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Shoutout to the old guy who insisted on using a string line for every single post
I thought it was a waste of time on a simple 50-foot vinyl run until I saw his fence was perfectly straight and mine had a visible wave after the third panel.
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taylor9296mo ago
Man, I have the opposite take. For a short vinyl run like that, I just set the first post perfect and use the panels themselves as a guide. As long as you keep the gaps right and check for plumb as you go, it comes out straight. That string line feels like overkill for a small job and just slows you down.
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sage_lewis106mo ago
My old foreman always said a string line was for the first post and the last post, nothing in between. I read a piece in Fine Homebuilding years ago that broke down the math on how a tiny error on your second panel gets worse with each one. For a ten foot run, sure, you can eyeball it like taylor929 says. But I saw a guy try that on a twenty foot fence and by the end he was almost an inch out. The string is just insurance.
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james_clark5mo ago
Used to eyeball it myself until a deck project went sideways. That string line is cheap insurance against a mistake you can't fix later.
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