View Single Post
  #7   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
aemeijers aemeijers is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,149
Default Fence Rails: 2 or 3?

RicodJour wrote:
On May 11, 6:02 pm, mm wrote:
With a rail fence, three rails will each bear as much load as the two
rails would,


Each? Not quite - each rail in a three rail fence will only have to
take 2/3 of the load on a rail in a two rail fence.

and the load on the posts will be 50% higher.


The only difference is the weight of the rail and the additional
fasteners. Not sure where you get the load difference numbers.

R


Nobody else said it, so I will- how tall is the damn fence? For a short
fence, 2 rails may be fine, but for a traditional 6-foot privacy fence,
we always used 3. We also usually used alternating-side pickets with an
overlap, so some wind could still blow through. Plus, that way, no
arguments about who gets the pretty side.

--
aem sends...