Dan is setting fence post

What better to do at the end of November then dig 3-4 foot holes by hand and set fence posts, hmm maybe not so much. This all started from purchasing the neighbor’s ladder as he is in a financial mess and then having nowhere to hang it. My initial plan was to set a couple posts so I could hang the ladder and then proceed with the rest in the spring. After setting the couple posts needed for the ladder it was decided that I should just go ahead and set all the posts on that side of the yard.

I have never built a fence before but I have read about it in books and online so it should seemingly turn out well. So far it has gone pretty smoothly as it was easy digging but it has been a very chilly project. Thankfully the ground had not froze yet so the concrete set fine. Now that the posts are ready to go, I can complete the fence on warm days through the winter or complete it in the spring.


The fence is going to looking similar to the photo above with my crude editing of the photo. The black bars are vertical 2x4. I am also going to add cove molding to trim around each inset panel. This will make the 'bad side' look better then the 'good side'. The fence is going to go straight, then there will be a gate at the end, it will then be inset and end at the corner of the shed. The inset will accommodate the ladder and give more parking space on the back shared driveway. Have I ever mentioned to never purchase a home with a shared driveway? If not, please heed my warning.

I am going to build a gate arbor that is the same layout as this arbor but the end cuts will be a different design. I am thinking of matching the cove molding profile used to trim out the panels on the ends of the 2x6's. That way everything will be consistent. I found the arbor design at Ken's House Blog

All I have left to do now is clean up the big mess I have made and of course hang the ladder which started the whole ordeal. I will be following up with a post on an interesting way of setting gate posts that I just read about.