Just as I was getting dressed and ready to leave the house for work this morning, there was a knock on my bedroom door. Mum was eager to tell me that another fence panel had blown down overnight; narrowly missing her car and lying obtrusively on the drive. It wasn’t the panel I ‘repaired’ over the weekend – as I said then; that one’s never going to come out!! This one is as tall as it is wide.
A new day and another panel falls to the ground!
These photos were taken in the daylight, after I arrived home from work a couple of hours ago, using my phone as well (8 megapixels, apparently… Although, I rarely bother to preset the white balance). All I did in the darkness was to pick up all the loose stuff and to dump it infront of the workshop.
They forecast showers of sleet for our area today which, as far as I’m aware, never materialised. To me, that overshadowed any talk of gales and high winds. I know which I would’ve preferred, though!!
Is it worthy of a repair?
Even looking at what is left of the old panel (and not still attached to the post on either side); I’m not sure if there’s an awful lot here that I can be bothered to save. I do have a few spare boards (the really thin ones) from previous falls, if need be. Buying a load of new battening (fortunately, this stuff is 1½ x ¾in) would be considerably cheaper than the £20 (probably) for a new panel – which would also have to be painted, etc. This design would’ve been better had it been battened on both sides. I know that’s seen as ‘less aesthetically pleased’ by some and it would mean it doesn’t match in with the rest but, I’m thinking of heading down that road right now… Anything other than the prospect of stapling or nailing a load of very thin, distorted boards!
Rotten at ground-level.
If not for new battens then I’ll still have to make a trip to a timber yard this week for a pair of new 3x3in posts, as the ones either side of rotted away at ground level! Digging the last 18in or so of the old posts below ground is not going to be easy, even without that decking so close by. I might be tempted to drill a large hold down the center and then to just bang a MetPost spike in there…
Any thoughts, other than chiselling out what’s left?
Wedges?! Seriously???
If you look closely at the photo above, you can see the two skinny wedges I fitted last summer, when I first realised (thanks to a persistent neighbour) that at least the right-hand post was going to need to be replaced! It did work well for the first six-months or so; I only wish it could’ve lasted a bit longer!
One crafty thought I do have [well, I am a craftsman] is to drive a couple of long coach screws (130mm) through each post and in to the sub-framing of the deck behind, which just so conveniently happens to match up closely with the centres of these fence posts…
Braced for the weekend.
For now, I’ve just braced it all together with two 2.4m lengths of 3x2in I happened to have an a couple of broken battens. I only wish I could leave it this way, as the entire fence is stronger than it’s ever been before!! This really is the best I can do right now, with the early evenings and all of that. I think my weekend’s going to be busy again!
Destined for one place…
It’s been a week of things breaking all around the house. A few of my personal possessions have ‘failed’ within the last seven-days and our combi. boiler’s been losing water and rapidly dropping in pressure for a while now. It was only fitted two-years ago and it was anything but as cheap as its predecessor. We have to top the pressure up twice a day (morning and evening), just so that we have access to hot water and heat when we need it the most. A bowl from the kitchen sink collects everything that drips and it soon fills up within a few hours.
Back in the workshop, my ear defenders broke in my own two hands, as I was getting ready to do some routing (that was obviously a non-fence panel-related operation)! Honestly, all I did was pick them up! Maybe the cold go in to the plastic headband? I’ll need a new pair before I can do too much out there again. I dislike ear plugs, even though I’ve been wearing them daily at work for almost two-years. I’ve never had so many blockages within my ear canals.