A couple of years ago we painted this old dilapidated fence. It turned out sooo good!
Painting A (Hideous Old) Fence
Here's what a section of it looked like before.
Pretty rough! Then after we painted, 1000x better!
Then Hubby had this BRILLIANT idea! "Why don't we create a top for the fence, it will really update it."
So, we put our heads together and brainstormed the cheapest and easiest way to do it. This is what we came up with.
Using 3- 6ft dog eared fence pickets. We ripped them on the table saw to 4 inches wide. Then the 1 inch (approximately) scrap we used as trim. Then we topped it with another 4 inch picket. I labeled it in the next photo.
We realized this was also going to really extend the life of this old dilapidated fence! The tips of the fence pickets were getting pretty rough and worn down in areas. Our fence is a squirrel highway, plus the weather wears at the fence.
The first thing we did to insure that the top trim would be as straight as possible was use a chalk line. This gave us a guide to line up the 4 inch board.
That little tool made it so easy to make sure our boards were staying straight.
Then we clamped the 4 inch pickets onto the fence on both sides, making sure they were even at the top. If the tips of the fence went above the 4 inch board, we just cut them off with our multitool.
To secure it to the fence we used our trusty Ryobi 18 gauge nail gun with 2 inch nails. Man we love that tool! We use it sooo much.
Adding this trim to our old dilapidated fence, also straightened the fence pickets making it even better looking and also adding strength.
Here you can see how wonky the fence was. Which is pretty normal... it happens as the wood dries and warps a bit.
This is a top view before we tightened the clamps on the trim. What a difference the after is!
The fence looks so much stronger and straighter! Once the 4 inch boards were nailed in place, we added the 1inch trim piece. We made sure that the trim was flush with the top of the 4 inch board.
We added the 1 inch trim before adding the top piece, because it helped to secure the top piece better. We could nail it into the very edge of the 1 inch trim. Here's a photo explaining.
Lastly, we added the top 4 inch board. The only thing we did different with that board was cut off the 'dog ear'. Oh, and we cut off the 'dog ear' for the 1 inch trim piece as well.
It really wasn't that difficult to do. Ripping the boards down to 4 inches took time. But it was pretty straightforward. All the supplies cost us around $375. Not bad when you realize how this is going to extend the life of our fence. Fences aren't cheap.
Once the treated wood dries out, our plan is to stain the trim a dark brown.
The fence looks so good now!! Here's some more photos.
Thanks for reading!
Blessings,
Lori
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