Another Fence Post Gets Replaced

A few years ago we had a really rough winter that ended up snapping three of our fence posts.  Last winter we ended up losing another one, likely weakened from winters past as it was actually one of our newer posts.  I don't love replacing fence posts.

When you have 180 feet of fence it is a constant work in progress

It is a ton of work and it is physically hard on me too.  I'm good replacing about one per summer.  Last weekend the youngest and I headed out with our shovels and got to work.  As expected it was A LOT of work and it wore us out.

The old post had snapped off after 20 years
Just don't make them like they used too - LOL

This time we had to replace a set of rails between the post we replaced and the one next that we had replaced two years ago.  They didn't line up and had already been shimmed on one end.  The only way to repair the fence was to repair it right so we removed the pickets, rails and fence brackets.

New post getting planted

I removed the shims from the previous repair and we straightened and repositioned the fence bracket onto the posts.  Then the new rails were cut to length and placed into the fence brackets.  After the rails were screwed on it was time to put the cedar pickets back on.

Ready for the new rails to go in

All three of us worked at pulling out the staples from the pickets.  Then we used screws to replace the pickets onto the new rails and we were all set.  It feels so good to be able to mark this project off of our "To Do" list and to see how nice our fence looks now that it is all repaired.  Again.  I swear we are always working on this fence for one reason or another.  But for now it is good to go.

Using up the screws in our can of miscellaneous fasteners first

You had to know I was going to do this project in "Thrifty Mom Style" and I did.  I used a gift card I was given on my birthday last year to pay for the fence post which I bought at the end of April with all the good intentions of fixing the fence in May.  I used another gift card I received after redeeming some credit card rewards points to pay for the three fence rails.  I still have most of that gift card left for other projects too.

Securing the new rails in place

She is such a great helper on these projects

I was hopeful, with all the wood I have on hand that I had rails already, but all the boards I had were too short.  I did have enough screws in the garage to put the pickets back up so I didn't need to buy any new ones.  That being said, I was super grateful that I had gift cards to use for these purchases so I didn't have to spend anything out of pocket to complete this project.

And all done!  Phew!  That was a bit of a job.

What projects do you have on your "To Do" list?