Surely not every person who builds a fence around my yard is a raging drunk with a nail gun, right? But if you saw either of my side fences, you might disagree.
On one side, built last summer, all of the pickets lean side to side at about a 15 degree angle. Which is exactly the right amount of lean so that everyone notices the fence as soon at they walk into our yard. I don't expect this fence to last very many years, since it was pretty much thrown up in a weekend by the neighbor and a crew of his buddies who evidently wanted to share in the beer bash/ fence building festival. We only chipped in about $400 for that fence. And I hope in the long run that we at least get what we paid for.
On the other side, is a "professionally" built fence. Which must have been built by a guy on crack. Unfortunately, the neighbor paid a bunch of money for this fence about 5 years ago. I have repaired it several times and she has paid her landscapers to repair it several more.
This morning a new fence building crew is coming to pull down the crappy, yet expensive fence. These guys are off duty fire fighters, so I bet the city drug tests them pretty regularly.
So at least I may have a fighting chance of getting a decent fence this go around.
The trade off? You knew there would be one, right? She is having an 8 foot tall fence built around her yard. When we moved here there was a normal, 6 foot tall privacy fence. The neighbor had that replaced with a 7 foot tall fence, which almost blocked the sun. And I am pretty sure we are going to completely stop the sun and slip into a new ice age on the southwest side of our yard once this big wall o' wood goes up.
12 years ago
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7 comments:
Our fence was built five years ago this month on a clay-mud slope in just over freezing temperatures. I would watch them from my kitchen when I'd come home from lunch and think, "These guys are nuts!" No, not nuts, just in it for the money (fences are muy expensivo).
I laugh today when I pass the post with notches where cross beams don't sit. But five years later, despite no upkeep from yours truly, it's still standing strong.
Paying for good fencing is well worth it.
Please take some pictures...
My wife and I almost got a fence put in our backyard to replace our somewhat shoddy fence we have currently in place, however, when we got a quote for $3,000, we sorta decided we could live with this fence since it does its job of keeping the dogs inside "the grounds" of our 3/4 acre estate (enter sarcasm up there)...
Makes you wonder what Wonder Woman is doing in that backyard that she needs an 8 food fence to block the view! Geez.
"These guys are off duty fire fighters, so I bet the city drug tests them pretty regularly.
So at least I may have a fighting chance of getting a decent fence this go around."
Um... Don't bet on it, After all they are just "hose draggers"... (Snicker)
Oh, and Mike.. Don't bring the beer out until they have FINISHED!
(Note: If any of Mike's Firefighters are reading this... We use that term to tease our firefighters... They call us dispatchers "support staff".
It's a fun "back and forth" kind of thing.. We LOVE our firefighters! So PLEASE don't take my mockery out on Mike's fence!!)
As far as the 8 foot fence goes... Maybe she hates chickens...
No fresh eggs for her!
These are the times when I get a sense of relief that our home developer had "professionals" build each of our backyard fences. They're not the most attractive things -- cinder block and cement. But they are pretty solid compared to the "wood" fences I've heard people talk about having problems with.
I'm just thinking HOW Wonder Woman found these fire fighters who were willing to build the fence...
I put up my own fence a couple of years ago in the side of a mountain that is my backyard. In my opinion being an observer instead of an active participant is worth the risk.
FoF, if these guys paint my fence bright red and trim it with gold leaf-work, I am holding you personally responsible.
Otter, Yeah, I built the fence that covers the back of my yard. 8 years ago and it has only needed to have pickets re-nailed because of the great chicken eating back in the fall. Still looks great after all of these years.
Grace, she found them when they were building a fence around the corner. Luckily that one looks pretty good, so I guess she either knew what she was looking for or just got really lucky.
Way more than anyone ever cared about my fences, I am sure.
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