Dont wait for anything but good weather to put the finish on an outdoor project. Finish will not help the normal factory pannel fence job last any longer than it would with out it because the stringers are not weather resistent lumber. Quality outdoor finish has uv,water,and mildew protection provided. Using them is a one step deal. I use TWP 100 series. www.wooddefender.com and www.woodrich-brand.com sell quality outdoor finish as well. If you are using factory pannels and want to try to extend the life,use one of the above and soak the area where the stringers are in contact with the pickets...a couple of times... then place the finish on the whole pannel. JonMon www.deckmastersllc.com

18 years old,that project was done with CCA mateial. Buy now and you will get acq material the life of said is no place near the cca stuff, in fact no one has any idea on what the life span of even .40 acq will be. I do know when I cut into acq the center is still yellow the preasure treatment looks like spray paint. CCA never did this. Composite material on the hype scale is hmmmmm around 10 points with #1 being no hype at all. Ipe is 0 hype or #1 on the hype scale. Will a high $ ipe deck last 20 years with a acq.40 frame under it ? Now that is a hype question. It has nothing to do with ipe, everything to do with the green mafia pushing big money into an area they knew nothing about. Then drifing on over to the wine/pasta bar after calling jane fonda on the cell in Carmel and asking how the grilled shirmp was. I have a Wallet over here with a 20 year old pt cca project fairly big one,same kinda thing splits,splenters, but hey!! the thing still stands and dont look all that bad in a realative sort of way. I did some replacement,very cool ipe benches with allum balusters, couple of coats of twp finish,braced up the tiled bar,things like that. Tina is good for another 20 with some upkeep and furture replacement of the decking but I cant see any problem with the frame. J

Try perforating the paper with a sharp point - like an awl. Then dust with chaulk - if you have an old eraser that would work even better. After this "connect the dots" with a pencil. Do a test first. Another option would be make a copy of the plan, cut-out the pieces and trace around them. Personally, I would rethink the PT wood. It splinters badly and this characteristic will cause following the line with a saw to be difficult. Also may make playing with the puzzle not so fun. If you are not going to leave the puzzle outdoors in the weather, consider a nice piece of birch or maple plywood. Otherwise, upgrade to pine or poplar though getting wide enough wood may be difficult. Hope this helps, have fun.

@millworkman thank you so much for taking the time to read my novels and offer your expertise. I am breathing a sigh of relief that at least the frame is ok. We spoke with the owner and he agreed the deck was not up to par. We pointed out a number of issues with the decking and he is going to redo it as well as the railings and won't be using brackets. I think the fascia looks bad but he said it only comes in 8' lengths and I also thought it looked like plywood. What material would typically be used for the fascia? He was trying to pass the buck to my husband and I a little bit with the choice of materials such as on the posts. When we got his quote it was much higher than the others so we asked where we could shave down costs (and I'm sure negotiation is pretty typical) he said he could get wood from HD. He was defending the use of the crappy posts since that's what HD had and that really ticked me off. If he had just come to me and said the 4x4 selection is not up to par I would have authorized additional costs for him to source them from another retailer.