# Attaching wood fence to house



## TheCowGod (Mar 14, 2012)

Well, I read that it's best not to attach a fence to a house since it tends to move differently from the house and can pull away from it, and also to minimize putting holes in the side of the house and allowing moisture in. So I chose the first option. Does my design with angled supports look sturdy enough? In particular the bottom one, having to hang down from above, makes me wonder. I guess it'll only have to hold the weight of 2-4 pickets, so my guess is it'll be fine, but I'd like to know if you guys have any better ideas. Thanks.

Dan


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## troubleseeker (Sep 25, 2006)

Do not attach to the house at all. The fence should be held 2" away to prevent creating a hidden access for insects(termites).

If you lay the horizontal runners on the flat as per your sketch, they are going to sag like crazy, even with a shorter than 96" span as you propose.


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## sublime2 (Mar 21, 2012)

troubleseeker said:


> If you lay the horizontal runners on the flat as per your sketch, they are going to sag like crazy, even with a shorter than 96" span as you propose.


Without a doubt.
Maybe add support(vert. 2x4) in the center for each row?


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## AtlanticWBConst. (May 12, 2006)

troubleseeker said:


> Do not attach to the house at all. The fence should be held 2" away to prevent creating a hidden access for insects(termites).....


This ^^

Never Attach a fence, or even a railing, directly to a house, unless you like to replace large amounts of rotted and possibly infested siding, substrate and other materials.


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## TheCowGod (Mar 14, 2012)

sublime2 said:


> Without a doubt.
> Maybe add support(vert. 2x4) in the center for each row?


I was worried about those rails on their side. Since I'm doing alternatig pickets, I need the width of the rails to match the width of the posts. What if, instead of three rails consisting of one 2x4 lying down each, I used two rails, with each consisting of two 2x4's mounted upright, with the half inch or so space between them that puts them flush with the sides of the posts? The strongest, of course would be three rails of two 2x4's each, but that would bring me from three boards per span up to six, and that's a pretty significant cost increase. Doing two rails of two boards each only brings me up to four boards per span, which I can handle. Would that be strong enough, though? Thanks.

Dan


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