Two Questions To Ask Yourself Before Adding A Privacy Screen To Your Fence
Everybody likes to enjoy time outside in their back garden during the summer, and you have the anticipation that you will experience privacy while you do so. But if you have just moved into a new home and discovered the existing fencing does not offer you the level of privacy you are used to, you want to rectify this problem fast. Before you get on the phone to your fencing contractor, however, you need to ask yourself two important questions to help you get the perfect privacy screen for your home.
Council Regulations
The type of privacy screen you can have is going to be partly determined by what the regulations of your new local council say. Councils vary in their regulations about height and material that can be used to make your fencing more private. Brisbane City Council, for example, states that if a fence is under 2 metres high it does not need building approval, but if you go over this height, approval is required. Therefore, if you plan to add height to your existing fence to obtain some privacy, the final height of the fence may cross a building approval line.
Phone your local city council or check their website online to find out the exact requirements they have in place regarding fencing alterations and privacy screens.
What Are You Trying To Block Out?
What you are trying to block out is the next question to answer. For example, if your new home is on a busy street and you want to stop passing traffic and pedestrians from seeing into your yard, this is one issue. However, if the neighbours behind you have a two-story home that looks straight into your back garden, that is a different issue altogether.
If you are trying to protect your privacy while you are sunbathing on your patio, and the privacy intrusion is coming from a neighbour in a two-story home, then you need a privacy screen erected close to the patio area. The higher they are, the closer the screen needs to be to your sitting area if you want to effectively block their view. If you are trying to get privacy from passers-by, then you need to make alterations to your existing fencing to shield prying eyes.
The second part of the block question is whether you are just looking for visual privacy, or if you want to block out sound as well. When creating a sound barrier, you need to create a solid privacy fence. For example, growing thick, clumping bamboo along your fence line, or adding privacy slats to a chain link fence will give a thick barrier that reduces noise. Alternatively, if noise is not an issue, you can have a more open weave privacy screen such as a trellis.
Once you have given some careful thought to making your fence more private, then you can call your fencing contractor to get them on the job before summer comes to an end.
