fencing suggestions

19 years ago

Well, the parking situation in our neighborhood became dire this summer. It's only going to get worse (single family lots are now zoned for 4 homes) and this has pushed up the timeline for the backyard re-do we were saving for.

We have an old privacy fence in the back yard. I actually like the way it has aged. The blue is mellow. It has nice moss growing on it, but the old double swinging doors aren't going to work for us to try to pull our cars in to a future car parking area. They're each 6' long and the hinges the people used when they installed were too small. Besides that, this is cedar we're talking about, of course the nails and screws are stripping out of the wood.

Across the alley from our backyard now stands a five story apartment complex complete with tractor trailers making deliveries to the directly across the alley from us. We are being surrounded by multi-story townhomes with inadequate parking (1 car). That is the "why" behind the new lack of onstreet parking and our neighbors selling out left & right to developers is the surprise in the timing.

The future backyard Car Park will be between the katsura on the corner and the camellia tree in the center. I'm not going to move either of those. I'd thought about it, but the camellia's fifty years old. I don't want to risk it in any way. I'm planning on reusing some of the cedar to fill in any gaps between a new mobile fence I want built, but I haven't seen anything which looks like it will work with my current fence. That's what I need help locating or coming up with ideas about. We've got dogs (and a dog run, but still), privacy concerns and an existing fence. We only need to pull the cars in one at a time. There does appear to be an existing concrete something to run something against. But we really only need to have a 6-7' wide opening.

We were hoping to do a professional job, but with this situation arising earlier than our savings account, we want to make an investment we can carry forward into any future work we do.

Thanks for any advice you've got,

-a

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Comments (6)

Saypoint zone 6 CT
19 years ago
All I get is the photobucket home page, not your album. You can go to your photo, copy the "tag" under the photo, and paste it into a reply here. It will appear in the message.
andrea345
Original Author
19 years ago
saypoint,
Thanks for letting me know. I'm new to Photobucket (used to be Yahoo) and it's not working "as expected." Let's see how this one works.

When I preview, I see my picture in this response window. I've resized it on Photobucket, but it doesn't seem resized when I preview. It could be a cache problem, but I can't tell. If it's humongous - sorry for the size.

-a

{{gwi:47249}}

It appears that it was a cache problem. If this is too small, please let me know.
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Saypoint zone 6 CT
19 years ago
Seven feet sounds kind of narrow, but I don't see why you couldn't easily build two - 3.5 or 4 foot gates that meet in the middle. We just made a similar set up to close off a 5 foot wide walk, so the gate posts are about 6 feet apart, with no problem.

Are you thinking of an automatic gate opener? Matching the fence?
andrea345
Original Author
19 years ago
Thanks for coming back, saypoint. We've got flexibility in that width. I just want to keep it to the smallest standard because, yes, we do want an automatic gate opener. We're not going to try to park an RV back there, just regular cars.

The original gate has two 8' sections, but because the current gate has stripped out its hardware and the planking has rotted I'm concerned about using wood again. But I really do like the look. If I could find an opener system which would work with my current fencing, reuse it somehow, brace it, do something to support "the look" that would be the best.

Anyways, privacy, $$, and an automatic gate opener are the first set of concerns.

Thanks again!
-a
adinab
19 years ago
Just my thoughts about fences. Feel free to disagree.
I was walking by a chain link fence the other day and noticed how unattractive it was. I then thought, wouldn't it be great to be able to hide the links with some vines?

Here is a partial list of my favorite vines. If the vine is an annual, you'll need to replant it every year.

Â· Morning Glory. Annual. Comes in a variety of colors. Fast growing, once established.

Â· Hop Vine. A very tough plant that has a nice aroma.

Â· Akebia. Takes a lot of shade. Leaves come out very early. I enjoy the flowers. Can be aggressive.

Â· Aristolochia sylvicola. Also called Dutchman's Pipe.

Â· Hedera Helix or Baltic Ivy. One of the most reliable vines in the northeast zones.

Â· Boston Ivy or Parthenocissus tricuspidata. This is a deciduous vine with tendrils.

Â· Clematis. Better for smaller areas; might be impractical to cover a large area.

Â· Climbing hydrangea. You can use this to hide a fence in the shade. You would need to space the plants about every 24 feet to get really good coverage.

Here is a link that might be useful: fencing thoughts
andrea345
Original Author
19 years ago
adinab -
Thanks for the vine suggestions. Heck, I've got the morning glory coming in over from my neighbor's yard for free! I love the idea of a climbing hydrangea - I can envision woody limbs twining like ribbon through the links.

This is making me think much better thoughts about chain link.

Thanks again!
-a

-a