Gaining Space...

Back when the kids were little, the challenge of finding space for everything was a daily battle. We seemed to have legos, action figures and, remote control cars stored in every nook and cranny in the house. Now that the boys are older, "toys" are getting bigger, and we simply have more stuff.  We find ourselves looking for more storage space again. 

Building a fence between our property and the neighbors seemed like a great solution. Not only would we gain some privacy for the boys' bedroom windows - the homebuilder clearly wasn't thinking when he designed a set of bedroom windows DIRECTLY across from another set of bedroom windows, but we would also gain some valuable storage space for bikes, kayaks, and such. 

After weeks of waiting for a permit, and reviewing all our options, we decided on the vinyl fencing from the local Lowes. While it was a bit more than wood, the vinyl lasts much longer, won't need much maintenance, and won't be susceptible to termites, dry rot, etc. 

Dear hubby estimated two or three weekends for the project, and he was spot on. One weekend of digging for the fence posts proved to be insufficient, even with the aid of a rental auger and jackhammer. And to think, I set out to dig the holes with a fencepost digger - Arizona 'caliche' dirt is nearly impossible to penetrate without the aid of an auger. 

After several small mishaps and re-digging some of the holes, we finally started to see the fence taking shape. 

At the end of day two, we were all tired and needed a rest. We closed up shop for the weekend and planned for weekend two of more digging, and filling the post holes with concrete. On our second round with the tool rental, we managed to get an auger that didn't have enough power, so we resorted to using the jackhammer to cut through the dirt and make the remaining post holes. At the end of day four, we had a fence!

The last part of the project was installing the artificial turf, and removing the old gate. This proved to be far easier than we anticipated - thank goodness! 

Now, on to the next project!