Extend the height of a privacy fence |
Let's see what Lacy has to say in the DMS¹-mandated 75 to 100-word introduction:
"Depending upon the type of fence you have, it can be simple or more complicated, but definitely easy for any homeowner to accomplish. Extending a chain length fence would require a bit more work. Making a wooden fence taller only requires adding more wood slats to the existing wood slats. This article will discuss how to make a block wall fence taller."
That passage left a whole lot of things to be desired. For one, block walls are pretty rare except among people who don't do DIY work (like, oh, we dunno – Pablo Escobar, maybe?). And then there's the whole "Extending a chain length fence would require a bit more work" crap, although that would probably be the easiest to write: "Tear it out and start over!" We figured Lacy gave increasing the height of a privacy fence short shrift, even though it's by far the most likely situation, because she couldn't figure out how to do it. You sure as hell can't just "[add] more wood slats to the existing wood slats" (doesn't Enderson know the word "picket"?)! So she goes with creating a "pony wall" that screws to the top of the block wall. |
Clueless as ever about the most elementary construction, Enderson instructs her readers to attach a base plate of "2-by-4 material" to the top of the wall, which requires the reader to "...screw it down through... pre-drilled holes with 1/4-inch by 4-inch galvanized concrete screws and a screw gun." Oh, sure, a "concrete screws"! and a "screw gun"! Then, they should, "Nail... 1-foot wall supports to the wall plate every 16 inches on center," followed by placing "a 2-by-4 wall plate across the top of the wall supports" and nailing it in place. Finally, finish by "[attaching] 18-inch-by-3-inch fence slats to the yard side of the pony wall right next to each other the entire length of the wall."
What a moron: if she really wanted to build this pony wall, she should have built the frame and then fixed it in place – and probably not necessarily with a 4-inch lag bolt every 16 inches... While we're at it, we think that Enderson's 18-inch mini-pickets on a 12-inch frame would look like; well, like crap. A much more attractive solution is to not pretend the fence is the same only taller, but to design it so that the addition contrasts with the original (see image). |
¹ DMS -- Demand Media Studios, parent company of eHow (you can't spell "dumbass" without DMS!)
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DDIY - FENCES
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