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Old Homes New England tackles a fence replacement

I was leaning on the woodpile one day having a casual conversation with my neighbor.  As we talked over the wooden stockade style fence, I could not help but notice the just terrible shape of that fence.  When I pressed my neighbor a bit about what should be done....he reminded me that it was MY fence!  After a bit of negotiating, we decided to split the cost of replacement.

As you can see, the old stockade style fence was about to fall down.  In fact, if it had not been for that big pile of firewood against the fence, my neighbor and I are sure it would have fallen down.

We shopped between two fence companies by getting estimates. The first estimate did not seem too bad, but was heading toward the $3,000 mark.  A second company helped our decision by going over $4,000.  Mind you, this is a straight piece of fence from my neighbor's back yard, past my side yard and almost to the road.  The only obstruction to speak of is a tree that sits smack dab in the middle of our property line.  

Several months went by and we decided to wait until spring to make a final decision on what to do. That $3,000 to $4,000 estimate really cooled our ambitions.  Still, we did not want to wait much longer than spring or both our flowers would be in bloom and just to vulnerable to heavy footed workmen.   Then someone, and we deny knowing who, suggested that we replace the fence ourselves.  Sitting on the patio with a glass of wine fueled this insane idea.    Before we knew it, we were off to Home Depot to price fencing.  

Almost exactly $2,000 later, we had an order for 21 fence posts, a stack of panels, a truck load of concrete and a small stack of bags of gravel.  Having dealt with ordering patio supplies, I knew that our fence order would weigh just slightly less than the Earth's core.  

The vinyl posts and panels would not weigh much, but I can tell you that concrete and gravel really make up for the "lightness" of plastic. 

As promised, the driver called the night before to confirm delivery for sometime the next morning.  You can imagine my surprise though when while in the shower, I could hear a faint beeping noise.  At first I thought a timer had gone off, but then it dawned on me...it was the delivery truck backing up!   Just as I got out of the shower, the phone rang.  Fortunately, it was not yet another credit card company wanting to "give" me something, but the delivery driver.

Next......getting rid of Old Sway Back.