"Sand fencing on a beach or dune can help trap sands and assist in building a new foredune in front of a natural dune, to provide additional protection against coastal erosion and flooding."
So we're adding a sand fence along the side of the yard to see if a dune will build up, and then maybe some navigable water will appear....
...Okay maybe we're kidding about the sand and the water, we're a mile from good creek water. The fence will be there to help us work on this area of the yard, there is a lot of hard clay there that needs to have some dirt, sand and mulch mixed in, this will help reduce runoff into the creek feeder across the street.
Speaking of hard clay, the big guns were called in for the post holes.
Pressure treated, ground contact posts, 2x4 backer rails and 1x4 pickets will be used, fastened with deck screws. Quikrete used to secure the posts. We like the 2x4s because they are sturdier, stay straight and are easier to find than backer rails.
Since we are cutting custom length pickets, we also had to cut the dog ears for the look that we like. 192 of them.
String line to get things mostly straight.
Our Town allows 42 inch front yard fences. How they came up with 42 I'm not sure, maybe it is a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy thing. We decided to go with 40 inches so that we could get three pickets out of one 10 foot long treated 1x6, with no waste. We'll leave a 2 inch gap at the bottom, which turned out to be a good idea, as the ground is pretty uneven along the property line. This will also give us some room to grade and build up the soil. Of course an eight foot picket could be cut in half and used, but the quality of pine pickets these days is not so good, and cedar was not available local. The 1x6 treated is thicker and I don't think I'll have to replace them in our lifetime.
Some municipalities require the the "bad side" of the fence, the side where you see posts and backers, to be installed on the side of the homeowner, so that the neighbor gets to see the smooth picket side. We actually like seeing the structure of the fence, and use the posts to hold brackets for spar storage or kayak racks.
I picketed one end to the halfway point, then switched to the other end, so we can have a Golden Spike/Picket celebration in the middle. AKA the Rum Plank, as basically we are building plank on frame.
Skipper also tricked me into putting out Halloween decorations, she likes to drag out projects while my brain cells are being taxed by another project. We call them "Moaning Chair" projects, we can play with one project while we mull over the next steps on the primary project....with the primary here being Halloween :)
Finished the fence, fastened the Rum Plank with deck screws.
Now we'll grade this area with some lawn soil and spread some winter rye. Come Spring time we might consider a warm season grass like Bermuda or St. Augustine. A tree or bush is not out of the question.
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