Build a two-tone picket fence

Skill - 2/5

Time - 3 days

 

Make your own pickets using 65 x 19mm treated pine, adding a gothic profile with a holesaw and mitresaw. They’re made into panels by securing onto 1405mm long rails, with 15 pickets each panel leaving 30mm spaces between them plus 5mm clearance on the ends.

Make and paint the panels in the workshop and leave them to dry then secure to in-ground posts using 200 x 70mm galvanised plates and 50mm x 10g treated pine screws.

 

Use a mitresaw to cut the pickets to length then clamp two at a time and use a 50mm holesaw to cut the decorative semicircles below the points at the top.

 

 Use a mitresaw to cut the picket points. Cut the rails to 1405mm long and position pickets at the ends, securing with a 50mm x 8g treated pine screw at each joint. Check for square then secure with another offset screw through each joint.

 

Cut two 40mm spacers from offcuts to set out the pickets, positioning them on the rails and securing with two offset treated pine screws at each joint. Apply tinted primer to the entire panel then apply two coats of exterior acrylic.