To install a picket fence, you will need: planed or edged boards of the required length; support posts.
First, you need to mark the location where the fence will be installed. Where the support posts will be, drive in pegs, and stretch a string between them. Keep in mind that the distance you leave between the support posts should equal the length of the rails. Also, ensure that the support posts are placed exactly in a straight line.
Then holes are needed for the posts. Their depth should equal one quarter of the length of the support posts.
Before installing the support posts, be sure to treat their lower part – the one that will be in the ground – with an anti-rot solution. You can also burn them in a fire until charred. This will help make wooden fences more durable. You can also use metal pipe posts instead of wooden ones.
Then the posts are installed vertically in the dug holes, and they need to be secured with braces. Next, stretch a string along the top edge of these posts. The string is needed to make it easier to control the horizontality of the rails that will be installed.
After that, you need to make panels from cross rails and pickets. First, make a decorative cut on the pickets, then nail them to the cross rails. It is important to ensure that the distance between the rails and the ends of the pickets is no more than 20 cm.
The choice of distance between pickets (gap between boards) is a personal matter. But if the distance is small, you will use less material for making such a fence, however it will hardly be able to hide your plot from prying eyes. After the panel is ready, it must be nailed by the edges of the rails to the support posts. When all panels are secured, you can proceed to attaching the first picket at the beginning of each panel. Then you need to fill the holes in which the support posts are placed with concrete mix to strengthen the fence. However, before pouring concrete, you need to moisten the holes, because otherwise the ground will absorb moisture from the concrete. Tamp the concrete mix after pouring it into the holes.
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