Fence Debrief
The fence is DONE! I have a back fence again between us and our neighbors, who we've discovered are very nice people.
Difficulty: Medium-Hard. (Most of the work wasn't that hard, but some parts required a minimum strength level. If you can't muscle around the Auger or maneuver an 80lb section of stockade fence, it'll be a little difficult to do by yourself. If you can do those things, than you can do the whole job by yourself.)
Costs:
Fence Sections: 10 8x6ft Cedar Doweled Stockade fence sections (not the cheap ones): $621
Fence Posts: 11 9ft Cedar Doweled Stockade Fence posts, 5in width: $230
Weekend rental of one Hydraulic Auger (for digging post holes) $82
5 bags of large gravel, to line the bottom and sides of post holes: $22
Other costs you may incur that I did not:
Rental truck to move auger and fence sections (I used my trailer)
Tool rental, if you do not have the following:
Mitre Saw
Reciprocating saw, for taking apart old fence and cutting down new one to other sizes than 8x6
Level
Pry bars, for loosening rocks in the ground.
Shovel
Hand trowel
Hand Sander
Labor: ~10 hours measuring and digging the post holes. Stockade fence sections are USUALLY 8 feet wide. Measure the CENTER of your holes 8 feet apart, and you should be good. I will mention that I can almost PROMISE you I have more ridiculous large rocks in my yard that you'll find in your whole neighborhood, so this SHOULD be much less using the Auger. That thing is amazing, and as I told the rental guy, it made an impossible job merely difficult. This thing will dig up small to medium rocks, but I have a LOT of medium to large rocks, and those it won't move. My friend and I would dig 6-8 inches with the Auger, hit rocks, and have to dig them out by hand. ALL of Saturday and half of Sunday were spent digging out the holes. Another small thing I learned is, "Dig the holes deeper than you have to, and wider than you think you'll need. You can always fill around the post with rocks and gravel to raise/balance it out." I ended up having to re-dig a few holes that were too small at the bottom to fit the posts, which were WIDER than I expected. Dig a 6-inch wide hole at LEAST 24 inches down from the ground level, and you'll be good. I could have actually used the holes being 36 inches deep, but with the rocks I had (and the fact that the auger bit I rented was only 2 feet long)
Actually putting in the posts, and hanging the fence sections: 7-8 hours. I estimated about 1/2 hour per section, and that was actually correct. I had to dig out two holes more than expected once I tried to hang two sections, as the bottoms weren't large enough to let the posts center the way they needed to. Also, due to having to match up with an older fence next to the new fence, I ended up taking the old fence's end post, digging out that hole extra wide, and using the NEW post for the new and the old fence, which also required me to drill extra dowel notches in the post, as the old fence was a different height. I also incurred extra time because the posts I had were 9 feet tall, and fence is 6 feet, and the holes were 2 feet deep. So as not to leave a 1-foot gap at the bottom of the fence, I had to cut off ~10 inches of each post bottom, and then fine-tune the depth of the hole with more or less gravel under the pole.
I also had probably an extra hour of time spent on cutting two sections of stockade to smaller sizes, which I had to do because of a TOTAL inability to put the fence post at one eight foot mark through a tree root, so I ended up with a 6 foot and a 5 foot section, and I had to cut them down to size, and then sand down the fence cross-braces to fit the dowel holes for the posts.
Given a better dirt-to-rock ratio, and no stupid roots, I maintain this should be a two-day project, for one person, who's moderately handy with tools, and can measure things correctly.
Thanks a LOT to my friend Chris for coming over and slogging through the digging out of all the rocks. THAT PART SUCKED, AND I AM SORRY.
Difficulty: Medium-Hard. (Most of the work wasn't that hard, but some parts required a minimum strength level. If you can't muscle around the Auger or maneuver an 80lb section of stockade fence, it'll be a little difficult to do by yourself. If you can do those things, than you can do the whole job by yourself.)
Costs:
Fence Sections: 10 8x6ft Cedar Doweled Stockade fence sections (not the cheap ones): $621
Fence Posts: 11 9ft Cedar Doweled Stockade Fence posts, 5in width: $230
Weekend rental of one Hydraulic Auger (for digging post holes) $82
5 bags of large gravel, to line the bottom and sides of post holes: $22
Other costs you may incur that I did not:
Rental truck to move auger and fence sections (I used my trailer)
Tool rental, if you do not have the following:
Mitre Saw
Reciprocating saw, for taking apart old fence and cutting down new one to other sizes than 8x6
Level
Pry bars, for loosening rocks in the ground.
Shovel
Hand trowel
Hand Sander
Labor: ~10 hours measuring and digging the post holes. Stockade fence sections are USUALLY 8 feet wide. Measure the CENTER of your holes 8 feet apart, and you should be good. I will mention that I can almost PROMISE you I have more ridiculous large rocks in my yard that you'll find in your whole neighborhood, so this SHOULD be much less using the Auger. That thing is amazing, and as I told the rental guy, it made an impossible job merely difficult. This thing will dig up small to medium rocks, but I have a LOT of medium to large rocks, and those it won't move. My friend and I would dig 6-8 inches with the Auger, hit rocks, and have to dig them out by hand. ALL of Saturday and half of Sunday were spent digging out the holes. Another small thing I learned is, "Dig the holes deeper than you have to, and wider than you think you'll need. You can always fill around the post with rocks and gravel to raise/balance it out." I ended up having to re-dig a few holes that were too small at the bottom to fit the posts, which were WIDER than I expected. Dig a 6-inch wide hole at LEAST 24 inches down from the ground level, and you'll be good. I could have actually used the holes being 36 inches deep, but with the rocks I had (and the fact that the auger bit I rented was only 2 feet long)
Actually putting in the posts, and hanging the fence sections: 7-8 hours. I estimated about 1/2 hour per section, and that was actually correct. I had to dig out two holes more than expected once I tried to hang two sections, as the bottoms weren't large enough to let the posts center the way they needed to. Also, due to having to match up with an older fence next to the new fence, I ended up taking the old fence's end post, digging out that hole extra wide, and using the NEW post for the new and the old fence, which also required me to drill extra dowel notches in the post, as the old fence was a different height. I also incurred extra time because the posts I had were 9 feet tall, and fence is 6 feet, and the holes were 2 feet deep. So as not to leave a 1-foot gap at the bottom of the fence, I had to cut off ~10 inches of each post bottom, and then fine-tune the depth of the hole with more or less gravel under the pole.
I also had probably an extra hour of time spent on cutting two sections of stockade to smaller sizes, which I had to do because of a TOTAL inability to put the fence post at one eight foot mark through a tree root, so I ended up with a 6 foot and a 5 foot section, and I had to cut them down to size, and then sand down the fence cross-braces to fit the dowel holes for the posts.
Given a better dirt-to-rock ratio, and no stupid roots, I maintain this should be a two-day project, for one person, who's moderately handy with tools, and can measure things correctly.
Thanks a LOT to my friend Chris for coming over and slogging through the digging out of all the rocks. THAT PART SUCKED, AND I AM SORRY.