making the space feel more like a home has always been important to my family and i
and having a fence has been a key component giving our home a sense of personal space and safety
because my wife and i enjoy working in our garden it's often that our little ones are playing and
running around the yard and as a parent it's made me feel a little nervous not being able to have
100 eyes on them to give me some peace of mind i felt having a fence would be a good start to
set safety boundaries to reduce the chance of an accident especially from running into the nearby
street hi i'm rochesonda and in this video i'll share the process of building a privacy prince
from start to finish and show you ways you can make it look like the pros installed it
today we are building a full panel privacy cedar fence i chose to go this traditional route because
after driving around it gave off the best curb appeal and i've been told it's considered a good
neighboring fence i then called around for quotes to see what it would cost to build a 70
linear feet section with the gate and i was quoted about 8 000 total
as someone who enjoys the satisfaction of building my own stuff the way i want
it i decided to take a leap of faith like i do all my diy projects and build it myself
i then drove around the neighborhood to compare which ones i thought were well built versus the
ones that were built poorly i pulled over once i found one that i really liked and asked the
homeowner if i could take a few measurements of their professionally installed fence
i also went into new housing development to measure a few more for good measure
this would help me determine the average total height and the fence post spacing needed
like always i drew it up in solidworks and play with a few different layouts
and to help me determine exactly how much material i would need
i also use an online calculator to give me another point of reference
before i could order any materials i called 811 to help locate and mark any buried utilities
so i don't accidentally dig into it good thing i did as there was one near where the fence would go
which meant i had to be extra careful there next was to source the materials to build the fence i
wanted to find the same professionally commercial grade material that the other companies quoted me
and luckily i found a local fence company that also sells to residential buyers or diyers like
myself i know in the past with other building materials this wasn't always the case most of
the time i found out that they would only sell supplies to contractors or at a commercial level
which i never really understood anyways i'm glad i found this company because they specifically
carried the jumbo 4x4 pressure treated post over pipe jumbo 4x4 pulse meant it actually measures
four and eight by four and eight not that three and a half by three and a half posts
you see at the big box stores and the post over pipe means wood posts over a galvanized pipe
the main advantage here is that you have a longer lasting fence post that won't rot as fast as the
traditional wood fence post because only the pipe end is in the ground and the wood is above ground
well you might be thinking well it's metal it's going to rust eventually and break that's somewhat
true but then compare that to how much faster wood would rot out and break i mean look at the fence
post used at the prison yard or schoolyard most of the time they're a type of coated metal fence post
that is built to last as far as tools the main things you will really need is a post digger
leveler some string and something to cut wood in my case to make things go faster and accurate
i was able to borrow most of the tools from my sister but looking back
after building the fence a circular saw would have been all i would need to cut the wood
the first thing i did was string it all out i used some marshmallow steaks that i had
laying around to mark out and align the string then measure seven and a half feet and mark
where i would need to dig the hole for the post i continued marking every seven half feet on center
one thing i would have done differently here is level the string then also mark
the string cena half on center this would keep the perpendicular distance of each vertical post
exactly the same versus what i did here is that i followed the contour of the ground surface
next was to dig out the hole for the fence post i first used a manual post digger to start the hole
which would help guide the power auger from drifting from center sort of like a center punch
i guess to get a six feet wide and two feet deep hole i used a four inch bit on a powered auger
i dug until i hit a rock then switched over to a manual digger
until the hole was clear of rocks then switched back to the power auger i continued to switch back
and forth between tools until a whole depth of two feet was reached during the entire fence build
this was the most time consuming or hardest part it was running into those large rocks and roots
i had when there used to be trees here luckily i had my little helpers to help me excavate
next i filled each hole up four inches with all-purpose gravel
for either ten times with the garden hand shovel
next was to set the post
i first started with the straight side between my yard and the neighbor
for the first post i started at the corner i made it flush with the string line then set it
so that the base of the wood was about an inch and a half above ground then poured the concrete
per the manufacturer this particular concrete makes does not need to be pre-mixed with water
you also don't need to add any additional supports to the pose while this sets because it
compacts the hole and sets in 30 minutes it took about one and a half two bags for each hole
to do the next post i installed it at the far end
doing it this way would keep the other posts between the line and straight with one another
we continued working through the day until nightfall setting the remaining post
screening each one leveling and making sure it was flush with the string line
this worked out great as it would give the concrete even more time to cure overnight
also one post is missing because i decided to change the fence layout slightly
i didn't like the look of the fence gate at an angle when looking at the house
instead i changed the gate layout to be perpendicular
to our house and then i wanted the fence to be perpendicular to the retaining wall here
this presented a slight challenge to connect this side to the gate it was going to have a
slight angle or curve to the post which meant i had to clock or turn the remaining post to make
a seamless transition the next day we started installing the 2x4 cedar railings this is what
the pickets will attach to i made the lower rail flush with the bottom of the posts and i know it's
more susceptible to a rotting because it's close to the ground but aesthetically it looked the best
in this scenario i think pressure treated lower rails would probably be best
i screwed them in using three and a half inch screws
for the upper rail i got my wife to give me an extra set of hands
i measured and marked each post to help make sure the upper railings were parallel with blow rails
i also used two speed squares to help me accurately mark and set the upper rails
and now the fun part installing the fence pickets because i was working with about 70 linear feet
of fencing i decided to screw them using one and three-quarter deck screws if i was to build a much
longer fence then i would have used the nail gun with galvanized or stainless steel fencing nails
i installed about three pickets at a time and checked to make sure they were level
and to measure to see if they were the same distance at the top and bottom and if i was off
i'd make slight correctness as i continued i also made them flush to one another as each
board over time would dry and shrink revealing a eight to quarter inch gap
then for the last board ripped it to size using a table saw ore and or circular saw
that's it that's how you build a fence yeah all right let's go grab the other pieces installing
picket after pick it was probably the most satisfying part of the project because it
started to look like we knew what we were doing next was to trim off the excess of each post
let's go
i did this before installing the top plate because it gave me the room i
needed to use my speed square as a guide for my circular saw
then for each fence panel installed a two by four top plate
and finished off the trim work using 1x4 cedar boards this top plate will provide a cap and
the 1x4 trim covers up the top and bottom ends of the pickets providing a clean look
after working out the kinks i installed the final post and you can see i turned it slightly
to follow a contour where i would adjust it to link up to the post that was set for the gates
now let's move on to the moving parts the gate door
for the gate door i'm wearing something about four feet wide
i think the standard is about three feet but i wanted something wide enough to clear my
kids right along quads and future proof it if i needed to bring through any light duty
machinery i wanted to have the gate level as much as possible but it left a huge gap at the bottom
i compromised a little bit to be somewhat parallel with the ground i then measured the shortest
horizontal distance of the gate opening and then subtracted three quarter to get my total width
this will provide clearance needed for the door to open and close and account for some
of the sag from the weight of the door gate i began pre-installing the door on my homemade
fixture table and use a diagonal support to brace it then install the door frame
use clamps and have my wife help me initially hold it into place
then place a jack underneath to help lift it up to get it to the exact marked height
then install the hinges
i end up actually using a total of three to be on the safe side
and i added a horizontal support to beef it up
once the door opened freely i felt pretty good
then i installed the pickets
then installed the heavy duty gate latch
then i notched out a channel to clear the gate latch bolt head
because i knew the gate would be a high traffic area added additional
force to the post closest to the house to give it more rigidity
this would help take the abuse when the gate is being slammed closed
then lastly due to the tight tolerance i used this i saw
to trim the remaining post then capped each post using 6x6 post
to have the gate door automatically closed behind me i installed the gate spring
after adjusting the spring to my liking the gate door was finally complete
now with everything complete let's take a final look at the before and after
of the transformation while i share my closing thoughts
the whole project took about one week on and off to complete in total i spent under 2 000 to build
a 70-foot linear wall fence using higher grade fancy materials
this included with screws cement and renting the auger to complete the job with the new fence i now
feel a sense of personal ownership of my yard to my surprise it's helped me want to upkeep my yard
in the near future i do plan on staining it with the product called ready seal
and i plan to build my own anti-sag kit for the door gate now i enjoy spending
more time in my yard playing with my kids and gardening with my wife but most importantly
having the fence gives me peace of mind knowing that my kids have a safer place to play in
if you're looking to build your own fence using these ideas here
i've created a detailed diagram that breaks down the project along with the links to the tools and
the materials i use to complete it if you have any questions ask and i'll do my best to answer
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