Given the dilapidated condition of the house next door (which is about 3 feet from the fence) I could understand the homeowner's need for a taller privacy fence.

This skinny lumber will cause some problems when I need to install my framed lattice.

On The Fence Post:

• I set the circular saw depth to half of the width of the 4x4 post, about 1¾ inches.
• I marked the bottom of the notch about 10 inches down from the top of the post.
• I made the bottom cut by cutting horizontally across the post.
• I made two vertical cuts with the circular saw. This is somewhat risky, so I kept a good solid grasp on the saw. Eye protection is necessary.

Other Notch Cutting Methods:

• A series of 1¾ inch deep cuts could be made across the face of the 4x4, then the remaining wood could be chipped away with a chisel. The resulting face would be rough and may require some smoothing with a chisel or block plane.
• A reciprocating saw could be used instead of a circular saw, but this is not as accurate or as fast. But a reciprocating saw would probably be safer, especially if reaching the top of the post was difficult.
• The old-fashioned way: A hand saw.

Using a half-dozen 1¼" Simpson Strong-Drive screws, I attached two tie plates to the lower end of the post extender.

But... I positioned this extension about one-quarter of an inch farther from the fence. (The red arrow points to the small "ledge" exposed by this set-back).

This should give me enough room to squeeze the framed lattice panel between the post and the fence boards.

Warning:

• This method of using tie plates to join posts together is for light-duty connections only.
• Do not use this method for any deck posts or load-bearing structure (unless approved by a building inspector).
• Test the connection before proceeding, by pushing and pulling on the post.
• If the connection appears loose, add more screws to the tie plates, or add more tie plates, or use longer tie plates, or use a different method.
• I would not recommend using nails on connections near the end of the board because nails tend to make the wood split when used close to the ends.

I later discovered that a table saw is not the best method for cutting lattice.

Another way to cut this groove would be to use a straight-flute bit. But when a straight-flute bit is used to cut a groove, the wood chips cannot easily disperse, so the groove often becomes packed with debris.

I made the short boards 25¼" long, as measured on the long dimension of the mitered board.

I cut the long boards about 1/8 inch shorter than 96 inches.

Deviations:

In carpentry it's often the little variations of dimensions that cause the most grief. My experience has taught me to be prepared for imperfect spacing of things, structures that are not plumb or level, and stuff that is out-of-square.

I measured the spacing of the original fence posts, and they were all about 8 feet on center. The original fence panels were all very close to 8 feet long, and there were no gaps between adjacent panels. But I knew I couldn't expect a row of exactly 8-foot long panels to fit side by side. If the extended posts were actually closer than my measurements, then I would need to trim material off the sides of some panels, which would be a chore. If the posts were farther apart than 8 feet, I would have a small gap between panels, which I could easily cover with a thin strip of wood.

It's this type of analysis that makes carpentry go more smoothly:

• "If I'm wrong and my material is too long, then I'll have to solve it by ..." and
• "If I'm wrong and my material is too short, then I'll need to do ..."

and realizing that an error in one direction can be much easier to solve than an error in the other direction.

I chose 93¾" as the length of the lattice. That should leave some room for expansion.

It turns out that the jig saw is probably the best tool for cutting lattice. When sliding these sheets through the table saw, the ends of the slats often snagged on things, which really slowed down the cutting.

Tip: when sanding the edges, move the sanding block in one direction only... the direction that the angled slats are "pointing". (That would be towards the camera in the photo.) Otherwise the sandpaper will get torn on the sharp ends of the slats.

This was not easy. Many slats got caught on the groove edge, preventing the lattice from seating in the groove. I had to hold the lattice upright with one hand while pushing and pulling on the slats to see which were holding it up.

Having a helper here would be a good idea.

The Secret Weapon:

After struggling with the first assembly, where the lattice kept falling out of the frame boards, I got wise and used some 12" cable ties to keep the lattice firmly seated in the groove.

Then I drove in 2" stainless steel deck screws to hold the corner together.

Near the middle of each long board I drove two or three 1¼" brad nails. These were driven close to the edge so they would go into the lattice slats.

Afterwards the long boards were much less flexible.

These were surprisingly light and strong.

By propping the screen panel upright I was able to easily paint them with my airless paint sprayer.

Wagner's instructions have several good tips for spray painting, more than I can address in this article.

Capping It Off:

I made this cap board from 1x6 cedar that I ripped into 1x3's and routed with a 3/8" roundover bit.

I installed these 8-foot long boards so each piece covered a joint between adjacent screen panels, to help tie the panels together. The ends of these cap boards were always in the middle of the screen panels.