Replacing the backyard gate

Andrew had been all over me for about six months to find someone to fix the gate.  The boards were rotted and it was on it's way to falling apart.  We had a really bad wind storm one night and when I walked outside the next morning I saw one of the boards had fallen off.  It feels impossible to find someone to call you back or not rip you off.  I had decided I could fix the gate and thus my mission began.

Big Craig was here for the weekend and we had talked pretty extensively about how to go about fixing it.  He immediately found the tools and took the gate apart.  Then no one gave the gate two thoughts the rest of the weekend.  And then he left.  He left me with a deconstructed rotten gate.  Now I had to fix it.  Game on. 

I went to Menards b/c going to Lowe's was a mind-numbing experience where no one can really help you.  The employee I found to help me at Menards had me hooked up with the correct boards within 30 seconds. It was glorious.  I came home and laid the new boards next to the old boards and used that as my template.  In the end I realized this may not have been the best method but it worked perfectly this time around. 

 My neighbor came by and snapped some pictures of me in action :)

I was pretty stinking proud of myself.   

 The hinges I put on even lined up with the posts. I think this is when I realized that using the old gate as a template might not have been the most intelligent idea. We have a gate now and all is well again. Next summer I plan on doing some projects with the pressure washer I bought at Menards!!