Operation Turnout Part 2

Operation turnout phase two is now complete and functional.  Due to some needed flexibility on what happens with our patio area we decided to restrict the area to the length of the building for now.  I tried to use elements to make it easy to expand in the future if necessary.

 First I dug 8 fence posts and set them in concrete.  This was during the process of leveling the posts and just before the concrete went in.  I used a tiny little level that I had to set on the top of the posts rather than on the sides.  In hind sight it would definitely have been worth it to invest in a larger bar level.  I decided to hang the fence planks myself rather than order fence panels in.   The reason for this was two fold.  Firstly, because the land is not even, an ordered panel would have meant that the fence would not have gone all the way to the ground at certain points.  I would have had to pile up dirt or patch in extra boards to fill the gap.  I think measuring and cutting each board gave a better fence.  Secondly, it would have taken 14 days just to get the fence panels built and delivered.   I still chose to step the fence at each post as though there were ordered panels but I made it so that the minimum board height was 4 feet at all points on the fence.

Here you can see the final result.  The gate is on the lower left hand side of the picture.  The process took me a total of 8 days which included a Saturday and 1/2 Sunday, and evenings during the week from 5:30-8:30 pm.  In the beginning I was pretty inefficient.   This was a very repetitive project so it was important to analyse  what was taking time.  The number one thing in any project like this is that I have to keep my pencil on my person at all times.  You can waste a lot of time looking for a pencil on the ground.  Having a pre-cut spacer that you can place between the boards helps a lot.  I also learned that a pre-cut measurement between the top rail and the top of the board helped speed things up when making sure a panel remained straight.  Another great time saver is to use a power bar.  None of my tools are cordless, so having to unplug the last tool and plug in the next can suck up a lot of time.

 Here is the view from the front.  I made sure to build it around the gas meter so that the meter reader doesn't have to enter into the area to do his job.  He can slip in behind the tree to read the meter.

Lastly here is Ricky admiring my handy work.  I'm sure he is thinking "what the heck did you spend all this time building a box for me to poop in.  I would have pooped anywhere..."
I believe the materials cost me some where around $400 and covered 65 lineal feet of fencing.  I think it would have cost me $800 to $1200 to have it built by someone else.  So some savings there and I probably sweat off a few lbs in the heat.