New Fence Install, Day 12: Working Behind the Deck

August 10, 2025

Long, hot day today. The temps were up there (upper 80s I think), and a lot of humidity. But we’ve got rain coming next week, and today was the best day… with a good window of time, to get work done on the fence.

The fence has kind of remained “open” for a while now, with us leaving a gap to allow us to go back and forth, between our yard and the neighbor’s yard.

So far, we’ve been waiting on several sets of painted pickets to dry. These are going right alongside the section by our back porch, and will be impossible to actually paint if we installed them clean. So we needed to paint these first, before installing.

Me, trying to do some math and anticipate where the pickets need to go. I left a small gap so that I could slip back and forth (and oh boy, did I do a lot of bending up and down today). But as I got closer to our back deck, I started to use the painted pickets.

Installing these pickets was… a bear. I didn’t have enough room to use the nailer, so I had to resort to screwing them in by hand. This 90 degree extension was the right tool for the job. I won’t say it was easy, but this made it easier.

The boards along our deck were installed fast and loose. I got them as straight as I could, but I think it wavered in a few spots. Still, we’re doing a board-on-board style, with everything painted black. So most of my sins are going to be covered up.

Chasing the sunset, I was able to get a few more pickets up to close off the fence properly. But ran out of pickets, right at the end.

A late discovery: instead of using 1x4s that we had purchased, I ended up using pickets on the neighbor’s side to cover up the metal posts. Ugh. So it looks like I need to go back over, pry those guys off, and replace them with the 1x4s. So close, yet so far.

I guess the plus side is that we’ll have enough pickets now to finally finish things off for good.

It’s been slow, but feels like the home stretch. Once we get these last pickets in place, we’ve got some trim pieces to add: 1×6 along the top, and 1×4 along the bottom.

Long, long day for me, outside. I think I lost a few pounds, just sweating in the heat. But it felt nice to be working outside, and felt even nicer when the occasional breeze would hit. Getting those painted pickets in was not a fun time, but I’m glad they’re finally installed.