Advice on closing gaps after cedar install
Hi all,
I solo DIY’d this horizontal cedar fence on my property late last summer/fall, but had to abruptly hit pause when my son needed surgery out of state. Thankfully he’s doing well now, and I’m finally getting back to finishing the project. Unfortunately, leaving the fence unfinished through the winter created a few issues I’m now trying to fix.
The original plan was to add 1” vertical supports down the center of each panel, plus matching trim pieces on each end where the cedar meets the steel posts. My hope was that those vertical supports would help keep the boards aligned and minimize warping/gaps over time. I managed to finish two panels with the center supports installed, and those still look great. The rest, though, are definitely showing some warping and uneven gaps now.
I’ve thought about backing out the screws, using long clamps to pull everything tight again, and then immediately installing the vertical supports. But it’s pretty labor intensive and would require a lot of access from the neighbor’s side, and that’s not the easiest situation to navigate.
For those of you with more fence building experience, what would you try here to help snug things back up and reduce the warping/gaps? It doesn’t need to be perfect, but I spent a ton of time during install carefully clamping each board tight so the spacing would age more uniformly, and I’d love to salvage as much of that as I can.
Appreciate any advice you can share!
First photo is mostly finished side showing the center supports I got in before I had to quit work. Second photo is the showing the warping/gaps that developed over winter on the unsupported sections, which has affected all panels to some degree.
I’ll note that stain hasn’t happened yet, which hasn’t helped, so once I address this issue, each panel will be treated.