Building and Installing a Wood Picket Fence

Dear Tim, What is the proper method of bracing a wooden gate to prevent (delay) it from sagging (assuming only one will be used vs. the X bracing). I was taught by my father that the proper bracing should be from the bottom hinge side corner to the top diagonally opposite corner. But, lately I've seen several articles with pictures showing these braces in exactly the opposite direction. Is one preferable?

thanks,
Wil

I recently had a wood fence built and it turned out great however the fence post are too tall; what is the best method to cut the fence post and still preserve the quality and professional look.

snap a level chalk line at the desired height and chainsaw the tops off

I am building a 6' fence. The terrain is on a slight downgrade. I want to put a gate on this grade. I do I handle putting a gate on a slight grade?

What is the best way to attached the pickets, nails, screws? Would it be best to use stainless steel nails or what about brass neails?

I have one post that is not flush with the rail to install as my property is not a perfect square. What is the best way to get the rail (lapjoint)to set flush? HD sold me a true angle to shave some of the rail but i am unsure how to use the true angle. thanks, Hollie

I am building a 30 foot fence. I need like a 7 foot gate to roll my boat through. any ideas on what type to build. Should i make one large gate or two smaler gates that swing into each other?

I'm re-building a wood privacy fence, about 320'ft. Almost all of the fence will drop slighly on a down grade as I build it. What is the best method of building the fence or how should I proceed ? Last what is the rule for spacing the 2"x4"x8' boards when there are three going horizontal?

do not pretreat your fence... your wood needs to weather

ok... for the 2x4 spacing... do 8" from the ground and 8" from the top of your fence and put the other one in the middle.

make your fence roll with the grade, this looks way better than anything else. I've built hundreds of fences and this is almost always the case.

for the 7 foot gate make 2 3.5' gates with drop rods... don't try to make a 7 foot fence out of wood this will almost always fail... one thing I do sometimes is install one or two panells with screws so it can easily be removed for such things

set all your posts in concrete especially if you live in a climate where things freeze and thaw a lot.