DIY Fence Project Update
April 9, 2008 by Deborah Ng
Filed under Doing it Yourself
As you know, we’re taking on the monumental task of replacing our backyard fence. Rather than give you regular written updates, I felt you would get a better sense of what needs to be done with my first ever Simply Thrifty video blog post.
As you can see, the fence is in major disrepair. The fence posts are good, thank goodness but the panels need to be removed, the trees growing against the fence need to be removed, we need to get a dumpster in to toss said debris (except maybe the trees, I think we’ll mulch those), and then we need to replace the panels.
First a tour:
Now, we ordered about 40 fence panels. Each need to be stained with a weatherproofing material. We could have gotten them pre-stained but we saved money by doing it ourselves. I’m thinking in another week or so we’ll be regretting that decision. The fence panels are super absorbent and we’re going to need several coats probably. My husband spent several hours in the garage over the weekend and only has a few panels stained so far. The problem is, our weekends are taken up with different things so it’s hard to really devote the time needed. I’m thinking a fence party is needed.
Tune in next week for another DIY Fence Project Update from Simply Thrifty.
LRN
you supplying the beer?
Any teens/pre-teens in the family/neighborhood that you trust? They might need some extra spending $. I’m thinking $3-5/panel is reasonable. Would that be worth it to you or defeat the purpose of saving $? Heck I’d sign up!
Hey, I think we have the same shed as you have Deb.
We once decided to put wainscoting around the bottom half of the entire bathroom. We bought untreated wood, stained it all, and then had to coat it with a special moisture seal. What a project. Took me many days afterwork and a few weekends to get the entire thing done.
I don’t know how much more it would have cost us to buy the wood finished, but I’m sure it would have been worth it.
Sometimes we get a little crazy on the DIY, don’t we?
I don’t envy you. That looks like something that is well worth the cost of paying a professional. We learned that several years ago while building our own house. We were going to save money by hanging the sheetrock ourselves. Well, sheetrock is terrible stuff to work with. If we had not paid someone to come in and do it, we would probably still be working on it today.
oh dear. we did the same thing to our newly purchased home and now the very daunting task of painting the fence ( it’s a Cape Cod so we want white). Translated: We Want: She Does. Well, lots of sunscreen and my iPod…
happy trails!
Hi, Carter is cute! I’d rent a sprayer for the weatherproofing. It doesn’t need to be pretty and you can do it a lot faster, even after its up!!!
Brilliant! Canoe, you must be an engineer or something…here we are all grumbling about projects and piece work and you come up w/an idea like that. Where were you when we were painting cinder blocks in our basement by hand?
About 10 years ago my friends and I installed a brick paver patio under our deck. I learned two things — how to put in a patio and that I never want to do it again.
Carter is very cute.
Canoe is correct…with caveat. Be careful when you spray outside. Be sure to put up plenty of tarps/protection if you’re spraying stain/paint outdoors.
If it’s windy [and it seems to be where you are] you will have more on the side of the house than on the fence.
i subscribed to your site because i wish to be a thrifty person and get ideas on how to reuse and recycle things so they don’t end up in our landfills and to save money. here you are talking about getting a dumpster and throwing out all those lovely aged panels of wood!
first of all we have the same kind of fence as you and unless it is actually rotting away you really only need to buy replacement slats and replace some screws and nails. we had a professional (a very honest one) estimate the cost of replacing vs repairing etc. and asked his opinion. turns out our fence was basically sound and only needed one day of good repair. your fence really doesn’t look all that bad.
please, please don’t throw that lovely aged wood out! recycle it! build a shed, doghouse, chicken coop even! use it for picture frames, wainscoting, or any of a thousand craft projects! if you decide you have no frugal use for it, sell it or even better give it away to another thrifty person. i wish i lived near you i can think of a million uses for it!!!
Hi Katklaw - Actually the dumpster is for a variety of projects we have going on here. I didn’t show you the corner of my backyard with all the debris! Some of the panels are too rotted and broken to do anything with, and some of them can be saved.
I know my husband and son have plans to build a doghouse with some of the wood.
Oh, our friends took all this time and money staining their fence. Then the back part ended up being torn down because the empty lot behind them was being developed. It was so sad!