Looking at adding a shadow box style fence to my yard. The home center has premade 8′ panels with this style.
I’m having some trouble on a couple things with panels.
First, what’s the preferred method of fastening these to the posts? It seems like the fastest way would be face nail each of the sections on the post. However, this would only allow each of rails about 1 1/2″ of overlap on the post, which doesn’t seem very strong. Would adding some additional Strong-Tie like brackets help? Or is there a better way? (The panels I need don’t come with tenons)
The other issue is one “wall” of the fence needs to be 10′. I’m not sure how to deal with this as the panels are only 8′. I’d like to avoid cutting down a larger panel, but can do this if needed.
Any info or thoughts on this stuff would be greatly appreciated.
Edited 4/23/2009 6:53 pm ET by Corrib
Replies
Corrib,
Is this project still in the design phase? Have the posts been installed yet?
Pictures of the panel product (or a more thorough description) would help, too.
Good call. Still just in the design phase. The panels I'm looking at are treated and 6'tall by 8' long. They are a shadowbox style with dog-eared pickets. The pickets are nailed to three horizontal rails. They look pretty similar to this:
http://fencesbydesign.com/fc2fence/images/Your_Uploaded_Images/603444300134shadowpanel.jpg
Corrib,
A common way to attach the rails to the posts is with these Simpson FB24 connectors:
View Image
You can also "toe nail" with 3" outdoor screws.
If you're buying prefab panels, space the posts accordingly so that you won't have to cut the panels down, etc.
As far as the 10' section goes, You might just want to build up your own section for that (assuming the color match, etc., will be satisfactory). The only other thing I could think of would be to put a post at midspan (creating two 5-foot spans), cut down two 8-foot panels to fit, and discard the waste.