Thoughts on adding privacy and covering chain link fence

11 years ago

Our house is approx. 40 years old and has had a chain link fence in the back separating our properties. Two of our neighbors are very meticulous with their yards while one is not. We are tired of the junk being piled up against the chain link fence and along the side of their house, and to be honest, we are a bit embarrassed about hosting events in the back because our friends/family have to see this as well. We know that they are not interested in a new fence, which is why we are thinking of adding a new privacy fence along that one side.

Do you think we should entertain asking the (messy) neighbor about removing the chain link or just go ahead and build the fence as it would be on our side of the property line plus keeping the chain link would protect our fence from getting damaged from all the stuff piled up against it?

In terms of the design, we would love a modern fence with horizontal boards; however, we live in Canada and a lot of shifting happens from the harsh winters and am worried it would be very obvious if a post moved from the freezing and thawing of the ground. Thank you!

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PRO

Patricia Colwell Consulting

11 years ago

I planted ivy to cover an chainlink fence where we used to live it took about 2 years to completely cover the fence/

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Comments (12)

heartofcda
Original Author
11 years ago
I should also add that over the years, the chain link, has warped a bit so adding privacy slats in the fence is not a possibility (we looked into it with a fence company). And if we are going to the expense of creating privacy, we want it to look nice.
Jamie
11 years ago
If it is their fence you can just put up a new fence on your side. I have the same problem on all three sides of my yard. My old chain link plus an old fence the back neighbors put up. I removed the back and right side but the left side has tree roots growing in the fence and the neighbor's junk against it so I am leaving that side up and installing a privacy fence all around. If he wants it down I'm sure he will help take it down. I doubt he will do anything.
heartofcda thanked Jamie
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marilynellis
11 years ago
Generally a shared fence means shared expense. I'd give it a try. Otherwise you can sacrifice a bit of your property and build a fence on your side.
heartofcda thanked marilynellis
heartofcda
Original Author
11 years ago
@Jamie, the chain link is technically our fence as it is on the property line so we share responsibility for it. However, I know they would not want to foot the cost of a new fence as they would feel that nothing is wrong with the current chain link and don't care that the stuff is piled up against it. If I said that the chain link is warped and should be fixed, that would be different and feel we could share the cost in fixing it but that would not solve the problem of the piling of junk and privacy.
PRO
Gray & Walter, Ltd.
11 years ago
Plant honeysuckle, it is beautiful and grows fast. It makes a fence more beautiful.
heartofcda thanked Gray & Walter, Ltd.
heartofcda
Original Author
11 years ago
It's about 85 feet of fence - that's a lot of honeysuckle :-) It would smell great though.
miacometlady
11 years ago
What about a hedge? These are built up on a dirt mound.
heartofcda thanked miacometlady
Jamie
11 years ago
It's your fence so take it down or leave it up and put up the privacy fence you want. Of course they won't share in the cost. Why would they?
heartofcda thanked Jamie
heartofcda
Original Author
11 years ago
@jamie It's on the property line so it's a shared chain link fence. If we wanted to take it down, we'd need their permission. I'm sure they would not care if we wanted to do that and put up a new fence at our own expense.if we leave the chain link, a privacy fence would be on our side of the prop line so we don't need permission for that. Just like they don't ask about how things look on their side. And leaving the chain link is a buffer for our new fence as there is a lot of stuff piled up against it.
poshky
11 years ago
I would say put the fence up and forget the other fence is on the other side. Maybe their stuff can stay leaned up against the chain link instead of on your new nice fence. Putting up a privacy fence was the best thing we did for 2 out of our 3 neighbors lol! Now we moved to the country and have to worry about no ones mess:). Good luck!
heartofcda thanked poshky
L J
11 years ago
We had a neighbor who actually put a chain link fence up next to our six foot cedar fence. Which made no sense. Now it is very difficult to maintain our fence and grass grows between the two fences like crazy. We can't spray or pull from our side and they don't so it's a nasty mess.