The fence in my back yard was already half collapsed when I bought my house last year. I figured I'd take care of it eventually, but this winter when a wind storm came through it went from one section already on the ground with two more halfway there to four sections (around thirty feet) down.
There were lots of old rusty nails sticking out all over the place in a spot right next to my daughter's playground, so I decided I'd better do something about that. Without a truck readily available, I decided I'd just remove all the nails from the lumber and make a pile of it somewhere until I had an opportunity to take it down to the wood recycling place.
As I was pounding nails out of boards, I realized that a lot of the pickets, posts and stringers, while not in great shape at the top or bottom, were in relatively good condition for most of their lengths. After disassembling a couple of sections of fence I had a pretty good pile of cedar that, while not any good for building furniture or houses out of or anything like that, were still solid enough that the idea of just sending them away to be chipped and mulched kind of grated on me.
My mind began to churn, what could I build out of all that still perfectly serviceable wood? I later on decided I'd rebuild that entire fence and pulled down even more boards, until the pile got really big. I settled on structures for my garden, and this instructable was born!
There were lots of old rusty nails sticking out all over the place in a spot right next to my daughter's playground, so I decided I'd better do something about that. Without a truck readily available, I decided I'd just remove all the nails from the lumber and make a pile of it somewhere until I had an opportunity to take it down to the wood recycling place.
As I was pounding nails out of boards, I realized that a lot of the pickets, posts and stringers, while not in great shape at the top or bottom, were in relatively good condition for most of their lengths. After disassembling a couple of sections of fence I had a pretty good pile of cedar that, while not any good for building furniture or houses out of or anything like that, were still solid enough that the idea of just sending them away to be chipped and mulched kind of grated on me.
My mind began to churn, what could I build out of all that still perfectly serviceable wood? I later on decided I'd rebuild that entire fence and pulled down even more boards, until the pile got really big. I settled on structures for my garden, and this instructable was born!
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Signing UpStep 1: Get some old wood
Old beat up lumber is actually very easy to find. As I mentioned, I got most of mine from the old fence in my back yard, but I sourced some 2x6's from a couple of other places. My dad had several redwood 2x6's from an old barn (I think) that he offered to bring me. Also, a coworker had torn down part of his house to make way for new construction, so I spent a profitable morning with a sledge hammer pounding fir 2x6's out of what used to be his roof. I thought if I needed more lumber I might use pallets or even put up an ad on craigslist offering to remove someone's old fence in exchange for the boards, but those sources weren't needed this time. I've still got plenty of wood in the pile next to my shed!
In addition to the wood you'll need:
Woodworking tools (tablesaw, circular saw, drill, etc)
Hammer (and an anvil if you have one)
Tape measure
Pliers
Square
Level
Pry bar
Eye and ear protection
You'll most likely need some wood glue and maybe some more nails, but you'll get a lot of those from the next step.
In addition to the wood you'll need:
Woodworking tools (tablesaw, circular saw, drill, etc)
Hammer (and an anvil if you have one)
Tape measure
Pliers
Square
Level
Pry bar
Eye and ear protection
You'll most likely need some wood glue and maybe some more nails, but you'll get a lot of those from the next step.
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Here's a tip if you ever do your square boxes again: since you chose to double the siding, a stronger joint would be to build with a single layer first- and overlap at the corners like you did with the 2x6's. Then put on the second layer, and overlap the corners the opposite way. See below:
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For the scrap and rotted wood leftover, look into huegalculture! -it will make nice black loam.
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Its WAY Better than FarmVille on FaceBook cause you actually get something for your labor.
Then you have something nice every year to work on.
GOD I wish I had a yard !
I give you a 5.0 -
The picture is of the 8 raised beds I made from the neighbor's fence - a huge pile of cedar 1x8s, 2x4s and 4x4s. They had to fit in the only sunny corner of the garden, hence the funny shape.
The other two are a treehouse and a pirate-style treasure chest, both made from the same fence. And there's still some left over - a couple of hundred feet of 6' high fence goes a long way, all right.
My fence was in worse condition than yours, I think--I also wish they'd been using 1x8's instead of 5/8x4's when they built my fence. If they had I could have planed down the lumber, and I suspect creations would have looked nicer.
Thanks for sharing, there's a patch on the way! Also, please vote for me in the garden contest!
...this one would probably have my vote
What green stuff did you treat them with? I'd be very interested in finding a way to extend the life of my beds.
Thanks for the comment SinAmos, and please vote for me in the garden contest!
most wood preservatives are highly poisonous and or cancer causing.
better to replace the bedding boards every few years than to make yourself sick.
otherwise a very good instructable.