This build season has been chaotic to schedule. Although most of the exterior builds set to occur this season were slotted last fall, choosing exact start dates has been less straight-forward than usual due to difficulties when attempting to establish deliveries, circumventing unforeseen delays and of course, negotiating the weather forecasts. On occasion however, things can and do unexpectedly line-up in favour of a smaller job, precisely what did happen recently to the delight of the homeowner.
A short 12-foot section of fencing between the homeowner’s house and the neighbour’s property fence had seen better days — the fence boards had rotted, and the support system had become wabbly. The project would entail replacing the entire fence section, while recycling the existing gate that remains in relatively good condition. Although the old fence had been painted a light grey, the new fence would boast the natural look, which would (hopefully) match the existing gate that although exhibited obvious fading, had never been painted to match the grey fence section. The nice aspect of replacing a small fence line such as this, is two-fold: calculating the materials required is as easy as counting the boards on the old fence, and building the new simply entails mimic’ing the old.
On a hot day a few weeks ago, a delivery delay at another jobsite provided an open day on my calendar. Because the impending rotten fence replacement is easily a single day event, the homeowner of this short fence line was contacted. Although out-of-town until the following evening, the homeowner was thrilled that this small project was being bumped up the list unexpectedly. With a blessing to proceed, I quickly popped by the RONA on Kenaston to assemble the treated lumber required: 1×6 fence boards, 4×4 posts, and a few 2×6 boards that will serve as the horizontal supports from the neighbour’s fence to the gate. Because the existing gate was being recycled, treated boards with the lightest hue were chosen in an attempt to “match” the old gate, as close as possible.
Once on site, the old fence was systematically removed section by section. Because the location of this fence rests atop a driveway approach comprised of patio blocks, the old posts (and the new) are simply affixed to the ground using 4×4 post base brackets that are firmly mounted to the top side of the approach. Although the gate was being repurposed, the grey-painted hinged post to which it was mounted would also be replaced. As such, the gate was dismounted temporarily to address the post swap. The three lag screws that hold the gate post against the homeowner’s house were removed, and the new post was prepped and fastened in its place. The gate hinges, still mounted to the gate, were then affixed to the new post whereby the top of the gate is fluish with the top of the new post. With gate in place, the new fence could be tackled.
A string line was attached to the newly mounted gate post, to the opposing neighbour’s property fence. Once the line indicated level, each of the new replacement posts along the run of the fence section was cut to the proper height. Once set into and properly affixed to each respective 4×4 post bracket, 2×6 boards were then fastened horizontally along the topside and bottom of the posts, filling the gaps between every posts establishing plumb and level of each post one section at a time. Once the fence framework was rigid, the new 1×6 fence boards were affixed to the fronts of the upper and lower 2×6 supports, evenly gapped between the 4×4 posts in each section. Longer fence boards were used closest to the neighbour’s fence, which reveals a lower ground elevation where the driveway approach ends close to the dividing property line. With the fence line completed, the gate latch hardware was remounted, adjusted to ensure the gate closes and latches properly.
Stepping away from the fence location while looking back towards it as a whole revealed that the carefully chosen “light” fence boards do indeed closely match the hue and fade of the old gate — although it would have been unlikely to match it perfectly, I must admit it was a pleasant surprise at how closely it did seem to match. This project was all done midway through the afternoon, which was inherently a really good thing — the temperature had already surpassed 35 C by noon that day.
The homeowner reached out to me by text the following day, thanking me for a job well-done, describing how unexpected it was to return home to such a nice surprise — apparently, the old fence between the houses had become the bane of their property. The old rotten fence sections were subsequently picked up and hauled away that evening by a junk removal crew. And this is how I turned an unexpectedly open day on my calendar into a nice surprise for the homeowner. It’s also another checkmark on as long list of exterior projects to be completed this season — I was more than happy to make it happen.
RenoBoss.Inc@outlook.com
