we have after 80 years.
But OH it is pink. Pictures to come.
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