Pickets

After a couple visitors recently missed our entrance we thought we'd best make it stand out more. The make-over included moving the gate 3 meters further into our property, giving us more room to get off the road when opening the gate - especially handy when dragging the trailer around.  We also upgraded to a wider, 14 foot gate and galvanised posts.

Front entrance

There's still some fine tuning needed to smooth out a couple of humps and the old fence posts are yet to be removed... but it's nearly finished.  After the front gate went so well we figured we were on a roll so we did the eastern house gate as well.

I kept track of the time involved (and I now know why no-one else around here has a white picket fence.)

Hours below exclude installing the posts and swinging the gates:

• Front entrance
• number of pickets - 110
• paint pickets - 28 hrs
• install pickets -  17 hrs
• install rails - 7 hrs
• paint rails - 5 hrs
• sand pickets - 5 hrs
• shape tops - 3 hrs 
• average = 59 minutes/picket
• House gate
• number of pickets - 60
• paint pickets - 9 hrs
• install pickets - 9 hrs
• install rails - 2 hrs
• paint rails - 2 hrs
• sand pickets - 2 hrs
• shape tops - 1 hrs
• average = 42 minutes/picket

Two things I discovered:

1. Things always take longer than I think they will. (I did already know that.)
2. I do get quicker as I go. (Thankfully.)

Rolex and the eastern gate

The phone's home

I picked up our 1950s telephone box from a friend of Mum's last century for the princely some of $20. After repairs it become somewhat of a local landmark on the front lawn of our Canberra home.  But we couldn't leave it behind, it was destined to be part of the Pemberley landscape. 

I don't know how much a phone box weighs, but the glass is 1/4 inch thick and much of the timber is hardwood.  The roof is galvanised sheet tin and the ceiling is 1/2 inch thick lining boards.  But despite the kilos, getting it on and off the truck was simply a case of manpower.

However, repairing it required a bit more effort.


Looking a bit sad after the long trip and a couple of decades between makeovers.

I repaired and repainted as much as I could before we stood it up.
(Somehow a red phone box doesn't look right in white.)

The bottom of the door and walls needed new timber and reglazing.

Friends, family and the 1948 Fergie all helped to stand it back up.

Rolex is very happy with the final result.