How not to install a chain link fence: Days Six and Seven…

Dad and I decided to work on the fence some more this weekend. We had decided to rig up a fix to the double swing gates and build the gate for the front of the lot. On Day Six, we set out to build the front gate and stretch the remaining piece of fencing. Stretching the fence was no problem, in fact it went so well that we were starting to feel good about things. What hubris had we!

We built the gate, commenting how nice it looked and how great it was going to be along the front of the lot. We measured three times to ensure that we’d have enough clearance for the hardware, we were confident in our calculations. Using the DeWalt SawzAll that loaned us for the weekend, we made our cuts, stretched the chain link along the gate. We went and hung the hardware to swing the gate, everything looked great! We attached the closure that would keep the gate secure along the neighbor’s fencepost. It looked a little snug, but we thought we’d be OK. We were wrong.

The gate closure has a small lip underneath on which to attach a padlock. It was by the width of this hinge (only 1/2 inch!) that we were off in our measurement. The gate would close, but did not have enough clearance for the closure to swing down and latch. That finished us off for Day Six, we were defeated.

On Day Seven, we decided that we would take the gate off, cut off another 1 3/8″, reassemble and rehang the gate. That went quite well, everything went according to plan. Onward to the double swing gate. The plan was to take an extra section of 1 3/8″ top rail, drill holes through it and one of the gates, attach the mounting hardware for the E-Z Latch assembly to it, and screw the top rail to the side of the gate acting as a spacer. We drilled our holes, slid the mounting hardware onto the top rail as a test-fit, and put the bolt through the gate and spacer. Too short! Argh!!

So a final trip to Menards secured us 3.5″ bolts, which worked perfectly. We attached the hardware to the spacer bar that we made, attached it to the gate, and attached the E-Z Latch. Success!

This left the final portion… the lattice. We had to cut down our 4 x 8 sheet of lattice to fit under the roof of the neighbor’s garage. We then drove two sections of rebar into the ground (the same ground that sliced my finger open, take that ground!) and used fence wire-ties to secure the lattice to the rebar.

It was finished! We closed the gates and let Teddy frolic in his new environment! After a little while, he was done with exercising so we put him back in the house and I proceeded to use ‘s SawzAll to lay waste to the growth that was coming from the two stumps along the lefthand side of my lot. Let me tell you, that saw was a Godsend… some of these branches that were growing sideways were almost three inches thick! After I was finished fighting the urge to laugh maniacally, I piled the carcass of the Shambling Mound that I had destroyed along the side of my house for my brother-in-law to haul away.

It was a pretty satisfying day of yardwork. Teddy’s fence is complete, the stumps are de-forested, and no fingers were lost in the pursuit! Hooray!!