Instructions / Assembly

ManualsBrandsMendocino Forest Products ManualsFencing3/4 in. x 7-1/2 in. x 6 ft. FSC Construction Common Redwood Flat Top Fence Picket

Choose

the

right style

redwood fence

A fence is an extension of your

home, and calls for as much atten-

tion to its purpose, style and design

as if you were adding another room.

In your planning you need to

start with specific questions. Why

are you building the fence and how

will it complement the character

and design of your home? Are you

defining a boundary? Are you

looking to create more privacy or

shield yourself from unwanted

noise? Or is your purpose to con-

struct a wind break, add shade to a

deck or discourage the family dog

from running loose in the neighbor-

hood? Not all fences are appropriate

for all purposes.

Consider, too, how your neigh-

bors will view the fence. Some

fences look wonderfully finished

on your side, yet present neighbors

with a less appealing view, while

other designs look equally attractive

from either side. A friendly chat

with your neighbors can lead to a

design that pleases all parties, and

they may even be willing to split

the cost of materials and labor.

Design your

fence

There are a surprising number of

calculate everything else you need

for a fence of any length.

Remember, if you’re working

within a limited budget, you can

still build a fence that does the job

without sacrificing quality by

choosing a style that uses less

lumber or a more economical grade

of redwood. You can also bring

down costs by making the best use

of standard lumber lengths.

Establish your layout

priorities

A fence can impact your site in

many different ways, so in your

planning you need to think about

which aspects of the site you want

to retain and which you’d like to

change. Before you finalize your

fence line, carefully review your

priorities to confirm that all your

key considerations are being

covered. Some of the questions

you’ll want to answer are...

■

Which views do you want to keep

or block?

■

Which areas would you like

to conceal?

■

Where are the activity areas

and what are the traffic patterns in

those areas?

■

What needs to be protected from

the sun or prevailing winds?

■

Is there noise you’d like to block?

Where is it coming from?

■

Do you want the fence to support

certain vines and shrubs?

■

Are there places where the fence

must be in scale with existing

landscaping or coordinated with

existing structures like trellises

and planters?

Address anything that may

have a bearing on your fence

layout. The more thoroughly you

do this, the happier you’ll be with

the finished product.

Draw a site plan

You’ll find it easier and less

costly to resolve all your key issues

while you’re still at the conceptual

stage. But to do this, you’ll need to

have a site plan. You can draw a

site plan in an hour or two, or you

can look for a copy of an existing

plan with the building department,

designer or architect, building

contractor, landscape contractor or

even a previous owner. Once you

have a plan of your property, you

can experiment with different fence

line schemes.

Start by making a rough sketch of

the site, including such things as site

perimeter, the house plan, driveway,

patios, walkways, garden beds and

utilities. You will also want to

indicate grade, sun and wind

orientation, and the characteristics

of surrounding structures and

fence styles to choose from, many

of which are included in this

booklet. There are also do-it-your-

self books that contain a wealth of

ideas and illustrations. Thumbing

through them is a good way to get

the process rolling.

You may choose to settle on an

existing design, or you can create

your design from scratch. You can

also modify a basic design into a

look distinctively yours. You’ll find

it fun to experiment, and even small

variations will make a big difference.

Keep in mind that you only need to

plan the details for one typical bay

(the section of fence from one post

to the next). From there you can

Fig. 1:

SITE PLAN AND ROUGH

YOUT

Setting

sun

Deck

Residence

View

screen

Garden

Boundary

fence

Noise

Screen

Entry

Garage

Boundary

fence

Privacy

Screen

Wind

Gate

Summary of content (6 pages)

PAGE 1
Choose the right style redwood fence A fence is an extension of your home, and calls for as much attention to its purpose, style and design as if you were adding another room. In your planning you need to start with specific questions.
PAGE 2
plantings. In plotting out the sun’s path, visit the site several times during the day to note how shadows fall. And don’t forget that the sun follows a different path in the summer than it does during the other seasons. Use circles for activity areas, arrows for traffic paths, wavy lines for winds, a yellow dotted line for sun path, squiggly arrows for noise direction, different color arrows for good and poor views...or whatever other symbols you find most practical.
PAGE 3
Construction Common is similar to Construction Heart except that it contains sapwood, which can be visually dramatic on large fences. It is recommended for most above-ground applications such as fence boards, trellises or gates. Deck Heart and Deck Common are similar in appearance to Construction Heart and Construction Common but are graded specifically for strength. Deck Heart and Deck Common are available in 2x4 and 2x6 dimensions.
PAGE 4
Fig. 5: POSTHOLE OPTIONS 4 x 4 post Metal post Concrete 18" 3' Compacted gravel step, a post-hole digger is often all you need, but if there are many holes to dig, you may want to consider one-man or two-man power augers. Augur-type diggers are good for rock-free earth, but if you’re likely to encounter large stones, a clamshell type is better (Fig. 4). A digging bar is also useful for prying rocks and other hard-to-move debris from the hole.
PAGE 5
can simply nail the boards at random height and trim them later, using a chalkline to mark your cutting line. To make sure your fence boards are raised an even distance from the ground, determine the bottom fence line by tacking your string across several bays at a time, making sure it’s level. Then, starting at the end, corner or gate post, use the string as your baseline and begin nailing up your fence boards.
PAGE 6
Build and hang the gate Fig. 11: GATE FRAME & BRACE There’s something deeply satisfying about a gate that opens easily, swings freely, and closes securely with a reassuring click. Building such a gate requires you to exercise care and craftsmanship in each of the five steps of gate construction: setting the gate posts, building the frame, adding fencing boards, hanging the gate and installing the latch.