New Fence Install, Day 3: Top Board Begins

June 30, 2025

We ran into a bit of a snag today. We were wanting to start the top board, but our fence is set up to align with our neighbor’s fence in back (our neighbors Greg and Atsuko).

We knew we wanted to trim off some of this top piece from their fence, but didn’t want to do anything until we spoke with them. So despite us getting prepped, we felt like we hit a blocker.

What we ended up doing instead: we started the top board a the next post.

We designed things so that we’d have a very short run (about 4′) that would connect our fence with theirs. There was some concern about winds and one fence pulling/causing damage for the other. So to offset that, we only connected to theirs with a very small segment from ours.

Made a few jigs that I was pretty proud of. This jig put the top board flush on the opposite side of the fence, resulting in the top board leaning over onto our side with enough material to cover two rows of pickets, along with our top trim.

TL;DR – this top board wasn’t affixed simply by centering it onto the top rail. We made sure we had enough overhang onto our side to encompass the material, and also leave an additional 3/4″ when all is said and done.

A staggered start. We’ll come back and add the final piece on the left, but from here on out… we’re adding the top board all the way back to the house.

Some good progress. We also cut each top board at a 45 degree angle, which I was a little unsure of. But there’s enough wiggle room to work with, and the boards went in pretty well.