This weekend brought sunny summer weather and a few outdoor projects around the house. There was the moldy old white picket fence, which has needed replacing since we moved here six years ago. And there was the small deck extension I started last month, which was badly in need of a railing to prevent free-falling children.
I picked up a stack of 1x6x10 cedar boards on sale for $9.50 a pop at Lowes. It took six of them to build the short run of fence in the photo above.
The fence is constructed by nailing the boards upright to a pressure-treated 2×4 frame. That framing was already in place so after cutting the cedar to length I nailed each one successively using a nail head as a spacer. Next I capped the fence with a cedar board and nailed another two more lengths of cedar across the top and bottom of the fence.
The deck, photographed above, is simply two platforms made from pressure-treated construction lumber. I built each on a flat level surface and then arranged them as steps. Once the platforms were level and supported on blocks and 4×4 posts, I attached a pre-built pressure-treated railing, also on sale at Lowes. I had some left over cedar so I used it to box in the top of the fence posts. I’m not exactly sure what for, but I suspect we’ll find a use for it.
Weekndr by Matt Berger 