2014-2015: THE LATHROP FENCE RESTORATION

Here are some photographs and notes about the Lathrop Cast Iron Fence Restoration.

• GETTING APPROVALS
• First we pitched our project to the Historic Resources Advisory Board (HRAC).
• Then we got further approval from the Redwood City Council.
• FIGURING OUT HOW TO ACTUALLY DO IT
• Then we tried to figure out how to pay for it.
• Then we got a grant!
• GETTING THE POSTS
• Larry repaired all the old posts that were reasonable to repair. There were 6 good ones.
• We found a similar post on the web and ordered one. It looked pretty good!
• So we ordered more of that style of post, and Larry modified them to look even more similar to the old ones.
• Chris painted them white.
• THE FENCE FOUNDATION
• The Parks Department repositioned and set the fence foundation for us!
• THE PANELS
• We hired Ridge Foundry to make a panel pattern out of old fence pieces. They did this, and then made two "test" panels for us to see. It was BEAUTIFUL.
• When Ridge finished with the pattern, we ordered the panels. In July 2015 we picked up the panels.

  Here we are at Ridge Foundry, picking up the Panel Castings and Pattern. We were very pleased that the panels were already loaded and secured on a pallet. A Ridge employee loaded them into Chris's Van. Here are the panels sitting nicely in the Van. I have to say the van sunk down quite a bit with the weight of the panels. Note the pattern is propped up on the left. Here is a closeup of the top of the Panels pile. Aren't they beautiful? We drove back to San Carlos no problem. Here is Chris driving a forklift, unloading the pallet of panels. The forklift didn't fit in the storage room, so he had to put them down and then PUSH them in.

• We will paint our panels.
• We will attach the the posts to the foundation!
• We will build the fence! We will position where the panels go, affix the bars to the posts, drill the holes in the panels and bars, and attach the panels to the bars. We will touch up any paint issues.
• MAKING THE OLD SECTION OF FENCE
• Then we will find/purchase a strong mesh to attach the old fence pieces to.
• We will "jig saw puzzle" the old pieces into panels as best we can.
• We will attach it to the strong mesh.
• We will hang the strong mesh between the bars
• MAKING THE INFO SIGN
• Then we will take the last piece of granite foundation to Fontana's.
• They polish it up and print our "info" message into it.
• We Will bring it back and place it near the old fence section.