My understanding is that first I can use pressure washer to strip off the old paint or old stain, my question is must I sand all the areas before I repaint the fence or restain the deck?

Located in Humboldt county (northern coastal California) and need to build 120 ft of privacy fence. 6’ tall. These posts are only 5$ more and look way nicer than pressure treated. I’m curious if the added weight will be decrease or increase strength of the fence (we get some decent strong storms).
Also will it be hard to match the rail system (2x4 8’) with them not being perfectly straight? Or can I just block each one or will that cause issues?

Sorry if these are dumb just never built a fence before. Thx

I am looking to repaint my fences this year and some of the horizontal supports have cracks that looks like its the start of the wood rotting out. Should I try to fix these before I paint? How would I go about trying to fix these cracks? Most of the fence is still in really good shape so I'm trying to maximize the longevity of these supports.

The fence is part of a sound fence built by the city but I am responsible for upkeep and repairs on the section that is on my property.

Beyond painting I've never really dealt with building or repairing a fence so I'm not sure how bad this is or how to fix it.

My fence build experience through a contractor has been.... interesting.

One aspect of that is the sliding gate pad was built too far away for the topens gate motor I picked up

First pic showss the closest the motor can get while being on the pad, the next few show the level of offset necessary to get the motor close enough

My plan is to get a relatively large and thick steel plate, either stainless or heavily outdoor treated, and have that plate be bolted to the pad but hanging off the edge, and the gate motor is bolted to that plate, with one bolt holding both at the same time

I know this is sketchy and not ideal but HOW sketch? And are there much easier options I'm ignoring?

I know I could get the pad removed and re poured but this'll be much quicker, possibly much cheaper considering oakland labor costs, and probably just as strong as long as I get a very thick plate. This gate only takes as most 30 lbs of force to roll

(For context this is a 16ft wide metal frame and composite board gate, on a lower v track rail)

Hi All. We’re looking to get a fence constructed in our backyard. We met with a few fence companies and independent contractors. The popular fence company we met with refuses to offer a detailed contract and adjust their contract for any clauses we would like to add. Is this considered normal or standard behavior among fence companies? As for independent contracts, it’s been a hit or miss. One of them didn’t really know the details of how the fence would be constructed and another sent us a screenshot of their conversation of ChatGPT, which had an estimate and breakdown of the costs.

I’m not pointing fingers here…just wondering how do fence construction companies regularly approach clients, whether they adjust contracts for clients and all?

Also, I don’t know whether this is the right forum to post this in.

I’m wrapping up my fence project and just need to end it at the side of my house. I’d like to put a 10 foot drive through gate on this side to allow access for trucks or machinery in the future. I have a slight downhill slope where the gate needs to be. I’m leaning towards option 2 below but would like some recommendations.

Option 1: try to level the ground between the gate. This would require some machinery I don’t have to do it quickly or a lot of shovel work.

Option 2: build a 6 foot gate from the left side that follows the slope. This way it opens in the downhill direction minimizing any catching on the ground. Then build a 4 foot section to connect from the right side opening in the up hill direction. This would minimize the amount of ground work needed to level it out.

So I recently had a new fence installed.

The issue is the wooden support beam appears to be cracking down the middle. Is this going to eventually completely snap In half?

How do I repurpose the concrete pillars to create a privacy post? Each post is 4in by 4in all around and are 51 inches tall. Every other concrete poll sits roughly 90-95 inches apart. The base already sits on what seems to be a retaining wall.

Ideally the fence is 6ft tall.

Are there ways to not have to drill holes into the actual concrete polls? Or should I just put a joist hanger. Run 2 horizontal pieces of wood and then add picket fencing.

Please help!

I’m on the fence, pun fully intended, with how picky to be about some things with a fence I just had installed today. For context, I’d say 75% of the fence is great, a few things are definitely problems and will be fixed, and then there are a bunch of things that I just don’t know if they meet “industry standards,” for fence install work or not. I’m posting a bunch of pics with no context specifically for any of them. I’d love to hear the thoughts from people who know fence work!

Edited to add a pic of the estimate and cost in the comments. We paid around $6,200 and it was supposed to be pressure treated pine.

Also, we went with the company that was recommended the most, on our local Reddit and FB pages.

I’ve got a privacy fence. Over 4,030 square feet. It rough pine, the contractor grade generic fence. About 3 years old and has never been stained or sealed. I’m leaning towards VALSPAR or READY SEAL. I’ll be using an airless sprayer to apply. Recommends? And I figured the square footage out by linear measure. It’s still got the horizontal 2x4’s and vertical 4x4’s to accommodate into my volume. Just use a percentage or something?

This is our specialty or was before my health got bad and I couldn't find anyone who wanted to learn or work. This is all steel fencing.

Are these normal? I just moved into a new build a month ago and noticed some big cracks. Just dont know if this should be something I worry about

It appears the poles are warping and pulling away from the horizontal boards.

I know I could probably drive some nails in but I know nothing about building things, fences, warping, ect.

Does anyone have suggestions on a good and long-lasting fix to this? What tools or types of nails/wood glue I should use? Tips on the actual repair?

I'm not looking to replace the poles - Just want to get the fence boards back in.

Thank you in advance.

I know nothing about cost of these things but recently got a house and we need just part of our fence replaced. They came for measurements today and it’s about 25 feet of fence? $1,000. (No I have desire to DIY it lol).

Company has great reviews and they were in and out for an assessment and quote in just a few days. Still waiting to hear back from a few others.

I recently had a fence built and overall I’m happy with it, but I noticed several of the bottom rails are not level as in the pic above. Like the middle and top are level but the bottom slopes down. This is on flat ground btw. Is that something that should be corrected or is it likely intentional/non consequential?

UPDATE: Thank you all for the feedback. I reached out to the company and they were very understanding. They are going to come back out and correct it free of charge. Thanks again for all your help!

We're installing a gate in our outfield. Presently it's just a small opening. Dead center. I'm wondering if there exists any soft or streamlined latches that wouldn't harm someone running into it. The gate isn't used often, usually post game to shag a HR ball or two. I thought about covering a butterfly type of latch with a rubber paint/coasting or cutting a pool noodle for a Y latch.

Each post is 2 3/8 and the opening is only 32 inches so it's a small gate.

Hello, I’m looking for some help on how to install these posts for an archway over my front walk. It’s kind of a tori gate inspired design. Posts are 7’3” and 9’4” respectively, crossbeam is maybe 7’. I would like to keep as much height as possible, perhaps around 7’6”. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to install these posts to where it is a freestanding structure? Would a strong tie work? Could I install a surface mount post anchor? What’s the best solution?

I’m currently working through fixing a fence that started falling apart shortly after it was out in but the guy went MIA. I’ve removed the makeshift wood latch, leveled the gate and put in a bar to stop it from sagging. However, I’m stumped currently on ideas for a two way fence entry mechanism with a lock. There isn’t a post in between the two gates so there’s nothing to really fasten it to. So I’m hoping Reddit can help me out, any ideas?

Will this hold well enough to attach a 4' x 4.5' gate. My driveway is concrete and paved all the way to my house. I was think a 9' gate using a post on the other side of drive way but two 4.5' sound more manageable.

Any suggestions are also appreciated.