Thursday, November 3, 2011

Fencing for (as close as we can get to) Free

This fall, Byron has been using every spare moment to put up a fence around our property.  Obviously, we need a perimeter fence to keep any escape artist animals in, but there are also two houses going up next door to us.  Not that we're unfriendly neighbors, but since we often see strange cars driving up to view the construction (as well as trespassers metal detecting), we're going to feel a lot safer once that physical barrier is up.

As you know, fencing is pricey.  Our approach has been to make it as cost effective as possible, the downside of which is the time commitment.  A benefit, however, is that Byron has cut small cedars from the property to serve as posts, which is more sustainable than buying treated lumber from the store. 
Fencing along the driveway (other side not pictured).  All together, Byron has installed over 100 cedar posts!

Okay, so this part is not quite as sustainable, but time is a premium right now: where there is no view from the road, Byron decided to install green metal posts intermittently...about four between each of the cedar posts.  All the posts are about 11'-12' apart.

And installing a metal post is a lot easier than digging a 30" hole for every cedar post!
Byron still needs to install the corner braces like he did in the garden, and stretch the field fencing, which comes in monster rolls that require superhuman strength to move.  Unfortunatley, we don't have any superpowers that we know of...so that part will be interesting.  More to come!

3 comments:

  1. Yes, we got a post hole digger when we did our fencing, but even then your back gets shredded! We have many green posts as well.

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  2. What are the metal detectors wielders looking for? Civil War stuff?

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  3. Lisa - We may resort to borrowing a post hole digger before it's all done; Byron has dug everything by hand so far! Grant - Yep, Civil War stuff. This place has been really picked over through the years, to Byron's consternation. The only cool relics we've found were in the crawl space, when the floors were pulled up!

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