As I moved along on pickets, the nails started to not go in all the way. I was thinking I kept hitting some knots, and kept adjusting the depth gauge on the nailer. Eventually, my slow brain put it together enough to check the compressor… and sure enough, the pressure was super low.
Another day, another rush to get outside after work to put in a bit of time on the fence. This time, I asked Liz to get a few photos of me doing the install (I tend to take most of the photos on here, and I don’t tend to make an appearance as much).
While I love documenting our process, I wanted a few photos of me in the mix.
After work, we suited up and headed outside – trying to take advantage of the longer days, and trying to get a bit of fence time after the work day.
Bought a new siding nailer, and getting ready to load it up with nails. The thirteen year old in me is clapping his hands, and jumping up and down.
While we are still using our jigs to determine the placement of the top board, it was difficult to see where to screw in. Liz got the measurement and we used a chalk line to figure out where they go.
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.
At the rate we were going, I’m confident Liz and I could have finished the middle rail today as well (though it would have taken us another 2 hours, and would have left us a bit exhausted).
That said, we got a lot done and decided to call it quits a bit after 4PM. A full day, with a bit of time left in the evening for us to feel like we could still have a weekend.
The more we progress, the more we get to the quick/fast/rock-n-roll part of the fence install that I’ve been looking forward to. We still have a lot of details to work out, but we’ve been working faster and faster, which has been great feeling.
A large part of our morning was receiving the delivery from Menards, and then relocating everything from the end of the driveway down near the backyard.
Liz, who stood perfectly still as our bunny guest walked right by hear to get to the backyard. Bold bunny, indeed!
Big day today – finally, finally, we’re getting our back fence back up. Well, the post part of it, anyways.
Ever since our fence got damaged last year, we were talking about replacing it. A few things happened – we relocated to Georgia for a few months. Then we got back, and then before we knew it Winter showed up, and so we decided to wait until the Spring.
Liz cut the first tube we used by hand, but I was way too impatient for that. I ended up using the sawzall, and made a kind of impromptu jig on a piece of plywood (that worked out… ok, but could have been better).
For the height of our fence, we decided to make it flush with our back porch (just slightly about 6′, which I think is code). Our plan is to have a 2×6 top board that will sit on the top of the fence… so I made this rough jig to help identify how high we needed the post to be. Worked out pretty well!
Liz, literally stopping to smell the roses.
A side effect from yesterday’s work outside: Liz got several bad blisters on her hands.
This, despite wearing gloves. If that gives you any indication of how much she was out there working.
Liz did a lot of digging today. With so much time having elapsed (we have a terrible Home Depot story, that’s still in progress)… several of the holes collapsed on themselves. And required more digging.