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One of my favorite aesthetics is natural cedar in a temperate mountain climate. I've talked to many different people about privacy fencing over the years, and there's been as many opinions as ideas on what the perfect fence is. Metal chainlink lasts longest and is the most secure, but privacy is minimal, even with privacy screening added. Cedar plank board is most commonly what people desire. The cedar looks good, lasts a long time, and provides both visual and auditory privacy, to a degree. But then you have the dilemma of posts, and finish. 4x4 pressure treated and no stain is hands down the most common, if nothing else because it's the cheapest. Often ppl will even use fir or pine instead of cedar, even tho it doesn't last as long. Well, that's what my old fence was.... Let's take a deep dive together and explore what makes a good fence! 👇

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You all know this classic look: The gray, decaying husk of a fence. The boards have shrunk so much that you can see straight between them, and the ends have rotted away, leaving gaps for animals to traverse freely. Then they start to really degrade and the posts themselves rot through, usually right at the base where they were concreted into the ground. This is why I hate the 4x4 post fence. If you're going to use 4x4's, you're better off putting them in with compacted aggregate gravel, not concrete. Only in certain conditions, such as high wind load in very wet soil, do you need concrete, really. When put in properly, concrete makes a good foundation. Poorly done concrete, however, just rots it faster! You're actually better off going deeper and just putting dirt straight back in the hole, rather than being shallow with a big concrete boot on, just below the surface, that pools water on top. Leverage will still just push that fence right over. But I digress.... 😂 The reality is, 4x4 PT is just not a great long lasting fence post. I would rather use a 6x6 PT post and have a really solid fence that lasts! There's another option, however, and we already identified it: metal posts. Metal posts might cost a little more, but they last forever! One downside to metal posts is that they usually require expensive brackets to attach wood boards to them. But there's a new game in town... 👇

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These galvanized metal posts utilize structural engineering and design to create the ultimate fence post. The "T" shape is a time proven choice for wire fences, and this adds extra dimensions for additional strength. It also has holes for attaching your stringer boards to secure the fence panels to, minimizing the need for additional fasteners or brackets! It's the best of both worlds! So I made sure I buried them good and deep, and I put concrete on the corner one to make sure it was extra solid. Since the posts should theoretically last my lifetime and then some, I wanted to do everything in my power to make the fence boards last as well... so I created a bit of an assembly line to put it all together: 👇

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First I soaked the ends of all the boards in stain, and had a little grate for them to drip off while I put the current ones up. I just kept moving boards through as I went, getting them good and saturated, but not dripping when I installed them. I only did the ends because I just needed to coat whatever would be covered once assembled. I also wanted to preserve the boards where the screws anchored them to the posts, as this is the primary intrusion point for water to penetrate the board and rot it from the inside. So I pre-drilled the holes and then injected stain into the hole before screwing it in place. Doing this alone, I made a little jig to hold the other side in place while I fiddled with drills and pipettes 😆 I don't know how much of a difference this will make, but it was fun and didn't add much time or complexity, so I went for it! Getting the posts right was the hardest work, but the satisfying part was putting up the boards, finally! 👇

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It looks good with fresh, raw wood, but cedar does not stay this color naturally! It only takes a few years to go fully gray, and that's when the boards start shrinking. Staining them now means locking in that little bit of residual moisture in the wood and preserving it. I used an oil based stain, that soaks into the wood and works in conjunction with the natural cedar oils that preserve the wood in the first place. It's like using the right kind of lotion on your skin! I did add a little color to darken it, since this is incense cedar which is naturally much lighter than the typical Western Red Cedar that is popular for that classic aesthetic. I'm happy with the result and look forward to enjoying it for many years to come! I have a lot more fence to build, however, so I better get back to work! 😁

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