You have a pretty good plan. Some suggestions however.

On the posts you install consider using galvanized pipe. They make
galvanized brackets to attach the rails. These will not rust or rot. If
you don't like the pipe idea, use pressure treated lumber or redwood.

If you use lumber, be sure to cut some kind of angle on the top so water
won't stand and rot the posts. When you set the posts in cement slope the
top of the cement so water drains away.

Make sure your pickets are spaced up a bit if they stand in dirt or on the
cement walkway the ends will rot.

if you use pressure treated lumber for the posts, use stainless fasteners.
The new stuff they treat the wood with will eat anything else.

If the span length is a problem, you can add truss rods from the top of the
post to the middle of the bottom rail and then tighten the turn buckle to
take out the sag.

Use hot dip galvanized nails to attach the pickets. The ring shank or screw
type hold better than common or box nails.

For 260 feet of fence consider renting or buying a nail gun.

Make a jig to hold the picket and space it properly to save you the trouble
of placing each picket and making sure it is plumb.

For your rails bevel the top edge away from the pickets so water does not
settle in between the picket and the rail.

Select carefully the lumber you make the rails from. You don't want the
rail to be cut from the center section of the tree. The straighter the end
grain is, the less twist you will have.
--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.



"Flash" wrote in message
news:_aGxd.1314$Y57.69@trnddc08...
or is it an error?

the previous owner built kind of a ragtag fence around the front yard.
it's about 260 ft. of fence.

the fence is built with 4x4 posts set into concrete, probably done in
the early 1970's. the rails are 2x4" (double). the fence pickets are 3'
tall, 1/4" x 1" W. very thin--most are broken or missing. some of the
rails are mounted flat, some vertical--not sure why. many of the flatted
rails have bowed terribly and come loose from the posts (no brackets,
all simple nailed).

questions:

my plan is to replace the loose posts (about 3 out of 30 are slightly
loose) then add new fence rails where they have bowed, hang all fence
rails vertically, use brackets on the ends (rather than just nails), and
use 7-1/2"x3/4"x3' cedar pickets as fill, with some space inbetween.

the 4x4x4ft. posts have 32" above ground and are spaced at 10'. from
what i have read, most people space at 8' or less.

comments? my biggest concern is whether or not i should respace the
posts down to 8 ft.

am in california desert in very stable, dry clay soil.