Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Custom fence panels

I've walked the isles of many hardware stores, but the prefab fence panels I've seen just aren't doing it for me. I want something more, even if I means fabricating the panels myself. That's exactly what I've decided to do. As I often do, I spent an afternoon driving around the Seattle area looking at fences and determining which qualities I like, and which I don't like. I don't want a privacy fence that is so private that it blocks 100% of the view. The fence needs to do a couple of things. First, it needs to provide a boundary, but it also needs to add to the aesthetic appeal of the house. I came up with the following design:

Each panel will be hung between a set of 10' poles, and 18" above each panel will be a lentil that supports an arbor type structure (more pictures soon, as it is hard to describe in words). I decided on this panel structure based on the design of the siding on our house, which follows the same wide/skinny/skinny/wide horizontal format. This panel creates a boundary, but does not block 100% of the view. It also allows for air flow, which is helpful for the plants that reside near the perimeter of the fence. In Washington, once or twice a year we get a wind storm that throws 60-100 MPH gusts our way. I've seen many fences blown over as a result of high winds, and I'm hoping this fence will allow enough air flow to prevent that.

My south property line needs about 200 feet of fence, but i'm only likely to get about 50 feet built this year.

Enough obsessing about fence. On to the next thing...