The Pacific storm that knocked down our Redwood lattice top fence in the beginning of January gave me an opportunity to buy a router. The wind snapped a 4×4 fence post and cracked off the 2×3 end sections from the fence panels. These one inch grooved 2x3s weren’t available at the lumber yard, but I thought with a router I could just get some 2×4’s and use a router to make a groove in them.
I ordered a bunch of Redwood 2x4s, some treated 2x4s for caps, a treated 4×4 for a post and a 60 lb. bag of ready-mix concrete.
I started digging out the old post and encountered my first problem – did I need to remove the old concrete footing? That involved more digging than I wanted to do. When I got down to the concrete footing, I hacked away the remaining part of the 4×4 out of the concrete and planned to put the new post in that hole with some more concrete around it. That sort of worked, but I wasn’t able to get the 4×4 post vertical. It was the beginning of another bush job.
I’ve seen Norm use a router on TV, but I’ve never used one. I found a Makita RF1101
I also didn’t know about rough lumber until I routed two of the side rails, nailed them to the fence panel and hoisted it up into position. It was about 3/4″too long. I had to cut off 3/4″off one side of the fence panel. How are you supposed to know these things?
The next day, I ordered some more 2x4s and 2×8 Redwood lattice, because the lattice was also broken in some sections. This time the lumber yard sent 1 1/2×3 1/2 2x4s.
My next concern was how to cut the lattice, since the sections on the fence were 15″wide. Also for privacy, I used two pieces of lattice back-to-back, which fortunately fit in the 1″groove. I ended up clamping the lattice between two 1x6s and using a cross-cut hand saw to cut the eight foot lengths to 15″wide. My friend Chuck recommended a Skil HD5825 6-1/2-Inch Worm Drive Saw, whatever that is.
This is why professionals should do this kind of work.