Lots of things going on at the house this weekend. The fence is officially 60% complete, and we are super excited to see it all come together. I took off early on Friday and installed 2 3’X3′ steel raised beds. The tomato plants look like they are struggling. I may need to tweak the soil ph level or something.
We found your blog while searching for horizontal fences in Dallas. Not many fence builders up here in Carrollton have much to say about horizontal fences! Would appreciate: a) information about your choice of wood posts vs. steel posts and b) anything else you have learned along the way about horizontal fence pros and cons.
Thanks.
David
@David So no takers on building a fence for you like this? Or nobody offers it as standard fare?
We based ours off this design here: http://www.kirsch-korff.com/Pages/picture_portfolio_arbor_deck_fence_gate/fence15_modern_horizontal_cedar_los_angeles.htm. This design looks like it, too, has some drift in the pickets.
My experience with steel posts: not much.
I wish we could afford to do steel, but it was more hardware, more pain, more time, more money. I have read that steel, if done right, last a very long time. If they remain level, then you can just re-do the wood and keep the already dug-in posts when it’s time to re-do the fence.
We have ours built 6ft-on-center. The red cedar pickets move a little bit (vertically, horizontally) so there’s a little bit of a shift in a few spots. I think we may go back and add some tweener (at the 3ft mark) supports to help stave on any additional movement from the pickets. Also, we’re using 1×6 pickets, with a 1/4 inch gap. Sometimes, though, we are noticing up to a 1-inch gap where the pickets have drifted a little bit wonky.
If money were no object, I’d have the entire fence built out of redwood or ipe. But that’s nutty-crazy! Overall impression – it’s beautiful, even with a small amount of drift/gaps.