Graveyard Fence

This post is about one of my projects from last year.  I actually made a small graveyard fence two years ago.  It was quite honestly a disaster.  I tried to use 1x2's and drill holes that were too big for the wood and too small for my PVC pipe to fit into.  I ended up cutting the wood in half and screwing it back together around the PVC and still had to use an entire container of Liquid Nails and it still completely fell apart.  Besides the fact that I'm still not sure how I made it stand up, I think it was carefully leaning against my house and some of the tombstones, I ran out of spray paint, so depending on the angle you looked at it, it was still white.  It went straight into the dumpster when Halloween was over.  The disaster that it was in 2010 made me determined to make a really awesome fence for 2011.  

I have four 7 foot sections of fence that I connect with 4x4 stone look alike posts.  The distance across my front yard is about 32 feet from my mailbox to this little stone trimmed garden that I really want to remove, but just haven't gotten around to yet.  I connect two of the sections together and have two fences with a space in the middle.  I had every intention last year of making an archway, but I realized it was much more likely to fall over. It can get really windy in Texas...straight line winds.  I lose things often.  And if it storms...that's really not good.  So keeping fence up, definitely a good idea. 

I do want to apologize in advance for my lack of step by step pictures.  This was an old project.

Supplies for one fence section:

- 1" PVC pipe - 5 pieces @10' each (cut down to 14 pieces at 40 inches each)

- 4" PVC pipe - 1 piece @ 10' (will make the circles for all the fence sections, but cut into approximately 1 1/2 inch pieces)

- 3 - 1x3 @ 8 ft (both cut down to 7 ft)

- 1 - 4x4 post @ 8 ft (2 pieces at 45" each)

- 1 - 2x8 (4 pieces at same length as width of board, approximately 32 inches)

- 1 1/4" exterior screws (you will need 42 for this one section)

- Hot glue gun and glue sticks to go with it

- Black Spray Paint (Flat Finish)

- Beige-y Spray Paint

- Stone Spray Paint 

- Corner brackets (4 are needed for one fence section, screws usually come with brackets)

- PVC fence finials (I found them here for 28 cents each, but shipping was just as much as they were, but they make the fence)

  Making this fence is very time consuming and honestly, was a giant pain, but it was seriously worth it.  People think it's wrought iron, especially in pictures, but it's PVC and wood spray painted black.  But if it is made correctly it should really last.  Something else to keep in mind, you have to store it if you're going to keep it.  It disassembles back into the 7 foot sections.  I have mine against the walls in my garage.  Two on each side.  So even on the really narrow side next to my car, I'm able to fit 2.  It's really only as wide as the 1x3.  I had thought about putting hooks on the walls to keep them up higher, but I still don't think more than 2 would fit width wise easily.  It's also just under 4 feet high, so you could just stack 2 high in a standard 8 foot section.  Also by them being 7 feet wide they will fit tall ways in a standard 8 foot ceiling easily.

Okay, now that I've given you the warning that you only want to make this if you have the time energy and a place to keep it, here's the how to.

First is to cut the three 1x3's down to the size of your section.  I chose 7 feet.  After they are cut down to size you have to drill the holes for all the poles.  Of course before you can drill, you have to measure.  The holes on mine are not quite perfectly spaced, but it works out to be about 6 inches from center to center.  I recommend drawing and measuring it out several times.  But you have to have your poles at least 4.5 inches apart in order to fit the big circles in.

Now for the most time consuming part, drilling all those lovely holes.  I went through 2 drill bits to make all these holes.  I clamped together the 3 pieces of wood so that the holes would line up.  I had to actually use my corded drill instead of my cordless drill because the cordless just didn't have enough power to bore 1 1/4" holes through three 1x3's at once.  Here is my drilling set up.  

Yes, this is my living room.  Yes, I made a ginormous mess in my living room with saw dust.  I think there may still be some sawdust stuck in those blinds a year later.  I don't really recommend working in your living room, but it was hot.  I started making these in July last year.  It was pretty much the hottest and driest summer I've ever experienced in my life, so air conditioning was a mess for this completely frustrating task.

So once all those holes are drilled (14 per section...so just multiply that by the number of sections.) And figure out how long that is going to take you.  I really had forgotten about the sheer amount of time I spent drilling holes, so the end product is worth it.  But going back and thinking...it's not an easy breezy project.

So once all those holes are drilled, the hard part is done.  PVC comes in 10 foot sections at my local home improvement store, so I'm guessing it does in most.  I don't do a lot of plumbing.  The poles are the 1" PVC.  To make it simple I just cut each post into 3 equal pieces, so that works out to be 40 inches each.  This really doesn't have to be perfect, but it all just depends on your level of perfectionistism.  

Next you cut your 4" PVC pipe into sections about an 1 1/2" wide.  I used my miter saw to do this.  I didn't clamp it down just very carefully held on.  I cut the big 10' piece in half, just to make it easier to work with and then cut the rings out. You will need 13 of them for this one fence section.

Once you have all your 1" PVC pieces cut, then you basically just thread them through the three 1x3's.  I don't have pictures of these step by step parts, so hopefully my overly wordy explanations work.  Basically the bottom one is about 6 inches from the bottom and the top one is about 6 inches from the top.  The middle one is about 4 1/2 inches from the top 1x3.  The best thing is to get the top one in place and clamp it.  Then put a 1 1/4 inch exterior screw through the 1x3 straight into the 1' PVC pipe.  Once you have the top one in place, space the bottom one and screw it in place.  It helps to flip the entire thing over so that you can reach to screw it in easier.  Once you have the top and bottom in place, you can do the middle 1x3.  Use the 4" PVC pipes to space it.  You want it to be tight, but still be able to get the 4" pieces inside the squares easily.  

Once all the 1x3's are in place and every 1" PVC piece is screwed into all 3 of the 1x3's, then it's time to put all the 4" circles in their places.  I did this with just hot glue.  I have the big industrial strength glue gun.   It doesn't really matter if you have chunks of glue, it takes spray paint well.

After it's all assembled it's ready for paint.  It takes a lot of spray paint to get all sides.  The PVC is totally weather resistant, the wood is probably not, so you are going to want to get 100% coverage on at least the wood.  Any black spray paint should work, but a matte finish will give it that wrought iron look.

After it's painted, I just hot glued the little finials on the top.  They do tend to break off a little easily while assembling or moving.  But I didn't have any fall off while it was just standing there.  So the hot glue holds up to wind and rain (okay, I don't know about the rain, it didn't do too much of that) but it doesn't hold up to too many bumps.  My fences are in my garage and putting them away, I think I only knocked off too.


Now the columns.  

The middle part of the column is a 4x4 cut down to 45 inches.  You need two of these for a section, but you only need 3 for 2 sections.  It's a good idea to draw it out and figure out what you will need.  I have 6 columns for 4 fence sections because I have a hole in the middle of my fence.

The tops and bottoms are just 2x8 cut to be the same width and length.  All 2x8's are just a little bit different in width depending on where you buy them.  Mine were 7 1/4 inches.  I used 3 inch screws to attach to the top and bottom.  Exterior screws are a good idea.

I painted a base coat with a beigey color and then used a second coat of a beige stone paint.  It gives the wood column a much more graveyard stoney feel.  

Now, assembly.  The little corner bracket things are the easiest way to attach.  They come in a package of 2 or more and even come with the little screws.  It's easiest to attach the brackets to the fence side and then clamp the fence in place to attach to the poles.  

How you want your fence to stand...that depends on where you are putting it.  Mine was on somewhat uneven grass.  So I used rhebar as nails basically.  I drilled large holes in the bottoms of the "stone" posts.  If you put them in the back, you can't see them from the front, but at least you know it won't fall over.  And it gets pretty windy and mine did not fall over once.  And my outdoor decorations are up for probably just over a month.

I think the graveyard fence is my favorite part of my Halloween display, but it might just be all the labor behind it that makes me happy of how it came out.

I was playing with my camera with some different angles and settings.  I am still learning how to use all the functions a year later.  So I'm hoping to get some better shots.