Graveyard Fence Update

We built our original PVC fence in 2000. In 2001 we built some more sections and learned more about the right and wrong ways to do this...

So, let's talk some more about "graveyard fence"...

Painting
What color is that paint?
Cost
How Does It Age?
Tips
Related Pages

Painting

Painting the fence is one of the most time-consuming parts of the job, and it takes a lot of paint. It's not unusual for people to search for ways to improve this process.

One of the folks on the Halloween e-mail list suggested painting all the parts before assembly.

[photo] This is looking pretty good: the parts can be positioned close to each other, so that paint wasted via overspray is dramatically reduced.

Lay the pieces out; spray; let dry; rotate; spray the next side.

In this configuration, you can spray 1/3 of the exposed surfaces at a time.

It always seems to take us two coats of base paint, plus one top coat. We decided to do the base coats this way, and spray on the top coat after assembly.

Unfortunately, much of that paint got scraped off when when we put the pieces together. One is tempted to say "drill the holes bigger", but if you do that, the sloppy tolerances lead to a weaker fence.

We're still searching for a better way to paint this kind of stuff.

What color is that paint?

Last year we decided that the vast quantity of spray paint required would be rather pricy, so we came up with a solution. The base coats use the cheapest, rotgut spray paint that we could find. It is gray, but not quite the shade we ultimately wanted. The idea was to kill the stark white of the PVC, and get the color mostly there. And then do the final coat with the more expensive stuff that looks exactly like we want.

This was done, with the final coat being a flat gray primer.

This year we used the same brands of paint for both base coats and top coat as we had used before. But the final fence came out much lighter.

We suspect that the lesson is: primer is intended by the manufacturer to be painted over. The exact color matters little to them, so they pay less attention to that. Or, as David put it, "Primer isn't spec'ed for color."

Cost

In 2001, we made three more 8-foot sections of fence. This makes approximately 24' of additional fence.

The following pricing information is from Home Depot in Cypress, Orange County, CA (11 August, 2001).

quantity material unit
price extended
price

6 1x2 furring strips, appearance grade $.85 $5.10

18 10', 1/2" PVC pipe, sched 40 $.99 $17.82

2 10', 1/2" rebar $1.35 $2.70

4 cans cheap gray spray paint $1.88 $7.52

2 cans nice gray spray paint $? $?

TOTAL $?

Plus tax, damn it!

We had enough leftovers around the house that we didn't need to buy skull whistles, hot-melt glue, screws, etc.

How Does It Age?

[This section written while setting up for Halloween 2004.]

The fence sections look impressive, but aren't really very strong. The strength of the furring strips is compromised by drilling a bunch of big holes in it! Every tiny imperfection in the wood might lead to problems in the future.

[photo] This crack in the middle of a furring strip happened at a place with a knot. While selecting wood, we probably noticed the knot, noticed that it was tight, and figured that it would not be a problem. We were wrong.

No matter how solid the knot looks, it is a weak spot, just waiting to break.

[photo] This is an end of a section, where we either stick it into a pillar, or bind it to the next section by dropping in a post.

[photo] Every place that you drill a hole for a piece of PVC, you are reducing the strength of the wood.

Tips

[This section written while setting up for Halloween 2004.]

Use the tightest possible fit when drilling holes for the PVC uprights.

Wood shrinks as it ages. When inspecting 4-year-old fence sections, it seems that the PVC is not as tight in the furring strips as it was when built. It seems that the wood has shrunken away from the holes.

Making the original fit tight helps keep the fence from falling apart later.

Make the connecting holes larger.

In our original instructions, we suggested making the holes at the end of each section a little larger to make it easy to drop in a PVC upright to hold them together. We still think that this is a good idea.

Move connecting holes in a little.

One of the fence sections has broken off the end of the furring strip, where the connecting hole goes. Wherever the furring strips are drilled becomes a weak point, because the holes are pretty large. Holes drilled close to the end are probably even worse.

Our original plans called for drilling the connecting holes centered 3/4" from the end. At the least, they should be a full inch in.

Make sure that your furring strips are perfect!

Two sections of fence have cracked in the middle and needed repair. One crack was at a very small knot in the wood.

The skull head whistles don't stick to the PVC that well.
Every year, we find a few skull heads that are loose and need to be reglued. We are still searching for a really effective adhesive.
We previously listed some glues to avoid. Here's why:
- super glue - Will probably stick to PVC, but not skulls; poor gap-filler; expensive in quantity.
- white glue - Doesn't stick to plastic.
- epoxy - Will probably stick to PVC, but not skulls; bit of a bother to mix and use.
The hot-melt glue method can work, but it takes a lot of glue. [Dennis likes to squirt some inside the PVC pipe, squish it around using the nozzle of the glue gun, squirt a lot on the whistle, and shove in the whistle while turning. David uses less glue and his skull heads tend to come loose more often. But the fact is - no matter how you use the hot glue, the method is not perfect. Even when the skulls are tightly attached, they seem to come loose over time. Dennis has a theory that the half-life of skulls attached with hot-glue is 6 years. The weak part of the attachment is the bond with the PVC pipe - hot glue sticks well to the skull whistles.]
[We have heard about people who squirt some expanding foam into the skulls, then pop them on the pipe. The foam fills the heads and keeps them from getting crushed, as well as gluing in the piece. We are a little skeptical of this, because although expanding foam is incredibly sticky, it isn't very strong.]
Paint doesn't stick well to the skull head whistles.
Ordinary spray paint doesn't stick well to the plastic whistles. It looks OK, but the even slight mechanical stress, like leaning a fence section against a real wall, can flake off the faint.
Krylon Fusion paint would probably work well, but it is expensive and only available in gloss colors. It might make a good primer for the skulls.
Reconsider the PVC pipe.
Some people use thinner PVC pipe - for a cheaper and lighter fence. We like Schedule 40 because it is stronger.
Given the pain involved in painting the PVC, it might be a good idea to use plastic electrical conduit instead. It is usually made from gray plastic.
Stagger the height of each section?
When we made both batches of fence sections, we built half of the sections with both furring strips mounted a bit higher. When you put sections together, we try to use one of the high and one of the low sections. They connect nicely.
But, honestly, it doesn't make that much of a difference when putting the pieces together. There is enough flex in the furring strips that - even if they are the same height, you can push one up a little, and one down a little.

Please see our other pages on PVC fences:

basic construction
update [this page]

Please see our other pages on fence columns:

Thank you for visiting. Your comments are welcome.
. . . . . .

quantity	material	unit price	extended price
6	1x2 furring strips, appearance grade	$.85	$5.10
18	10', 1/2" PVC pipe, sched 40	$.99	$17.82
2	10', 1/2" rebar	$1.35	$2.70
4 cans	cheap gray spray paint	$1.88	$7.52
2 cans	nice gray spray paint	$?	$?
	TOTAL		$?