need an opinion on some fencing (1 Viewer)

[Philip_G]

This might be kind of long... but here goes.

I stopped by my mudpit-to-be-house today to find they've laid out the forms for the foundation, YAY. Now I'm pondering my fencing options. I want to erect (heh heh, he said erect /butthead) a typical 8 foot cedar privacy fence to keep my puppies in and the neighbors from see what a shitty gardener and lazy slob I am.

so, the pink box is the property line, the black box the house outline. Now, the builder seems to be putting up a short little privacy fence connecting the houses to each other, probably to hide the fact that it's not landscaped beyond that line, but this "fence" is noted by the blue line from the house to the property line.

so I'm trying to decide if I should connect that fence, and run all the way back and across, connecting to the other side (red line) or if I should come out off the corner of the house, over to the property line and around to the other corner (blue-boxish thing)

the houses are so close together that fencing the area between the houses is useless, and fencing is expensive.
But if I don't connect up there I'll just have to install my own gate somewhere, maybe two. not that it's a huge deal. I dunno... For reference the back of the house to the property line is only about 20 feet, perhaps a bit less, I don't know the width, it was too muddy to pace.

 

[Julian Reville]

Damn, Philip, 8 feet! ; I settled for 6 ft. You must really want privacy.

I did my own fencing, a little bit every evening and on weekends, so it spread the cost out. And pressure treated pine/soft-wood is a LOT cheaper than cedar.

If I were you, I would fence in every last square foot that was legally mine.

 

[Philip_G]

People use pine? For the whole thing or just the posts? I hadn't even thought of that.

Good fences make good neighbors.

 

[Patrick_S]

I don't like either of your ideas. I would definitely put the fence all the way to the property line.

I'm kind of envious that you can build up to 8 feet. In my community six feet is the max.

 

[Philip_G]

Well, what I'd LIKE and what the HOA will APPROVE may indeed be two different things.
consider the pink box the edge of the nehbors houses. it's probably easier that way and consider the property line in the middle, I didn't draw the picture exactly right.


The house behind me is 3 stories and on a hill, so they can see right into my windows, the taller the fence the better imo.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I agree with fencing as much as possible, but don't forget that the higher the fence, the more prone to wind damage it will be, and it will also mean shade, depending on the orientation and exposure. You might want to get yourself a board the height of your proposed fence and see what it looks like in place, and how much shadow it casts.

I doubt you'd need more than 4 feet high between buildings. As for the back, you'd be better off with better window coverings than a mile high fence IMO.

 

[Philip_G]

but what about the hot tub

the back yard faces uh, south-ish I think. So I guess it will get plenty of sun.

This pine stuff sounds interesting. Cedar is so darn expensive. The pre-fab panels at lowe's are over $30 each.

I'm not a very patient kind of guy, you suppose it'll be OK to use a nail gun to nail up the vertical planks?

 

[Julian Reville]

Don't use a nail gun; use deck/fence screws and a power-driver.

The wood I used was ALL pressure treated soft wood: the 4x4 posts, the 2x4 rails, & the 1x6 verticals. Posts were sunk 2&1/2 feet, concrete poured to hold them, rails were secured to posts with metal brackets & screws, use a line & line level to place your verticals and drill away. It's actually kind of fun once you get going. The hardest part was digging the post-holes.

$30 for a prefab panel doesn't sound too bad! How big are they? The reasons I didn't use prefabs were working by myself they are difficult to handle, and replacing old sections of fence whose posts were irregularly spaced.

Now go to my procrastination thread and make a funny comment; I'm getting kinda tense about this thing.

 

[Philip_G]

I think they're 6' sections, i'm really not certain.

The soil in CO is solid clay, I'm going to rent a power auger.

 

[Philip_G]

Home depot has 6' tall privacy dog-eared fence sections, 8' wide for about 40 bucks each. But they're just nailed together and look kind of crappy.

 

[Julian Reville]

Yes, for $40 they wouldn't look too good. :frowning:

I wouldn't recommend nailing since you have dogs, screws will be much more secure. Try to get wood that is at least 3/4" thick; some of the cheaper fence wood is really only about 1/2".

Building a good fence is a lot of work. Buy beer, and invite your friends. I'd help if I lived a little closer, honest.

 

[Philip_G]

I don't have any friends

as a side note I dropped by the "house" and they're almost ready to pour the foundation. I signed the paperwork on this place back in like, late september early october.

 

[Julian Reville]

Step 1- buy fencing materials, have dropped in yard
Step 2- buy keg of beer, have placed next to fencing material
Step 3- place sign in front yard: "Free beer!"
Step 4- keep beer cups under lock & key until each person builds a section of fence.

 

[Philip_G]

I'm afraid it'll just be me and my 5'1" GF out there. Hopefully she'll be strong enough to handle one side of the gas auger

 

[Julian Reville]

I hope she loves you a LOT!

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

I misinterpreted your topic....

I was going to vote for "epee" being the coolest.....

 

[Robert_Gaither]

What you're not going to make her do the whole thing by herself, what kind of man are you??!!!

What kind of dogs do you have the reason I ask this is that my dog ran thru my Pine fence and then my neighbors when she saw a cat (it looked like one of those cartoons...) and I end up having to dig a trench about 1.5' deep and lining it against the wooden fence to reinforce it. I assume that's one of the reasons you want an 8' high fence is to keep them from jumping which indicates to me at least a medium size athlethic dog like a greyhound, doberman, or pitbull.

 

[Philip_G]

Got two of 'em, a springer spaniel (not so athletic) and a vizsla, that at 6 months can jump about 6' straight up.
The 8' was actually kind of a typo, but the more I think about it the more I want the highest fence I can get because of the situation of the neighbor behind me. I'll post pics once the dirt pile is knocked down...
here's the viz a couple weeks ago

http://www.miataturbo.net/philip/piper12.jpg

 

[Scott Tucker]

Beautiful doggie. I put up a cedar fence, and can't wait to replace it with a vinyl one. Too much to maintain it with stain/sealer. I would consider paying extra for a maintainance free fence.

Scott

 

[Philip_G]

They're just SO expensive, the front part is wood, I'll think about vinyl if the HOA will let me get away with it. Lowe's sells nice vinyl sections, and I think they're on par with the cedar.