Fence post, part one

Okay, building fences and gates is a lot of work--for J. (I'm the project manager, unsolicited advice giver, board holder-upper, and official photographer of the event. It's a bit easier for me).




J did an amazing job digging holes and setting the posts in concrete, didn't he? But apparently, that was the easy part.

Building the actual gate and fence is a little more complicated.

First you have to buy the right boards. You wouldn't believe how challenging that is. We crawled over Home Depot's wood piles for at least a half an hour before we made two crucial decisions: 1) buy the two boards that we could find that weren't knotty, split or bent out of shape; and 2) go to Rona. And even though we were very happy with the planks we got at Rona, let's just say that they weren't as perfect as we thought they were. The square and the level were constant companions while we tried to assemble the gate.




Then we had to get the right hardware. We thought this set from Lee Valley would do the trick. But it didn't. Note the dimensions of the hinge--5 inches by 16 inches. Good luck attaching that to a 4 by 4 post. It's better suited to a barn door, methinks. Enter Home Depot once again. There we bought a new set of hinges and a door handle with a thumb attachment. We realized, however, that the handle wouldn't work for the thickness of our gate--a blessing in disguise, however, since the instructions made absolutely no sense anyway. So, back I went to Home Depot to pick up a very simple gate latch. While I was gone, J hung the gate on the Home Depot hinges.




Now here, dear readers (yeah, all three of ya!), is where I give you the one piece of really good advice I'm going to give you. When using hinges from HD, plan for the fact that they aren't as sturdy as they should be. Account for the fact that the hinges have far too much give. That way, when you finally hang that gate that you worked so hard on, and the hinges give out a little bit, your gate won't end up slightly crooked. Of course, if you're not a perfectionist, don't worry about it. But it you're an editor like me (and therefore rather particular about little details like that) or if you just happen to have a thing for well-hung gates, just keep that little bit of advice in mind.

Next up (I hope): lattice fences.