A New Fence
- by Janelle
Matt and I have talked about installing a fence around our backyard for over a year. We’ve had a few issues since we’ve lived here, and with Micah likely to be running around the yard in not TOO many months, we decided now was a good time to fence in the back yard. Conveniently, our neighbors on both sides already have 6-ft privacy fences, so we just had to finish the fence on the front edge of the house and across the back of the lot. (The garage covers half the back end of the lot, anyways!)
With the warm February and March that we had this year, the ground was pretty well thawed by the end of March, so we thought that would be a great time to get started on the project.
We spent quite a while discussing different options (sizes, styles, colors, latches, etc) and price checking. Then, one lovely Saturday we went to Menards to pick up the supplies. Micah was very helpful and cooperative. He manned the cart as Matt and I found everything we needed.
The trip turned out to be quite a bit longer than we thought (who knew picking out wood and supplies could be so time consuming?) and he got tired, so he took a little nap out in the lumber yard.
The real adventure began when it finally came time to load the wood into the van. We found that, in order to accommodate the 8ft boards, the passenger seat had to be pushed all the way forward, which meant almost no leg room in the front. Micah also picked this time to get hungry. Where’s a mother supposed to go to feed her kid in the lumber yard at Menards? After I decided against climbing to the third tier of 2x4s for privacy, and ended up squished into the front passenger seat of the van as Matt kept on loading boards into the back. I fed our child and watched the forklifts drive by.
When we finally got everything loaded, I was more thankful for Baloo than ever. I’m telling you, this minivan has been the greatest vehicle ever!
The following weekend is when the real fun began! Bright and early, Matt went and rented a stump grinder to take care of a few stumps that we have been planning to get rid of for a while now. (One of them was in the way of the soon-to-be fence, so it had to get done before we could start construction.)
Let me tell you, this thing was a beast. It even came with its own trailer.
Matt did a great job of wielding the power of this crazy machine and grinding those stumps until they were just holes in the ground filled with wood chips.
Jump ahead another weekend. This was the big day. Several of our family members came to help out.
My dad helped Matt get all of the posts level, correctly placed and at the right depth.
My brother-in-law, Moy, is a superstar at post-hole digging! He can seriously do it in like 5 minutes flat.
It took me like half an hour to dig my ONE hole. Although, they did give me the hard one…
Tim and Josh worked at installing all of the stringers nice and straight.
My WONDERFUL mother even came over to hang out with Micah and oversee the whole operation.
Even my dear sister, Minda, showed up to help. She did great with the nail gun. 🙂
In one day, we put up almost the whole fence. All that was left to do were two gates and a couple odd boards that had to be cut down with our friends’ table saw. What a great crew! We can’t even begin to express how much we appreciated all of the people who came to help with this project and also the people who lent us tools that made the construction possible.
For (parts of) the next TWO days, Moy and Matt worked hard to make us some sturdy and beautiful gates. Here is a picture with just one board left to put up! An extra special thanks goes out to Moy for helping Matt with this part of the project! Turns out, gates can be really tricky… but these guys got it all figured out and they turned out great!
After all was said and done, we were left with a wonderful fenced-in back yard. I love the privacy we have back there now, and it will be so nice when Micah starts to run around. Here’s the finished result.
Some grass seed, sunshine and rain later, our yard is starting to really look nice. Hurrah!
Now, I will end this post with the obligatory cute picture of Micah, who was so cooperative throughout the whole construction process. Here he is wearing Uncle Tim’s hat at the end of the day.