Please fence me in! Part I

Aaron and I decided that we'd take advantage of the prolonged nice weather and put up a fence. Not being able to let the pups play and frolic was both a pain and also kind of sad - if they happened to be outside at the same time, they'd try to play but we couldn't let them because of potential leash tangles. So we looked into how to do a fence in a sturdy but cheap way. The Whitmore Fence rep who came out to price for us a couple months back wanted $3,200 to put up used chain link. Too much!

Our compromise between cost and quality was this: 4X4 pressure treated fence posts with "speed stakes" at the bottom (to avoid a lengthy process of digging post holes) and green coated wire-weld fencing at 5' high.

The project began in fits and starts, as we worked out how far apart we could put the stakes (10' max), and how we wanted to put them in. It technically began 2 or 3 weeks ago during a weekend, but a combination of bad weather and bad luck had kept the post-staking process from being completed until a couple days ago. Aaron took yesterday off to get things moving along and also clean up the garage so there would be at least room for one car when the cold weather comes. When I came home I helps with steadying posts and stretching wire to get things started. Unfortunately it was already pretty darn dark by the time we finished the first 50' length, so only the potty corner is actually fenced in at the moment.

The first stakes up, next to our garage:


The left side of the yard:


The right side of the yard:


Beginning to build the box for the doggy potty spot:


Potty spot completed (and christened):


Putting together the small gate in the garage:


The small gate had to hang a little weird because Aaron forgot to calculate in the speed stakes getting in the way of it hanging flush with the top. It works, but he's probably going to screw a board to the bottom to close up the gap: