Replacement Fencing from Storm Damage and Age

Carlton wrote about this project from a couple of weeks ago in April 2016

As I arrived at the clients’ property I could see that the damage to the fence was terminal – it was leaning at a precarious angle, and that meant that the posts were gone. Usually this happens when the posts are constantly wet and they rot at ground level. This was compounded by the fact that we’d had very high winds and the neighbours had recently removed the boundary hedge on their side which was acting as a wind break.
Before and after photos

The clients kindly moved all of the old fence material to one side and I started to set out the new posts. We used 100mm × 100mm treated posts and fence rails with a vertical board in a hit-and-miss style to allow the wind to vent through the fence but also retain privacy.

I set the posts out at 1.5m spacing and sunk them in concrete (5-to-1 mix) to 800mm despite the fact that the fence was only 1.9m high. At the junction with the steps it slopes up, so the fence is approx 2.4m high and then links to the screen on top of the natural stone wall. The fact that it links to this separate screen, again with posts in concrete, gives it additional strength.

For the screen we used natural timber ‘outer rings’, as they are called, to form a visual screen. It affords some shelter from the wind with a cosy seating corner and views to the hills and ocean beyond. This screen may only last 7 to 10 years as it’s untreated, but the clients love its rugged natural appearance and it is very fitting for their location.