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Just realized everyone's setting posts wrong on slopes
I was on a job last week in Greenville and noticed three different crews sinking their line posts straight down on a 15 degree grade. That leaves a huge gap under the bottom rail and the whole fence looks crooked. I watched an old timer show me you gotta step the posts down the slope, keeping the tops level but letting the bottom follow the ground. Has anyone else caught this mistake on their own sites?
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david_adams4mo ago
That bit about "stepping the posts down the slope" is exactly right. I've seen too many fences where the top rail looks like a roller coaster because they tried to level each post individually. You just gotta keep the tops in a straight line and let the posts step down naturally. It's a small detail but it makes or breaks the whole look.
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mary6144mo ago
Did you ever see that old This Old House episode where Norm Abram talked about marking a string line down the slope before setting any posts? @david_adams it's the same principle you're describing. You just snap a line from the top of the first post to the top of the last one and let the others find their own height. I remember him saying something like "the eye will forgive a slight step but never a wave in the rail." That stuck with me.
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