How long to build a standard 6' wood privacy fence (150 linear feet)?

Question

I've heard this is very hard work (at least digging the holes -- even with an auger). I don't have much free time. I'm a hard worker with an average build, lilly white skin, a few callouses on my hands, and some muscle and I have about 8 hours per week to dedicate to the task. Will I have my privacy by the end of the year (6 months or so)?

Answer 1

A few tips in building, invented by me several decades ago.  1. It is okay to make the posts a little short of 8' apart, but not a little longer than 8' apart.

2. If you get taller posts, you can put a sacrificial board on the bottom and the whole thing will last another decade longer than you would think.  The bottom is what rots out first, and will easily crack if hit.  Put a 2X 8-10-12, whatever you can afford along the bottom.  Bevel the top edge  30* on your table saw, but leave a little ledge for the boards to sit on.  This will allow the water to run off so it won't penetrate and rot it out.  It will also be able to withstand the digging some dogs will give it, or the whip on a weedeater, lawn mower, etc.  You can sculpt this to fit the lay of the land also, like around rocks, or dips in the soil.  Use a jig saw to cut it out.

3.  An old solid wood door with a cupola above it makes an awesome gate.  Cupola protects it from the rain or snow.  I found a great one in the trash at an office building.  Didn't know what I would do with it when I got it, but it sure was good looking when I hung it, and I got lots of compliments.  I just used taller posts flanking the gate, so the cupola would be higher.  It was a simple gable end about 3' wider than the gate, and supported by brackets.

4. Dig a few post holes a day, after work, and it won't seem so hard.  Soak the soil first to soften it.  If you do four holes a day, it won't take too long.  Set the posts before you go to bed.  Then on Saturday, you can build a section of the fence and feel like you have accomplished something.  By the second week, you will be such a pro that you will be able to dig at least 6 more holes by the end of the day, plus the fence you will have up. If you start at the back, you can hide your mistakes more easily, and then watch your progress from the house.

If you have a friend who can help for a day or two, rent the augur and do all the holes you can in one or two days.  Have it all staked out and marked first.  Some rental places will let you have it for a one day price if you take it after noon on Saturday.  That gives you 1 1/2 days to dig a lot of holes, but it is exhausting.  If you have more than one friend, invite them over to try out their manly muscles and drink a few beers.  Just remember to return the favor when they need help.  Have a cookout when you are through, and invite the neighbors whose view you are blocking!  Good fences make good neighbors, as our friend Robert Frost used to say.

Answer 2

if you work at it, you can get it done in 2 mnths at least...you can get whole sections already done, all you have to do is...put up the posts (in quickcrete) and then the cross posts...then nail up the sections...(ask at Lowes or Home Depot..they have classes) or save yourself some time, effort and sun damage...pay someone to do it for you...(can cost from $1500-$6000 for different fences)

Answer 3

hire someone to do it

Answer 4

we had ours professionally done it only took them 2 days  and we have a huge backyard

Answer 5

You can change your physique in a few days.  While augers sound nice, regardless of whether you are using a one man or two man auger, if it hits rock or roots, they can throw you off the machine.  I suggest that you use a clamshell post hole digger - more work, much safer, but you have to watch your feet if you are not used to one.  

Put the post 8 feet apart on centers.  That means that the center of one pole from other should be 8 feet.  Go to a hardware or home store and purchase a post level.  This will be a plastic thingy with two levels on it, one showing level, the other plumb.  they have to be plumb.  Use either Cedar, treated, or cypress post, they r****d rocks and insects.  

I don't recommend refilling the hole with either dirt or cement.  I use a pea gravel, small pea gravel.  Dirt will loosen in dry weather and tightening them up is not easy.  Cement is hydrophillic, which means it will gather water into it and that will cause some post to rot earlier.  Consider the pea gravel somewhat fluid.  That is as the ground retracts, the peas will fill the new space and thereby keep the post tight in the ground.  You can fill to about 3/4 of the depth and then backfill with dirt.  

The most important tool you can have in putting the fence boards up is a level.  Each upright has to be level, so as you put the first board in level, separate the second board from the first with a ten penny nail, perhaps a bit smaller will work, and level the second one.  Use either electroplated galvanized nails or aluminum nails to ensure that you will not get black lines down the boards when your nails rust.  If you use screws, get galvinized, and make them long enough so that there is about 3/4 inch in the 2x4 runners.  

Since I put in fences in a matter of a day or so by myself, you should have it up within six months if you apply yourself.  

Get a book on it.

Answer 6

You can definately do it.  Home depot can Help, LOL!

OK, seriously, get a buddy, rent an auger with a 8" bit(yes, 8" bit for your 4x4 fence.  You'll see later.), dig holes every 8' along you new fence line.  You'll be done in an hour, but ready to kick back.  Return the auger and buy your buddy dinner and a few beers.

Next time you pass your local home improvement store, pick up enough 4x4x8 posts and enough sacks of concrete to put a sack in each hole.  Also get marking stakes (cheap, 1x2x24 approx.) to hold the posts upright (4 per post and a few extras since they break) and a 5# box of junky screws.  More about that later.  If you don't have a truck, rent theirs! It's like $20 bucks for a hour or so.  Twenty bucks beats messing up your car.  Drop those off the truck along the line, where you need them IE, 1 post/sack at each hole.  Return the truck.

Come back to the worksite the same day or the next if you're sure there will be no dew or rain to solidify your concrete prematurely.  put a post in the hole, dump the concrete in around it (no, it won't fill the hole, likely, that's fine.) and now we use the stakes.  s***w one to one side, and one to the next abutting side (not opposite each other, but 90 degrees from each other.  Next we pound it two more stakes alongside the stakes nailed into the post..  The goal is to get the posts level via your trusty level, then once levelled, s***w the free ends of the markers together, holding the post in a fixed position, exactly level.  Now you can add water and go to the next post.

Since the posts and the concrete are right by each hole, you shouldn't need more than a day to set the posts.

Once the concrete is hard in 24 hours or so, you can backfill the dirt and stomp it in around the base of the posts.  an hour or so.  Then remove the braces and chuck 'em.  another hour...  Easy day.

Next go back to your box store of choice and buy the fence sections pre-made along with some hangers and GOOD screws.  Use the cheap ones here and your nice fence will be rusty and ugly in months.  Hangers are metal clips that hold the fence on.  Rent the truck to bring the stuff home.  Why not do it in one trip?  Wife'll carp about you finishing the job less if there's not a pile of lumber in your yard to look at.  So get the clips and the panels and like before, drop off the panels by the fence, return the truck.  This day isn't over yet, so go install the hangers as per the instructions.  Really easy...

Next work day get a buddy, lift the fence panels up and slide them down into the hangers.  Put a s***w in each hanger and move on to the next panel.  When they're all done you can and must go back and s***w in the other screws, but your buddy can either go home or have a cold one and watch you finish up

Next, you'll want to stain it.  Anything at all will ruin the grass, so tarp the grass and spray whatever stain you like from a cheap 2 gallon pump-sprayer.  You'll get the hang of it quickly, and it's only a fence, not furniture, so who cares, or will even notice, if it's not perfect.  When you've done the fence, both sides if you're after protection, chuck the sprayer.  Cheaper then renting one, and much faster than spending your whole day painting.

You're done.  Perhaps pick up some dirt/rocks you've left and get rid of it, but for all intents and purposes, it's over.

If you want to build the panels yourself, you can, but it's just not worth it financially.

Clean up at the end of each day.  It really does save time.  And it makes for less complaining an that 98 degree day when you really don't want to go out.

Good luck!

Answer 7

I can do it by myself in 2 days..and I'm not a spring chicken..I am 52 years old..and this is by digging by hand diggers..but i have all sand here...The average cost here in North Florida for this fence is 13.00 A running foot them furnishing materials

Answer 8

Mexicans could do it in 1 hour

Answer 9

most definitely...the post holes is the hardest part, but an auger does make it much quicker.  Also, you may need a friend to help you put the to rail up, but not necessarily  good luck

Answer 10

Layout and the setting of posts will require the most time. About 24 posts at least 24 inches deep with concrete by hand, with help, probably about 8 hours. Then the rest if ya work fast and know what you are doing with help another 8 to 16 hours.

Answer 11

i wish you had said what type of soil you have where you live, sandy, rocky, clay, or a combination of two or more. are there a lot of trees along the line where you are planning to build this fence, i.e. roots? also, you don't want to 'wet down' clay, you'll break your back digging it if it's wet. if it's rocky, you'll have a whole lot of trouble, even with an auger. and i never liked the idea of cementing in the posts, that holds moisture in, which is why they rot. you're better off making the post holes about an extra 6" deep and the hole 4-6" wider than the posts, and setting them in and on gravel, then they will drain and last longer. you put 6" of gravel in the hole, then place the post in, center it, then fill in a shovel full on each side, packing it down with a piece of 2X4 or the head of a sledge hammer  until the hole is full, pack it down again, then fill to above grade. if you ever do have one of the posts break or rot, it will be easier to replace, you'll just make the hole larger, and use more gravel. it took me two days to put in 50' of 6' stockade fencing, after running into three roots and one boulder that took another two days to remove. good luck, it's gonna be hard work.