As many readers noticed in Monday’s party recap, our patio area gained another feature on Saturday beyond the balloons and the swarm of kids: a new 6′ privacy fence. When did it get installed? In the narrow window between finishing the patio and hosting the party. Time was tight, so I didn’t have a chance to blog about it until after Clara’s shindig.
Here’s how it all came together. During the patio work, Sherry kept insisting we upgrade the fence between our yard and the neighbor’s before Clara’s birthday party. She didn’t want that big blue car that’s usually parked next door showing up in all our photos.
I agreed with the idea, but my sore, patio-ravaged muscles weren’t pleased by the timing, so I grumbled a bit. In the end Sherry won. With three days to spare after the patio wrapped, I rented a Lowe’s truck late Tuesday and picked up supplies: four 8 ft by 6 ft fence panels, five 8 ft posts, and various other items.
The plan was to replace the existing roughly 4 ft wire mesh fence, supported by a mix of wooden posts and a single steel rod, with a taller, less transparent 6 ft fence for added privacy.
First step: tear down the old fence. The wire cutters made quick work of it, and the wood and steel post were rot-prone enough that they pulled out without too much fuss.
Next I measured and marked where each post would go. Accurate spacing was crucial: the pre-made panels require posts to be exactly 8 ft apart, or the panels won’t line up. I used wood stakes to mark each hole location and triple-checked measurements before digging.
Then came the digging. Even with a proper post hole digger, it was brutal on my sore body. I’d read that posts should be set 24 inches deep, but the dense clay made that impractical. I trimmed the posts a few inches so they would stand 6 ft above ground. Purists might twitch at that, but the posts ended up solid thanks to the soil density and the concrete footing.
Each hole got an inch or two of gravel for drainage, then the post, and then a couple of bags of Quikrete—one of those no-mix mixes that set after adding water. Tip: keep Quikrete dry in storage; if it gets wet in the bag it turns into useless concrete. I stored the bags in my trunk because our carport was still damp, and it rained the night before I needed them, so that choice paid off.
To keep posts from shifting while the concrete cured, I braced them with scrap wood supports. The concrete did most of the holding work once it set.
The day’s MVP was a post level — an inexpensive tool that ensured each post was plumb and not leaning forward, backward, or sideways. Highly recommended for any fence project.
I also ran two strings: one to mark the fence’s front edge so the posts lined up, and another to indicate the top height so every post sat at the same level.
By the end of Wednesday I had four posts set (I ended up not needing the fifth post because one from the old fence could be reused). Once the Quikrete had been added and allowed to set, I covered the holes with dirt and called it a day to let everything settle.
Thursday I installed the panels. They were bulky but manageable; I carried them into place and fastened them with wood screws. A little extra digging and leveling compensated for a slight slope in the yard. Sherry was right — the difference was immediate and dramatic, and I had to admit it looked great.
The panels lined up perfectly, including the fourth that I trimmed to fit the 27-foot span (three full 8-foot panels plus about 3 feet of a fourth). Cutting the horizontal rails with a handsaw used up the last of my energy, which clearly shows on my tired face.
When finished, we had a nearly seamless 27-foot stretch of privacy fencing ready in time for Clara’s party, about 48 hours away.
We’ll stain the new fence and the adjacent existing panel later so everything looks cohesive. We chose this fence style to match the existing panel near our recycling bin, and the full 6 ft height gives us the privacy we need because the neighbor’s yard slopes up toward us. Someday we might raise the shorter front panel to match, but plants obscure that area from the street, so it’s not urgent.
There’s a tiny gap where panels meet; a small 1 x 1 x 6″ piece of trim will hide it when we have time. Time really was tight because of the party deadline.
Here’s the budget breakdown based on my credit card statement and memory:
- Quikrete concrete mix (8 bags): $30
- Lowe’s truck rental: $19
- Fence panels (4) and posts (4): $171
- Post level: $5
- Hole digger: borrowed
- Screws, stakes, line level, rope and extra screws: already owned
- Total: about $225 for a 27-foot long, 6-foot tall fence*
* Our actual cost was closer to $213 after a 5% Lowe’s card discount.
We could have saved money building a fence slat by slat, but with the tight timeline and my sore body, the prebuilt panels were worth it at roughly $39 per 8 ft by 6 ft panel. For Clara’s party, the new fence did exactly what we wanted: no big blue car photobombing the background.
What a difference a fence makes:
My body has finally recovered after two weeks of manual labor, and I’m not exactly rushing back into heavy lifting. Sherry, if you’re reading this, consider that fair warning.