The plan was to build a white picket fence that would more or less match the house’s existing trim, but wouldn’t interfere with either the landscaping, or more importantly, the giant oak tree in the front yard.

The fence itself is about 3′ tall (more or less, depending on where you stand - sidewalk repair doesn’t seem to be a priority here in our fair city) and 60′ long. There is a double gate in the front, and a smaller single gate on the side. The large posts on the corners and at the gates are pressure-treated 6×6s, and the smaller posts are stock 4×4s. All of the pickets and rails were milled from rough, 8/4 western red cedar. The gates swing on 4″ x 4″ ball-bearing brass hinges, and the fence sections are bolted to the post-tabs with bronze carriage bolts.

The posts are set 2 feet into the ground. Once the posts were set, we took careful measurements, and built and painted each section of the fence off-site, back at the shop. We left the individual pickets over-long so that we could adjust the distance between the the ground and the bottom of each picket once we were back on-site.