I finally understood why my dad always used a string line after a job in Austin.

We were putting up a long cedar fence on a slope, and I figured I could just eyeball the posts. Halfway through, the homeowner came out and said, 'Looks a bit like a rollercoaster from my kitchen window.' I had to pull three posts and start over with a proper line. How do you guys handle long runs on uneven ground to keep things straight?

3 comments

3 Comments

beth5531mo ago

Tell me about the slope, was it a steady grade or did it have a couple of weird dips in it? I'm trying to picture if you needed to step the fence or just follow the contour.

nguyen.thomas1mo ago

Oh man, @beth553, it was totally uneven. There were a few of those weird dips you mentioned, like little gullies. We had to step the fence in two spots for sure.

skylerb151mo ago

Yeah, that's a classic case of "it looked straight from here." Been there. I always run a line, but on a slope like that, I'll set a level post at the top and bottom first, then string between them. Sounds like what you and @nguyen.thomas had to do after the fact.