The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: LearningMustachian72 on April 18, 2018, 09:28:57 AM
-
Hey All,
I am putting in a cedar fence and my property is such that one side of the driveway is my garage and the other is my neighbors house. The front of my driveway is the street and the back is where the fence would be.
My question is...if I were to build a fence at the end of my driveway and pile the snow in the winter up against it during heavy snowfalls, would that damage a cedar fence if it is properly maintained otherwise?
Thank you in advance!
-
I don't know about the wood, but the pressure from the snow being piled there might stress the posts.
An example:
4-5 years ago this area experienced a tornado. We didn't experience any damage, or so we thought. A month later there was a string, about 30' high, that went across our yard, held up by the trees. We were out looking at it and noticed one of the fence post on the west side (wind went from west to east) was leaning in a little.
After examining:
26 years ago, when we put the fence (wood, maybe cedar but don't know for sure, posts are pressure treated) in, we put a 1/2 bag of concrete in each hole, then tamped down the dirt on top of it, filling the hole. The holes were 30" deep. We didn't wet the concrete, the rain did that for us - saved us a step.
The post that was leaning in a little had broken off where the concrete met the dirt above it - the fence attached was holding it up.
The wind was not tornado force, but was strong enough to snap the pole.
The fence weathered to a nice gray. There are parts in the back that experience 3-4' snow and look no different than that which doesn't
-
I have a spruce (?) fence that gets snow blown up against it by driveway clearing all winter, and after about 6 years, I don't see any damage. But just to be cautious, you could put the posts closer together than usual for added strength. Also, it's better to use limestone in the post holes rather than cement to decrease heaving and rotting of the posts.
-
Got it...good tips, thanks!