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Cedar is a very beautiful wood. With its many unique properties and fine character, the wood is used for a variety of projects, construction, and even interior design. Cedar is a perfect timber for you who are going to set up facade panels, put up railings, a background wall with a cedar theme, a sauna panel, or build a fence. With each board of Cedar and its unique properties, your projects get fantastic results. In this article, we will be talking about Cedar split rail fencing and why it is a preferred choice. Let us dive into details.
Cedar lasts a lot longer than other kinds of wood fences and cedar split rail fences promise to be durable. The reason for its durability is the natural oils that make the wood stronger as it is able to resist decay and insect attacks, increasing its strength. The beauty about a cedar split rail fence is that the wood is stable and there is minimal shrinkage when it is used to build a fence. This means that your cedar fence will stay sturdy and strong for a long time. The oils in the wood assist with its protection.
Wash your cedar fence and use a sealant
When a cedar fence does start to look grimy and faded, some people believe in giving the fence a good pressure wash. They make use of a wide spray nozzle and spray the wood clean.
Once the cedar dries, they apply a coat of sealant and they repeat this. They make use of a sealant every couple of years to maximize the results and this sealant always contains a UV protector.
There Is Always Help With Erecting A Cedar Split Rail Fence
With regular cleaning and good maintenance, your cedar split rail fence has the means to look good from the day that it was installed. The times when you require any kind of help with knowing how to build a strong fence, how to install it properly, and how to maintain it, there are split rail fence experts ready to help you.
Those who appreciate a good-looking fence admire a cedar split rail fence with its beautiful rustic looks. In fact, in a complicated world, it is the basic design of the fence with obstructed views with just 2 or 3 rails that make the cedar split rail fence so appealing.
Most people appreciate the aesthetic beauty and value of good wood. If you know wood, you will know that not all types are good for the outdoors. You have to look at things such as rot resistance. It is not good investing in a wood that warps and rots within a year or two. Cedar makes an excellent choice for a split rail fence.
Cedar Has Natural, Protective Oils
The reason for this is that it has natural oils inside that deter insects. Further, cedar is also rot-resistant, and these aspects simply give the wood a longer lifespan compared to other types of wood. Cedar is a wood that is easy to treat. Treating it with a wood finish can prevent it also from losing its vibrant color with weathering and general wear and tear.
Treating A Cedar Fence Acts To Its Longevity
Cedar split rail fences can generally last 25 to 30 years but if you treat the wood and maintain it well you can certainly make it stronger and make it last longer. There are people who use raw cedar or pine for their split-rail fences.
Their exposure to different temperatures, the sun, and rain can cause them to deteriorate before their time. For longevity purposes, you need to treat it properly to protect it from further weather damage.
Painting or staining your wood fence can certainly help it to last longer. They will extend the life of your fence and protect it from insects, the weather, and general wear, and tear.
Prepare The Wood’s Surface
To stain cedar so as to help it keep its natural look, you will need to prepare the surface by sanding the wood to roughen the surface somewhat. This ensures that the wood stain will adhere to the wood’s surface. It is best to apply a stain that is specifically used for cedarwood and that will penetrate deep into the grains of the wood.
Applying sealant on the cedar will give it extra protection as it repels moisture and also protects the wood from the sun’s UV rays.
How To Build A Cedar Split Rail Fence?
The split rail fence is most often seen in farming areas. It is a decorative fence and it is excellent for marking off different boundaries. The reason it is more popularly seen in rural areas as opposed to properties in the city is that because of its open style, it does not do well for privacy.
Made from cedar logs, the cedar split rail fence can be shaped differently but always the actual construction remains attractively simple. But how do you ensure that you are building a strong cedar split rail fence that will stand up to the ravages of extreme weather conditions?
The posts which are evenly spaced apart will have notches or mortises in them and the rails then fit into the mortises. You do not require any fasteners. Split rail fences that are made out of cedar timber logs can give your property the most wonderful appearance.
Traditional free-standing split rail fences are the ones that you usually see for agricultural fencing. As mentioned, these are usually built without nails or any other kind of hardware. These mortised fences are the other most popular form of split rail fence. The split rails are placed into notched posts.
Split Rail Fence Gate
Cedar is the ideal material to make a split rail fence gate to go with your cedar split rail fence. Some people even like the idea of a split rail fence gate with other kinds of fencing too.
Your split rail cedar fence, unless you intend just climbing over it every time, will require a gate to go along with it. Look at your fence because the kind of fence you have will be a guide to the type of gate you want.
To build your split rail fence gate will require you to have a measuring tape and sort out the length of your wood poles. The last thing you want is a whole lot of irregular-sized poles and rails.
There will also be the part where you have to attach a latch to the gate. If you do not have all the materials and equip[ment for your split rail fence gate, there are gates for a cedar fence available in different openings and stocked in leading warehouses. Some of the gates will be pressure treated. You can also talk to experts in the different lumber yards as to whether you want a pressure-treated ate as they tend to sag due to their heaviness.
Differences In Appearance And Costs With Cedar And Pine
As always, the price of the split rail fence will vary widely. It depends on the quality of wood you use. People are always comparing pine with cedar. In fact, pressure-treated cedar and pine are the usual woods to use for fencing. Each wood has its own unique advantages.
Some people who just can’t decide, even use both kinds of wood. There are differences in appearance, with cedar being a more reddish color with pine being lighter. When it comes to looks, you could say that cedar is the more attractive wood.
There is no doubt that pine is a popular softwood choice and it can also be stained and painted. Cedar is also a softwood but it is generally more resistant to weather conditions without treatments. It makes cedar a popular choice for outdoor usage. When it comes to a split rail fence, both pine and cedar are used. Those looking for a more affordable fencing option will go with pine.
Cedar is more expensive than pressure-treated pine. For a pine fence, you will be looking at roughly $12 to $20 a linear foot. For a cedar fence, the price will be roughly $20 to $35 per linear foot. Cedar is most certainly thought to be more durable than pine and where a pine fence may last you 12 to 15 years a cedar split rail fence can last up to 3 decades.
Of course, the posts can come in different sizes and shapes, but generally, they stand about 4 feet in height. The rails are generally about 8 to 10 feet in length. Those people who want to keep with the rustic simplicity of a cedar split rail fence like to install the posts with either gravel or concrete footings.
Other people do not like to use concrete for the posts in case the posts need to be replaced for whatever reason.
Check Out Fencing Regulations In Your Area
If you are going to be installing your own cedar split rail fence, there is plenty of information online on how to do it. If you want a cedar split rail fence in the suburbs, there will inevitably be certain regulations regarding the fence.
When you live in a city, there are always zoning laws and local restrictions as to what you can and can’t do. They want the fence to be installed a certain distance from the road and pavement, to comply with certain standards in terms of size and looks.
Some complexes would not allow you to just put up any fence you like. With a property survey, you can indicate where your split rail fence will go.
Once you have established where you want your fence to go you can hand the survey into the local building department and file a permit. Once you know that you can go ahead with your cedar split rail fence, you will need to drive stakes into the ground to establish where you will be installing your fence.
You want to measure the distance between each post to ensure the fence looks consistent and not all haphazard. When it comes to the posts, each post needs to be marked from the bottom end so that the height of each post is the same.
Once all the posts have been marked you can lay a post next to all of the holes you have already dug. Once all the posts are in, the next step is installing the rails. It is simply a case of sliding the rails into the slots that appear on the posts. It can be immensely rewarding placing the rails and looking at your completed job. This is a fence that will last for many years.
A Sought After Classic, Traditional American Fence
The cedar split rail fence to this day is still sought after as a traditional American style of fencing. While they are essentially used for farm-style fences, many homes in the suburbs like to use these cedar split rail fences around the back yard perimeter.
Get The Max Lifespan With Your Cedar Fence
Cedar is a good choice for a split rail fence and there is a lot of information on how to build a strong fence, how to treat the wood, and how to maintain the fence so that you get the maximum lifespan from it.
Those who are experts on cedar fences will tell you to stain and seal your cedar fence to make it strong and durable, have a maintenance plan in place for the fence and wash it from time to time.
A build-up of dirt makes it difficult to treat and it also encourages insect infestations. Once you have built your strong cedar split rail fence, you can say that a key part of ensuring its strength and longevity is the staining and sealing part.
Anything that you are unsure about can be queried at a lumber yard where you can get expert guidance on how to build your beautiful, classic American cedar split rail fence.
