Am I the only one who had a neighbor give the worst advice on fixing a fence?

Honestly, this was last spring when I was replacing a busted section of my backyard fence off 45th. My neighbor, Bob, comes over, watches me for a minute, and says, 'You know, you don't need those concrete footings. Just bury the post and pack the dirt real tight, it'll hold.' I was using a proper bag of Quikrete. I told him the wind out here would knock it over in a year, but he just shrugged and said, 'Suit yourself, but you're wasting fifty bucks.' Fast forward to this March, his whole fence line is leaning like a drunk sailor after that last big storm. Mine's solid. It just stuck with me how confident he was giving such bad advice. Has anyone else had a neighbor try to talk them out of doing a repair the right way?

3 comments

3 Comments

willowg882mo ago

My uncle tried to tell me to use old motor oil as a wood stain for a deck. It was a disaster. Stick with your concrete, it's worth the extra time and money for something that lasts.

sean_green442mo agoTop Commenter

Feel for you, @willowg88, that sounds like a huge mess to clean up. Some of those old-school shortcuts just aren't worth the trouble. You're right to stick with the proper materials.

aaron_mitchell2mo ago

Got a neighbor like that too. He told me to just nail loose deck boards back down instead of replacing the rotten joists underneath. Ended up costing me double when the whole thing got spongy. Like @willowg88 said, the right materials matter. Concrete footings are non-negotiable for a fence around here. Bob's leaning fence is all the proof you need.