6
votes
Wooden fence building recommendations
My wooden privacy fence was blown over in a storm (Houston, TX), any recommendations for the best way to rebuild?
Currently thinking of Shadowbox, fence hanger brackets, three rails, with a rot/kick board.
I would skip the brackets, I don't think they're necessary. Three rails is pretty standard, and shadowbox always looks nice. There are usually at least two grades/thicknesses of fence pickets (5/8 and 3/4 if I remember correctly). It could be worth spending the extra on the thicker boards if you're looking for longevity.
That's one thing I was questioning. You go for toenail in with nails? Or some other connection? The brackets make it seem easy to install, but don't actually help with longevity.
There are two ways you can do shadowbox. You can run the rails inside of the posts (which seems to be what you were planning on doing if you were looking at the brackets) and toenail them, which would be how I would fasten them with this method. This would hide the posts.
The other way is to just nail the rails directly to the face of the posts like any other privacy fence. You can still do a shadowbox like this and you wouldn't see the posts from the outside, but you would see your posts from the inside. At least around me, this is the more common way of going about it, probably just because it's easier and you don't need to be as precise with your rail lengths (which is a benefit of the brackets, at an extra cost). Example
If I were building this, I'd just do this second method because it's easier and I don't care about seeing the posts, but that's just my opinion. If you don't want to see the posts, than toe-nailing (or screwing) the rails is fine.
If possible, I would get it done relatively soon before the summer heat sets in. I made the mistake of building a wooden fence last year in July and boy was that not fun in the slightest.
I did mine pretty cheaply (bought a ton of reclaimed 2x6s and 4x4s on fb marketplace for next to nothing), but it was a crap ton more work and took ten times longer than just using panels and brackets.
Good luck!
It was my plan to replace it (checks calendar) 6 months ago. I've done a couple of posts, but not the whole run. It's way more work than it looks like every time.
The rainy season, whether that's winter or spring, would actually be the ideal time, from a structural perspective, to construct a fence. Many a fence has been built in the dehydrated, solidified, baked ground of summer and then flopped lazily over in a rainy spring or winter. But if you build your post foundations strong enough to hold the fence firmly upright in the rainy season, it will be fine the whole year long. Of course, this is easier said than done. Building outdoors in the coldest, wettest parts of the year has manifold difficulties. But from a purely structural perspective, the rainy season really is the best time to build a fence.
Shadowbox is good and pretty cheap, but it's horrible to paint/stain. Even with a paint sprayer, it's a miserable job to do.
Right now, I intend to leave it unfinished. The alternate would be overlapped pickets. We live next to a retention area so neighbors aren't a concern. And I feel like the Shadowbox would provide a little more airflow?
Possibly. I have shadowbox in my back yard and I can't say I notice more or less airflow. I suppose it would technically have to provide more though!
I don't have any experience with leaving fences unfinished but the conventional wisdom is that unfinished fences will eventually absorb water and rot. Maybe someone with more experience can speak to whether that's true with modern wood that may be treated for outdoor use?
If you're going to build it yourself my suggestion is to finish it before you put it up. Wasn't an option for me and I spent two long days spraying stain on an already-built and very small section of fence. It was really tedious.
You're right about unfinished wood being a bad idea long-term. While you do need to let newly-treated wood dry out for a few months before sealing, you do eventually want to stain or at least seal it. In Texas, the bigger issue aside from water would be intense UV exposure which will turn that fence grey pretty quickly and then that wood will eventually crack/warp.