July 12, 2025
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.
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July 9, 2025
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.
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July 7, 2025
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.
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July 5, 2025
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.
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July 4, 2025
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.
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June 30, 2025
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.
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June 29, 2025
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.
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June 28, 2025
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.
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June 22, 2025
Liz, who stood perfectly still as our bunny guest walked right by hear to get to the backyard. Bold bunny, indeed!
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June 19, 2025
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.
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June 17, 2025
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).
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June 15, 2025
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!
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June 9, 2025
Liz, literally stopping to smell the roses.
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May 12, 2025
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.
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May 11, 2025
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.
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