Old fence boards in bulk: useful?

Jackson Landers · April 17, 2008, 02:44:19 PM

I live right next door to a massive equestrian estate. They are replacing all of their 3 board fencing at the moment and all of the old boards are stacked neatly in enormous piles that I presume are destined for the dump. I've been considering going over there and asking whether they'd like to get rid of them for free by dropping them off at my place rather than paying to take them to the dump.

It seems to me that this stuff could make decent clapboard siding by buzzing off any rot at the ends and maybe running one edge of each board through a table saw to make a 10 degree drip edge. A day's work cleaning up the wood.

Any opinions on this? Are typical 3 board fence rails of sufficient width to make good siding? I've never messed with siding before so I have no idea whether this stuff would work. I'm hoping to be able to use this material on both my 10x18 workshop (currently underway) and the 20x30 2 story (starting that one this summer).

Are these pieces of wood good for anything else in the way of residential construction?

muldoon · April 17, 2008, 03:48:15 PM

hobby work or side business is what came to mind for me... easy money, especially with free materials.

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/brentlinger53.html

April 17, 2008, 04:08:52 PM

Alot would depend on the condition and type of wood. Is a reason they are taking it down. If it has out lived it's usefullness then chances are you would be wasting your time. If they are changing a design for a new and improved maybe it might be good to look into.

Jackson Landers · April 17, 2008, 04:34:16 PM

Redoverfarm,

The wood looks pretty sound.

Understand that this is an estate that last sold for around $24 million. It's this place: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Hill_(Virginia)

It was built by Thomas Jefferson's physician. Ben Affleck was supposedly in negotiation to buy it last year, although I think that fell through. The owners have ridiculous amounts of money. On a whim, they decide that the old fence looks, well, old. So they have several miles of new fence built. Just like that. They aren't particularly concerned about whether the wood is still sound or not. The cost of a whole new fence versus scraping and painting the old one is absolutely meaningless to them.

They're good neighbors, though.

MountainDon · April 17, 2008, 04:38:51 PM

I'd want to latch on to a bunch if it was in fair to better shape. I've used some for odds and ends like a generator cover. I'd like more, but VA is too far a drive from NM. If you are going for a rustic look you could probably use some for skirting around the foundation at the very least. $:-\$

April 17, 2008, 04:48:58 PM

Jackson did they replace it with vinyle fence. Alot of the horse farms are going for that now. Low maintenance. Albemarle that is near Charlottsville. You missed out on a good building material auction at Fishersville the 1st of February. Me and Peternap went. The outfit that has it is PB Auction. They will be having anoher in the fall there at the Expo Center. I have went to about 8 of their auctions and never left empty handed. They are having one at Lewisburg at the State Fair Grounds on this Sat & Sun. Might check their calender after June for the fall sales at http://www.pbauctions.com/.

mvk · April 17, 2008, 05:18:17 PM

It's in good shape? Do you live in the country ,have a place to store it, will it be a eye sore for wife, neighbor's, do you care? I would love to have it, chicken coops, out buildings, concrete forms if not siding. There are people who could use it inside and make it look great I'm sure. WOW!
Mike

Homegrown Tomatoes · April 18, 2008, 06:39:55 AM

Quote from: Redoverfarm on April 17, 2008, 04:48:58 PM
Jackson did they replace it with vinyle fence. Alot of the horse farms are going for that now. Low maintenance. Albemarle that is near Charlottsville. You missed out on a good building material auction at Fishersville the 1st of February. Me and Peternap went. The outfit that has it is PB Auction. They will be having anoher in the fall there at the Expo Center. I have went to about 8 of their auctions and never left empty handed. They are having one at Lewisburg at the State Fair Grounds on this Sat & Sun. Might check their calender after June for the fall sales at http://www.pbauctions.com/.

You know, the vinyl fence does look pretty, but have you ever seen one after a good grass fire?

They just flop to the ground in a molten puddle... not a chance of surviving, whereas the wood fences may survive charred but still intact if the fire blows past fast enough. Sorry... a little off topic. If they were my neighbors, I'd ask. I'm sure it has some usefulness left of some sort.

glenn kangiser · April 18, 2008, 08:20:42 AM

I pushed on a vinyl fence to check it, and I don't see how it will keep a horse in unless it's a good horse and just wants to stay in. hmm

April 18, 2008, 09:31:14 AM

No, they're replacing a wooden fence with a wooden fence. The only difference seems to be that the new fence has the posts closer together.

Most of the fields that these fences are around have not been doing anything except making hay. No horses or livestock in them. So my theory at the moment is that these old fences were put up just to look pretty and maybe they're looking to put actual horses or cattle in there now. Which could require a stronger fence with the posts spaced closer together to prevent a big animal from leaning on it and breaking the rails.

I can't make that auction this weekend, unfortunately. I am without a pickup truck at the moment (yeah I know. Don't rub it in). I could get there but couldn't bring much of anything home in my car. I need to work on the roof and get this thing dried in anyhow.

We have plenty of room for random piles of whatever out here. I can store that wood for years with no worries. I think I'm gonna go over there tomorrow morning and see what they'd be willing to let me have.

Say; I wonder if I could use it for flooring if I ran the edges through a table saw first?

Homegrown Tomatoes · April 18, 2008, 10:29:12 AM

Why not? I've seen people finish interior walls with stuff like old barn wood, etc. In fact, my dad did that in his big addition to his house... he didn't use it to panel the walls, but he used old barn wood to trim out the interior and then he hung old farming implements and tools as decor. I think it looks great. You could use it for something like wainscotting, too.

Willy · April 18, 2008, 12:05:56 PM

Quote from: Homegrown Tomatoes on April 18, 2008, 06:39:55 AM
Quote from: Redoverfarm on April 17, 2008, 04:48:58 PM
Jackson did they replace it with vinyle fence. Alot of the horse farms are going for that now. Low maintenance. Albemarle that is near Charlottsville. You missed out on a good building material auction at Fishersville the 1st of February. Me and Peternap went. The outfit that has it is PB Auction. They will be having anoher in the fall there at the Expo Center. I have went to about 8 of their auctions and never left empty handed. They are having one at Lewisburg at the State Fair Grounds on this Sat & Sun. Might check their calender after June for the fall sales at http://www.pbauctions.com/.
You know, the vinyl fence does look pretty, but have you ever seen one after a good grass fire? They just flop to the ground in a molten puddle... not a chance of surviving, whereas the wood fences may survive charred but still intact if the fire blows past fast enough. Sorry... a little off topic. If they were my neighbors, I'd ask. I'm sure it has some usefulness left of some sort.

I have 1800 ft of vinyl 3 rail ranch fence on my place to keep the cows and horses in. I have seen cows go over it and get hung up on the rail and the rail take the load till they got off it. I also have had bulls go thru the fence and just pop the rails out. I just poped them back in. If it had been wood the rails would have busted up or posibley ran sharp jagged points into the animal. The only fence that can stand up to livestock sorta is 1/2" steel cable, 3" steel pipe, 3-4 inch thick by 12 inch rails ect and they injure the animal instead. I had 30+ of my 40 acres burn in a wildfire and only 30 ft of my fence was damaged. The fire just went under it and did no damage at all. I keep it mowed under and near my fences. NOW I did have several corner posts made of wood and railroad ties burn and keep burning till they were gone. PVC Fencing will go out as soon as the fire is out near them and it takes a fire on it for a while to make it burn, it self extingwishes as soon as the flame is removed. Now wood as soon as it gets lit it continious to burn. If you have tall dry grass around a PVC fence it can heat it up till it bends over but a wood fence will just catch on fire in the process also. I have had my White PVC Fence up for 12 years and had to replace 2 broken rails so far and it looks like new still. If it had been wood I would have had to paint it many times to keep it looking this nice and probley had to re/nail the rails, replace lots of broken ones, replaced lots of chewed on rails ect. Animals don't chew on the pvc fences and also don't get the satifaction of scratching on it like they do wood which can push off rails and break them. I have to do nothing to my PVC fence to maintain it and the wood ones I have up are being weathered by the sun and starting to split at the nail joints even being treated wood.

This is just part of the 12 year old PVC fence in front of my lake on my place. I did bust a post off at the bottom when I snaged it with my rear blade on the tractor when I got it stuck in the snow tring to get hay into this pasture. The post is still broken in this picture but the fence is solid enought till I get around to pulling it out and replacing it sometime. Mark

Even with harsh winters it holds up fine. The seasons here take a toll on wood from sub zero temps and snow to high heat and dring sun all summer.

Redoverfarm · April 18, 2008, 03:01:34 PM

Willy if you have a loading chute or bull pen I have found the best thing to use is used guard rail. It sort of rings when they kick it. Won't go through it though.

Willy · April 18, 2008, 03:17:01 PM

Quote from: Redoverfarm on April 18, 2008, 03:01:34 PM
Willy if you have a loading chute or bull pen I have found the best thing to use is used guard rail. It sort of rings when they kick it. Won't go through it though.

We have a steel squeez chute along with steel panels to funnel them with. We have found if you hand raise the bull it is easier to deal with later but when a cow is in heat all bets are off! Gaurd rails are nice for stopping bulls or cows. Mark