On Aug 31, 8:22*am, stan wrote:
On Aug 31, 12:58*pm, fftt wrote:



On Aug 31, 1:12*am, mm wrote:

A neighbor has a stockade fence, with pickets about 3 inches wide.

It's been in 5 or 7 years and it's easily possible to see between the
pickets into his yard. *It wast very difficult to see anything when
the fence was new.

Does that mean the fence was built with pickets that hadn't been aged
enough before construction???? * Have the boards shrunk more than they
should have??

A friend likes the fence otherwise and wants to hire the same company,
but I think she may get an inferior job, if this fence is inferior.

All wood shrinks or grows as it loses or gains moisture.....its the
nature of the material.

But shrinkage varies considerably from species to species. * *Denser
woods generally shrink more than lighter woods.
I use the following numbers for rough estimates.......

about 8% tangential shrinkage, 4% radial shrinkage, and 0.1%
longitudinal shrinkage from the green to oven dry condition.

Or if I'm working in framing construction with DF, * I tell people to
use 1/28th (.036") of an inch per inch cross grain

So a 5.5" fence board will shirnk about .2" green to dry (well at
least in SoCal). *Considering unevenness in the boards what were
butted, you can still get about 1/4" gap. *

T&G or board & batten would eliminate gaps

But IMO a more important consideration is screw material......in my
area, fence permits yield not much oversight. * *I see a LOT of
permitted fences getting screws that are too short & rust in a year or
two badly streaking the fence boards.

SS screws are more expensive but make all the difference.

cheers
Bob

Nobody using galvanized nails these days?????????
Had to change some PT 2 by 8 deck-boards on our deck recently due to
water drips causing limited rot and used screws for the new boards.
But the 25+ year old 3 inch and 4 inch hot galvanised nails were
holding well and not rusted; even in this maritime climate.
So nail away. As my late father in law, who had worked building US
bases in Newfoundland, Labrador and Greenland used to
say .................. "I want to see at least two or three nails in
each match (T&G) board"!
The T&G felt and tarred roof on his own still standing house must be
over 100 years old now!

Old hot dipped galvanized nails are a whole different animal than the
crap typically available today.

If the material & your labor is worth anything...use SS siding nails
or screws.

cheers
Bob