I have driven 12 post masters by hand recently. one of them I need to fix, its not very plumb and would be noticeable. am I to pull it out, use the same location, and re drive it in more plumb without losing strength of the orginal drive in? If that makes sense, or should I relocate it. TIA

I’m planning to build a wood privacy/partition fence and would appreciate some advice on the best way to frame it.

Layout:

• One 8 ft span between two brick columns.
• One 6 ft span between two brick columns.
• One 5 ft span that can be anchored to a wall on one side but will require a metal post/stud on the other.
• One 6 ft span that can be anchored to a wall on one side but will require a metal post/stud on the other.

What I’m looking for:

• 4 ft fence height
• Horizontal wood planks (cedar or pressure-treated)
• No visible split or centre post in the 8 ft span—I want the boards to run continuously across the full 8 ft.
• Black metal hardware/posts if possible.
• The brick columns are already built and I’d like to anchor into them if it’s structurally appropriate.

I was looking at the HOFT system because I like the appearance, but it only seems to support spans up to about 6 ft, so it doesn’t solve my 8 ft opening.

Questions:

1. How would you build the 8 ft span without a centre post?
2. Is there an off-the-shelf black metal system (U-channels, posts, frame, etc.) that works for an 8 ft opening?
3. If anchoring directly to the brick columns, what type of brackets or anchors would you recommend?
4. Are there any products available in Canada that would be a good fit?

I’ll attach photos of the columns and the layout. Thanks!

Are there any tricks to replace one aluminum panel that is set between two posts in concrete without having to pull the post? Or is the only way to pull the post?

I just got this vinyl fence installed along a slope in my backyard. There are large gaps underneath the panels, especially around the gate area, around 6 inches in the gate.

I haven't paid the remaining invoice yet but this looks off to me. Am I just being picky here?

Just wrapped up a fence project about 6 weeks back, figured I'd write it up.

We're in Warm Springs, 1970s ranch, backyard shares fence with two neighbors and one strip runs along the side of the driveway. Original fence was dogeared cedar the previous owner put in around 2012. It'd been on borrowed time for a couple winters, but this past March we had that stretch of heavy storms and one post in the back corner just gave up. Rotated maybe 15 degrees at the base, sagged the panel next to it, and the top rail cracked. Two other posts were spongy at soil level when I dug around them.

Sat down with the wife and did the math. Six posts looked marginal, two panels were shot, and the whole thing was gonna need re-staining again by summer. Patching came out to maybe $1.8k in materials plus labor for the posts. Full replace in cedar was around 5.5k for our run (roughly 60 linear feet plus a gate). That gap wasn't as big as I expected once I factored in another 6-7 years and I'd probably be doing this dance again.

Got three quotes. One guy pushed vinyl hard, one wanted straight cedar with pressure treated posts, and the third was a composite panel over a steel post system from Modern Yard out of Hayward. The composite one was the highest at 8.9k installed. Went with it, partly because I've pulled enough rotten wood posts out of this yard to be tired of seeing the same thing happen again. Getting the wood out of the dirt was what sold me.

Grabbed sample boards from their dealer and abused em in the garage for a week. Scratched, dropped a hammer on the edge, left one in direct sun on the driveway. Nothing dramatic happened.

Split the work. Contractor set the myPost posts since the depth and alignment felt over my head with a rented auger. I took a Saturday and Sunday off work to do the panels myself, contractor was fine with that and knocked some cost off. Panels went in from the top, took me maybe 4 hours per run once I had the rhythm.

The gate:

Gate was the fiddliest part of the whole project. Anyone who's spent five minutes on this sub knows gates are where DIY fences go to die (that pinned post is basically the bible). I read through it twice before ordering hardware.

Went with heavy duty T-hinges and a diagonal brace running from the top corner opposite the hinge down to the bottom hinge side, which is the direction sag actually pulls against. Standard practice but easy to get backwards, and I almost did on the first pass. Hung it plumb, latched fine, felt good.

Two weeks in I could feel it starting to bind on the latch side. Pulled the hinge screws and checked the post with a level. Post had shifted maybe a quarter inch off plumb. My best guess is I hadn't given the foam long enough to fully cure before hanging weight on it. Shimmed it back, added a small horizontal brace across the top of the gate frame, re-hung. Six weeks in it's holding, but I'm watching it.

Wait a full week after the post is set before hanging anything heavy. I didn't. Lesson learned.

Couple other things I'd do differently:

Should've walked the fence line with both neighbors before the contractor came out. East side neighbor turned out to be planning her own replace this fall and would've split the run with us. We'd already committed by the time we found out.

Should've bought two spare panels. Not because anything broke, but if a car ever backs into it or a tree drops a branch, matching color a year out is easier when you've got stock in the garage.

Handling the old concrete post bases was rougher than I planned. Two of the previous owner's posts had these huge concrete blobs down there, way bigger than needed. Half a day with a pry bar and a lot of cursing. If you're going DIY, plan for a full day just on demo.

Fence was built 1.5yrs ago, and from Feb of this year, the contractor has made 3 appointments and all were cancelled 1-2 weeks before the date for various reasons. Now he's not answering calls or emails.

Fence is sagging and the door has to be lifted slightly to get the latch to properly activate, and even then you can see it's causing stress on the wood that it's starting to cause concerns that it could split the wood it's drilled to. Then there's the warping in pic#3. There is the diagonal brace installed on the other side of this fence gate, but not on this side of the picture I have uploaded.

Suggestions?

I just had this gate installed on my fence; I noticed some gaps and maybe it's missing a gate brace, but I'm no expert. I don't want to call him back if it's unnecessary.

My neighbor and I have a fence down between our houses. He wants to have someone he knows do the work and this is the quote they sent me. He's applying weird time pressure and I'm concerned. Does this seem fair?

Finally got around to staining my new pine stockade fence after letting it bake in the sun for about 30 days..Used electric paint and stain sprayer from Harbor Freight..The color is Natural Cedar by Ready Seal..Ready Seal aka Goof Proof Sealer is an excellent product..It's as advertised!!

To start, I know this would require loads of approvals, my building, the building next door, and city permits. But I have to start somewhere.

I live in a small condo building (12 units). Next door, is a much bigger rental property building managed by a big chain company. We are having so many issues with the people next door walking down our driveway and through our gate and letting their dogs off leash and dumping huge amounts of trash/furniture in our dumpster area since people are constantly moving in and out. Last week, a dog viciously attacked my dog while off leash on the neighboring property as it chased us down my driveway while I was walking my dog on leash and I’ve had enough.

There are a few owners on the board who agree getting a fence on the side we share with this building is needed. Rather than keep talking about it as we have for years, I want to finally wrap my mind around what would be possible and bring some ideas to the board.

I’m here because I have no idea what kind of fence I can propose or would be possible and I wanted to start here and educate myself as I keep googling to learn too before I reach out to get any estimates.

The properties are separated by only a narrow drive way where on the property there’s a short 2-foot cement “wall”/curb that eventually ends when the parking lot opens. Then the property is separated by the sidewalk right next to our building directly bordering where our parking lot is.

What kind of fencing should I be looking into that could be built in a narrow space like this where it’s all cement/parking lot and no soil or anything like that?

I tried to sketch out what I described above here in the image.

Thank you for your help

Hello - we could use some help here. We are looking to get someone to install a fence similar to the photo - cedar boxes with wire mesh 4' tall. Our yard is relatively flat with only one section of the side yard dropping ~4 ft over a ~20' span.

We have gotten two fence companies to come take a look, but both said they couldn't do this or anything similar due to the grade. I've seen photos of similar fences on a grade, so not really sure if there is a good reason for this or they just don't want to do this style fence. Any advice?

Additionally, what are some good questions to ask installers to determine if they are good quality and value? Thanks!

Im building this fence plus gate for a family member in Portland Oregon. I am charging too little Im sure. Im curious from fence pros what would you charge for 10 feet of fence and 6 feet of gate. Thank you. there is another fence plus gate on rhe other side of the house which is not pictured.

Our neighbor and I have very little space between our homes. As you can see, we have a 4 inch gap between our concrete, and not enough space on either side to really offset the fence.

Unfortunately the concrete pads are also not level with each other.

I'm hoping for taller fence, but the lack of space is really making it difficult to plan.

What would you do?

When the fence was installed originally the posts and fence were done at a 4 ft height....I don't know why. The posts are very solid and in very good shape. The panels are typical pre-built panels and are in terrible shape.

I know there's a few methods such as cutting a notch into the old and new post and bolting or screwing them together.

I'm wondering what the best method aside from replacing the posts is.

While were on the subject what's the thoughts on prebuilt panels from says Lowe's? I think they are poorly made and for the cost I can get the materials to make my own rails and pickets and end up with a better more solid panel.

I've been lurking here for a while and, after seeing some of the truly awful fences posted, I almost feel guilty posting mine because it's honestly nowhere near that bad. The fence is straight-ish, it looks decent from the street, and the contractor has been professional throughout this process. This isn't meant to bash anyone. I'm genuinely looking for opinions from people who build fences for a living.

We hired a contractor to build a new 6' cedar privacy fence. The contract specifies PostMaster posts. We live in the Pacific Northwest where fences spend much of the year exposed to constant moisture, so avoiding wood posts was one of the reasons we were willing to pay for the upgraded system.

Instead, the fence was built using 4x4 pressure-treated wood posts.

When we met to discuss it, there was an interesting misunderstanding. Initially, the contractor believed the materials issue was that the corner posts were supposed to be 6x6 pressure-treated posts rather than 4x4s. After I pointed out that the contract specifically says "PostMaster," he acknowledged the materials discrepancy, but went on to explain that his intention was still for only the corner posts to be PostMaster.

The contract literally says "Posts: PostMaster" and never mentions using it only at the corners. Also, from what I've been able to find, mixing PostMaster and wood posts actually voids the manufacturer's warranty for the PostMaster system.

As we walked the fence together, we also discussed several other workmanship issues. He acknowledged or proposed repairs for things including:

• replacing the 3 corner posts plus 2 posts in a section that's noticeably flexible (5 of the 20 total posts),
• filling the overdriven nail depressions throughout the fence with wood filler (contractor said he kept adjusting his nail gun but the cedar was too soft - most of the nails are overdriven),
• the use of galvanized nails even though I specifically requested stainless steel or aluminum fasteners to avoid the black tannin streaking cedar can develop from galvanized fasteners,
• adding more concrete over the poorly finished concrete footings to create proper crowns,
• rebuilding the chain-link transition where a 4" gap was left,
• correcting areas where pickets contact the soil,
• and addressing a handful of other typical punch-list items.

To be clear, I'm not saying any one of these issues alone justifies replacing a brand-new fence. Before our meeting, I actually thought I might be willing to compromise and keep the wood posts.

And for what it's worth, I don't think the contractor intentionally tried to substitute materials. I think maybe there was a genuine misunderstanding about what "PostMaster" meant in the proposal? The question now is whether repairing the existing fence is a fair resolution or whether the contract should ultimately be fulfilled as written.

The more we walked through the proposed repairs, though, the more it felt like we'd end up with a brand-new fence that required substantial reconstruction while still not being the fence system we originally contracted for and intentionally chose for our climate.

After thinking about it for a couple of days, we've told the contractor that we believe rebuilding the fence using the contracted PostMaster system is the most appropriate solution. He's been respectful about it, but he's understandably surprised that we arrived at that conclusion after initially discussing repairs. I'm not thrilled to require rework or use more time and materials, but the scope of the proposed repairs and my concerns about their long-term durability made that conclusion difficult to avoid.

So my question for the fence pros is:

If you were the contractor, what would you consider the appropriate resolution? If you were the homeowner, would you accept the repairs, negotiate a discount, or expect the fence to be rebuilt?

I'm genuinely looking for professional perspectives, not validation. If you think I'm being unreasonable, I'd honestly like to hear why. I'd rather hear it from people who build fences every day than continue living in my own echo chamber.

Hello! Trying to avoid concrete. I may do 4x4 posts and two 2x4s cross beams on a 6 foot wildlife fence... Would love folks thoughts on if they like concrete, or native soil, or 3/4" minus gravel??

I live in Colorado and this is hopefully to withstand moose and deer! I know 8 feet is better for them but this is what I've got!

I’ve got a (imo) pretty large privacy fence to clean and seal/stain. What are some good and economical products? It’s several hundred (maybe over a thousand feet) linear feet long. I’d rather NOT do a lot of scrubbing as I’m 66 and lazy like that. It does have mildew at the bottom because it was installed too low. Money isn’t a big big issue, just a big issue. And is there anything that’ll restore some moisture to the wood? Oils? EDIT: I’m planning on a manual pump sprayer for the cleaning and an airless electric for seal/stain.

Hey all,

First time builder here, semi-frequent lurker. I'm building a short (14 feet, 2 seven foot panels, 3 posts, 3 rails per panel with 1x6x6 foot pickets) privacy fence from PT wood. I'd prefer cedar, but it's crazy expensive in the northeast.

Is there a significant advantage to equal rail spacing to prevent warping with PT wood. I'd prefer to set the rails as shown in the picture vs equal vertical spacing, but not if it will increase warping. I'm using standard 2x4 rails with a 2x6 cap.

Cheers!

1. this is typically not "treated" because it naturally-rot resistant, is this correct?

2. if the fence post is embedded in either concrete or natural soil, does the portion of the post that would be in contact with concrete or natural soil need be protected with a bitumen post wrap or something?

I'm having siding redone and painted, I don't want to attache this gate to the house again. What should I do?

Hey all, I've been working on my fence for the last couple weeks and nearing the end of the run I am noticing a bit of wobble if pressure is applied. I started the run at 6' and ran it level, reaching roughly 6'-9" towards the end of the run as it goes downhill. I used 4x4 posts in 12" diameter hole, in concrete, 30" deep (Georgia). I used Simpson 2x4 fence brackets with their strong tie screws - 5 screws each bracket. I'm not planning on turning the fence, I am going to transition to black chain link through the woods. Break it to me, is it normal to have some wobble if pressure is applied at the end of the run? It only transfers about 5 or so panels. Any help would be appreciated!

Edit: this will be a "cap and trim" fence.