DIY – Post and Rail Fence – Moose Containment Done.

Sharing all the tips & tricks for how to build a post and rail fence out of cedar wood yourself on a budget with wire & a gate.

DIY – Post & Rail Fence

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Why We Chose to Build a Cedar Post & Rail Fence

If you have been following along at all you would have met Moose our 8 1/2 month labradoodle who likes to greet and play with everyone & everything he sees.  

Big, small, furry, feathered, friendly or not he would like to meet and probably sniff and lick you.  

We have questioned our naming him Moose but his name definitely fits him.

In order to keep Moose contained we have been fencing in our yard.  

We had fenced in the front of our yard and some of the sides when we first moved in for privacy & safety for the kids.  

Our previous dog Adam was trained to stay in our yard & as he got older the closer he stayed to the house so we never worried about him going on an adventure.  

Well… Moose is very different 🙂 

So this spring we started to finish the post and rail fence which is not a small task when you are talking about an acre & the back of our yard has a very funky property line.  (You can read about how we started our cedar post and rail fence HERE.  

Last week, I shared about how we created some square lattice along the back fence to create privacy.  You can read ALL about that HERE.

How to Build a Cedar Post and Rail Fence

For More Post and Rail Fence Step by Step Building Tips (check out Part 1 HERE)

Well, now we are officially done our cedar post and rail fence  Whoop whoop.  

We we Switched to Pressure Treated Posts for our 4 Foot Post and Rail Fence

We switched to pressure treated because of the cost (almost $20 less a post) & they came in 6 foot lengths so no need to cut the tops off.

*update 4/20 – 2 cedar posts have since rotted so we replaced them with pressure treated. The pressure treated post seem to last longer,

Adding String Along the Property Line & Dig your Post Holes

After figuring out our property line Jason & I started digging the holes for the posts.  

Of course we had plenty of help.

Taking Out Overgrown Bushes & Shrubs to Make Room for a DIY Cedar Wood Post and Rail Fence

We had a lot of overgrown bushes to take down to make room for the fence.

Here is a before of those bushes.  

They had grown so big that we couldn’t walk behind them & they were touching the house.  

We want to change out the one window for a door in the future so we can get to the back of our house easier.

Tip for Regrading the Dirt Level When Building a Post and Rail Fence

At some point one of the previous owners had allowed the dirt level to slope towards the house.  (no wonder every time it rained we had water in our basement).  

The roots of the bushes and dirt were growing under our siding.  

So we have been regrading the whole back of our house.  

Jason added a pressure treated board between the fence posts to hold the dirt back from our neighbors yard and we have taken out easily 50 wheel barrel loads of dirt and rock.  

Jason also rerouted the downspout to have the water run away from our house.  

I am happy to report since we started this process I have had zero water in my basement.

To give you an idea of how high the dirt level was it was up to the bottom of the AC unit in the pic above and below.  

We didn’t want to mess with lowering the unit with all the wires & copper pipes going into the house so Jason cut some pressure treated boards to keep the dirt under it.

Landscaping along the Post and Rail Fence Line

We haven’t finished regrading yet but have laid landscape fabric down in the areas that we have leveled out.  

We plan on adding stone all along the back of the house to keep the dirt level the same.  (see our stone walkway HERE)

We did add a line of dogwood trees every 15-20 feet along the back of the house to help soften the back and give the back some much needed shade.

Adding a Gate to the Post and Rail Fence

Jason added a gate too.

Although we did take down a bunch of bushes we decided to keep this row of arborvitaes & we added a green wire fence behind it so Moose could not get loose!

It is so nice to let him out my kitchen door & not worry that he is off on an an adventure, he’s exactly where he needs to be… in our yard.

I hope this inspires you & answers all your questions about how to build a cedar wood post and rail fence!

by Tara Lehman

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