Here’s an update on our front fence/gate project. It’s been a really hard, very hot, totally exhausting week for Richie, Dean, and Ben. Thanks to our helpers we’ve made some progress. This house is fabulous and part of what we love about it is that there are fences and walls, courtyards and special places that surround this house and keep it very private. With walls and walls of windows we absolutely MUST have these fences. Time, weather, 2 hurricanes, and over grown vegetation left pretty much every fence around the house in terrible shape. Most of it is hanging by a thread and rotten. It’s amazing that some of it is even standing. So we begin on the front fence and gate…..
The fence and gate in front of the house has been a challenge, as it houses the A/C compressor, the gas meter, and a special sliding gate to access the side and back of the house. Tearing it down and rebuilding it has been something quite honestly we have been dreading! Richie has been studying this project for months… maybe years. At some point you just have to tear into it and see where it goes. So down it came. But first Richie had to lift every step stone from the area so he could set new posts and work.
After tearing out all that fencing (WHAT A PILE!) He had to rebuilt the frame work for the side fence and gate. That’s where it starts and believe me it’s ONLY the beginning.
Once new posts were placed and the general framework was up, Richie and Dean got one portion of the siding/pickets back up, built the gate and reinstalled the sliding barn-door hardware.
New boards were nailed in place around the A/C Unit and the gate got light weight pickets. It’s starting to come together but there’s still SO MUCH MORE to go
We used the existing rail but bought new rollers and additional hardware. Each post got new concrete pads and the gate was redesigned a slight bit to keep it light weight. The old gate was built out and layered with wood pickets which made it extremely heavy (and hard to push). Richie lightened the load to keep it from sagging and to keep my back from going out. The design changed slightly but for the better. He’ll be installing steel plates across the span to keep it strong and prevent sagging.
Here you can see the sliding gate hardware. It works really well, but there’s still so much work to do on this to keep the gate level and in place. Richie will have it looking so fabulous in the next week or so.
Richie hopes to start tearing out the fences on the back side of this frame work and concrete in new posts during this week. Once everything is in place I’ll come in and stain all the wood to match the outside of the house. One day at a time, 25 bottles of gatorade a day and 5 changes of clothing …. and the work continues.
These are pictures on the back side of the new fence and gate. These fences create a nice little courtyard area behind it all.
Richie is amazing! He just keeps going and going and going! As for me… my body is PISSED OFF! I’ve been in bed for almost a week due to totally freezing up my back. I could barely walk. More on that later… and more updates to come on the fence. Keep us in your prayers. We need them!
