[Bedivere]

[Randito]

[Tom]

I assume vinyl is out of the question due to cost? http://www.kompareit.com/homeandgarden/fence-compare-wood-vs-vinyl.html I needed to build a platform to level my hot tub and went the vinyl route for the decking.

[Bedivere]

This is the design I want to use:

It uses less wood than many other designs, is easy to build and provides a nice, modern look. I'm going to put a row of CMU blocks along the bottom between the posts. The blocks will be partially sunk so that the top 3-4" protrudes. This keeps the bottom boards up off the ground and also discourages the dogs on both sides from trying to weasel under the fence to get at each other. As the Offspring said - "Gotta keep 'em separated." I've done a LOT of reading about setting the posts and there are opinions on both sides as to whether to use concrete or not. As far as I can tell, it comes down to opinion and there are some legitimate negatives to concrete, so I'm going to skip the concrete. We are allowed to build 7' high fences here so going to buy 10' long ground contact rated 4x4s and sink them 3'. The bottom of the posts that will be in the ground will be coated with a tar-like sealer and the holes will be filled with crushed rock. This will prevent ground water from seeping into the wood and aids drainage away from the wood. The top of each post will be capped with a piece of roofing shingle before the top rail is nailed on. This will prevent water entry from the top end. The posts will probably last longer than the boards done this way. The biggest challenge at this point will be removing the old posts. they are set in concrete. A lot of concrete. The builders put angle-iron into the concrete and then bolted the posts to the angle iron to keep the posts out of the ground. You might wonder why I don't just re-use these old anchors - first because some of them have shifted over time and are leaning. Second, because they are actually farther than 8' apart. I think they're 9'. I have no idea why they did this.

[Bedivere]

[Randito]

If the goal is to contain energetic dogs, I go with concrete or stone of some sort along the bottom. I've had dogs dig under wood fences where the wood ran parallel to the ground. Depends on the breed, but super high energy breeds can dig through dirt and wood when they are bored enough. My sister had an Australian Shepard dig through the rug and plywood floor of her crap rambler in Anchorage when she was working a lot of overtime once and the dog got really bored and pissed.

[contour5]

For a little more money you could build it out of Ipe, sometimes called Brazilian Ironwood. Sort of a Teak substitute that mid to upper crusties are increasingly using for decks, fences, outdoor furniture, etc. Beautiful stuff, but slightly toxic to work with as it bleeds natural aromatic insecticide oils with each fresh cut- the dust will give you a headache and flu-like symptoms if you breathe much of it. There are other fast growing "sustainable" imported hardwoods- and most of them will last ten times as long as cedar or redwood. Crosscut on 1st Ave S. has a nice selection of suitable material.

[Bedivere]

Randy - see my post above re: putting CMU blocks between the posts. Neighbors moved in about 4 mos. ago and one of their dogs and one of mine have decided they are mortal enemies. Neither has tried to dig under the existing fence which is either touching the ground or has sections of 4x6 jammed under it. From what I can see, neither digs much at all so the CMU blocks ought to be more than sufficient. countour5 - I read about Ipe. It sounds like a great solution if you can afford it, which I probably can't. Almost twice the cost of cedar. It would also drastically slow the building process since you have to pre-drill all your holes and chamfer if using screws. I have quite a bit of fence to build. Haven't measured it yet but guessing about 200 linear feet. I'll talk to the folks at Crosscut. Their website is focused on woodworking but maybe they can help me out.

[RichardJ]

I am one who absolutely hates getting lumber from Home Depot because of the poor quality of their rain-soaked warped wood. I highly recommend TRW Wood Products at Four Corners in Maple Valley. There cedar fence boards are a little more expensive than HD, but they are also higher quality. I haven't been there for a few years, but I remember their boards were a little wider and thicker than the ones I got from HD. I also had good luck with Sound Cedar Co. in Mt. Vernon. My timing was good when I built my back yard deck in the fall 20 years ago. They had a huge discount on cedar deck boards at the end of the season. I was in awe of all those 16 foot boards that were perfect.

[Randito]

[Ski]

[Joey]

Regarding treated fence posts. Each post has a tag. The back side of the tag indicates how much chemical has been applied to the wood to keep it from rotting. Since the tags are stapled to the wood, you have to peel one off to read the chemical amount. Last time I did this the amount of chemical on the Home Depot treated 4x4s was WAY less than the amount of chemical on the treated posts from BMC (Issaquah). And BMC was happy to match the Home Depot price.

[InFlight]

[treeswarper]

WRC stands for Western Red Cedar, which is what we got around these parts. There is a goodly sized cedar mill in Morton. There is a small cedar mill in Onalaska. The folks that I bought my place from worked at the Morton mill. Apparently they got good deals on short boards. I found, by digging that the mounds of ferns and duff on my place were where they put still wrapped and banded bundles of cedar short boards. I was sick because I had not investigated earlier and the ants and rot had ruined most of it. It did burn well. There is always the option of dealing with a really small mill owner, or getting a chainsaw mill and having a log or two delivered to your house. The Onalaska mill. https://bvllumber.com/ The Morton Mill. https://www.altafp.com/ If I ever move to town, I fear I will have to line the bottom and top of a fence with an electric fence. The Slightly Used Dog is a Houdini Dog and also "very athletic".

[treeswarper]

A boring couple of factoids. WRC is hard to regenerate because the deer and elk love to eat it. Therefore, it will be valuable in the future, and some timber growers are actually fencing off their cedar plantations. For some reason, the naturally regenerating seedlings are not as tasty as the planted seedlings. One large timber grower (and I do not know exactly which one) has developed a cedar tree that is not tasty. They are not sharing. Meanwhile, tree farmers put tubes around their seedlings when planting, and may be found wandering around their cedar plantations cursing those &^%*$ elk and resetting the ripped out or smooshed (elk bed down on them) tubes.