Fencing
Wood Fences, Setting a Sagging Gate Straight, Termites

Wood Fences
Wood is wood and whether the wood is used for a deck, a fence, a gazebo, or a retaining wall there is one common fact-wood and water don't mix. Using an oil-base wood preservative with ultraviolet inhibitors keeps your fence looking newer, longer.

Loose rails and fence boards also can be a problem with wood fences. The fence can suddenly begin flopping in the wind, looking tattered and sloppy. Reattach loose rails and fence boards with nails or screws to prevent the fence from flapping around. Be sure to use galvanized nails, ceramic-coated construction screws, or stainless screws. Regular non-coated nails can completely rot out in as little as a year or two.

Wood fence posts always seem to rot in the exact same place: at ground level. Why not -- that's where the dirt and the water are. Make sure the earth around a fence post slopes down and away, which helps shed water and keeps the post dryer.

When a fence post begins to rot at the base, the fence it supports is usually not long for this world. In the old days, a rotten fence post meant digging out the concrete pier surrounding the base of the post and replacing the entire footing.

Today, a pair of metal connectors, known as fence post repair brackets, can be used to make such a repair. Not every post can be reused. If the rot at the post base extends more than 8 or 10 inches above the concrete pier that holds the post in the ground, then the post should be replaced. Also, there must be at least 3 inches of concrete between the edge of the fence post and the outside edge of the concrete pier.

Fence post repair brackets are available in two sizes, 3 1/2 and 4 inch. One size is for rough-cut posts (4 inches) and another for finished posts (3 1/2).

Only a few items are required for this project:

• 1 small block of wood
• 1 piece of scrap 2 by 4, about 6 inches long
• 1 hammer
• 1 flat pry bar
• 1 shovel
• 1 sledge hammer
• A few screws or a handful of 10d galvanized nails

Just follow these steps:

1. Brace the fence with the 2 by 4 to hold it in a plumb position until the repair can be completed.
   Holding the fence in an upright position, wedge one end of the 2 by 4 into the landscape and nail the other end of the brace to the fence near the post that you intend to repair. Don't drive the nail all the way in. The brace is temporary and the nail has to be removed once the repair has been made.

2. Using the hammer, remove fence boards that cover the area to be repaired.
   Use a block of wood to buffer the blow of the hammer, which reduces the chance of damaging a fence board. Lay the block against the fence board and strike the block with the hammer. The flat pry bar can be helpful here.

3. Shovel the dirt away and expose the base of the post and the top of the concrete pier.
   The area should be swept clean so that the outline of the post in the concrete can be clearly seen. This is important because attempting to drive a fence repair bracket in the wrong location can easily bend the bracket, causing the project to become more than an unhappy experience for everyone involved.

4. Use the sledgehammer to drive in the brackets.
   As you drive the bracket into place with the sledgehammer, it crushes the post and wedges itself into the concrete. The first bracket usually goes in pretty easily. However, the second one is more difficult to install because the first bracket usually uses up all of the available space between the rotted portion of the post and the pier. Be prepared to apply more force to each blow of the sledgehammer to properly seat the second bracket.

5. Bolt, nail, or screw the brackets into the post.
   Because the brackets are tightly wedged between the pier and the post, the method of attachment usually is not terribly important. However, where substantial post damage exists, bolting can prove to be wise.

6. Replace the fence board(s), remove the temporary brace, and refill the post hole.

You have just saved over $100.

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Setting a Sagging Gate Straight
A sagging wooden gate is a nuisance at best, and can, at some point, become impossible to open. The problem must be pretty common because someone has already packaged and marketed a repair kit for exactly that purpose. It's called a gate repair kit and consists of a cable with corner mounting brackets and a turnbuckle. The nice thing about a turnbuckle assembly is that it can be tightened or loosened to raise or lower the gate. The turnbuckle kit contains:

• Two metal corner brackets with mounting nails
• Two lengths of wire cable with galvanized metal U-bolts, which are used to attach one end of each cable to one of the corner brackets and then the other end of each cable to the turnbuckle.
• A galvanized metal turnbuckle

Here's how it works. A metal bracket is attached to the upper corner of the gate (on the hinge side). Another bracket is mounted diagonally at the lower corner of the gate on the latch side. Cables are attached to each corner bracket and then to the two ends of a turnbuckle. As the turnbuckle is tightened, the latch side of the gate rises. As the turnbuckle is loosened, the latch side of the gate drops.

This system won't work if the upper bracket is not placed on the hinge side of the gate.

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Termites
Termites are a universal problem. And when wood buried in the ground is connected to your home -- whether the buried wood is pest-resistant or not -- that wood can act as a secret corridor from the ground to the interior of your home. For example, a fence attached to the house that has posts buried in the ground can act as a termite path.

However, you can protect your home from a secret attack by termites. All you need to do is add a layer of sheet metal at the point where the fence and house intersect. A layer of sheet metal between the fence and the house is all that it takes to termite guard your home.