Home DIY

I feel for you. I think with a lot of DIY projects persistence is the often unsung key to success.

I started repairing and painting our communal picket fence at the beginning of December. It quickly became apparent that the only way to make an enduring repair would involve removing every picket and re-paint pickets and rails before re-assembly. The area between pickets and rails hadn’t been painted at all previously, leading to rot in places, which was only going to get worse. Re-painting encompasses wire brushing, wet rot hardening, filling, sanding and painting, as well as replacing rotten pickets with new ones fashioned using saw and rasp from 3x2. There are 160 odd pickets and five gates, all of which are having to be disassembled and re-assembled, with new hinges and spring closers for each. On top of that, some fence posts have rotted from the bottom and have had to be replaced as well. I am about two thirds of the way through, and I stopped enjoying the work as much about a third of the way through.

I have no idea what it would have cost to have a professional repair to the same standard, assuming I could find someone to do it. Replacing the fence would have been north of a couple of grand probably, but The company I approached for a quote had orders through to the summer. Materials cost for me is probably going to hit £300, but time is the killer. There’s also the weather to contend with. Nevertheless, it will be done.