Old timer's advice about post spacing saved my butt on a tricky job

Back in 2018 I was putting up a privacy fence along a weird sloped yard in Denton. This retired fence guy, maybe 70 years old, walked over from next door and told me to measure my post spacing from the corner posts inward instead of the other way around. I thought he was crazy but tried it anyway. Ended up with perfectly even panels and only wasted about 4 feet of lumber total. Has anyone else run into old school tricks that just plain work better?

2 comments

2 Comments

harris.emma3d ago

lol that "measure from the corner posts inward" thing is gold. I actually read something similar in a DIY fence book my dad had from the 70s, and it talked about how starting from the ends keeps you from ending up with that awkward 6 inch gap at the last post. The math just works out smoother when you work backwards like that. Reminds me of how tile guys always start in the middle of a room instead of against a wall, same basic idea of planning for the whole space instead of just going from one side.

oliver8113d ago

Buddy of mine tried that trick on his deck rails after watching some old framing guy, ended up saving himself a trip to the lumberyard cause he didn't have to rebuy a whole stick of cedar. Those old guys just know how to make the math work without overthinking it.