Our old wood fence keeps falling down in sections & needs to be replaced ... we are having debate on what to do as far as replacement. We live on corner lot so would like some privacy so not everyone walking by can see into our yard and to keep the dogs out even though they are supposed to be walked on leashes, which some aren't and as it is I find dog poop outside the fence near common area now and we don't have a dog.
There are so many types of fences - wood, iron, plastic - any input into durability & cost? What if we plant large bushes or open iron fence style surrounded by bushes?
I will call fence companies, but most seem to be just fences not the buses and like the idea of the greenness of bushes ... though really don't have green thumb & don't know much about type & how cost effective it is from the cost of more mature bushes if we don't do a iron fence to the general maintaining of them and sustainability in our crazy Chicago weather for them. I know I can talk to neighborhood landscapers on this, but want unbiased opinion from your experiences! Also if you have any recommendations for companies to consider or even avoid that would be appreciated.
Thanks for any insight!
Can you do a cylinder block wall? That provides the most privacy.
Do not get a chain link fence. Even if you put those strips of wood/plastic
woven into the chain, it DOES NOT provide much privacy.
Your best bet? Probably the good old fashioned wood fence then you
can always plant shrubs on the outside of your fence on the sidewalk/
street side for additional coverage. Wood fences are easiest to replace
if needed.
I hate the look of plastic fences.
I don't like chain link fences in the front yard.
A wood fence in the front will require more maintenance than a wood fence in the back.
Given your situation, I would lean towards an iron fence. Look for landscapers. They have contacts with fencing companies, and can work together to get your the hardscape look that you want.
I would not get bushes as a fence unless you like to mintain them or plan on hiring someone else to do so. Our last home had 8 foot bushes surrounding the yard. Most companies wanted too much to cut them, but to do it myself it took a full day that I would have to hire a sitter for. It was also a corner lot and weekly I would have to clean out garbage the kids/teens walking by would shove in them. I wouldn't have them again unless I was retired.
Vynil fence is very popular here. Low maintenance and lasts longer than wood. You can clean it once a year with vynil cleaner/protector and youre good to go.
We replaced our fence last year. We had an 8' wooden privacy fence that had no space between the slats, so the wind had no place to pass through. As a result, our fence was blown over little by little due to the past few years' stormy summers.
We looked at so many options when we were searching. The BEST would be cast iron, but that wasn't in the budget. We went with a new cedar fence, but we opted to have space between the slats. We fenced in about 230 linear feet, with a 4' high fence for about $4000. We were told our fence should last about 20 years. We opted to not stain or paint ours, as that enters you into an endless cycle of having to restain or repaint every year or so. Our fence has patinated a bit, so it is now more grey than the original cedar color, but we knew that it would without stain.
We had considered vinyl for a while, but several vendors told us that they don't recommend it, because over time the screw holes expand due to the wind, so the screws get too lose to adequately support the fence.
We went with Cedar Rustic for our fence (it was recommended by a mom on here). They were very professional and completed the job in 1 day.
We live on a double lot where the lot is on the corner. We have a chain link fence along the front and one side of the lot. IN the front, on the yeard side, there are bushes. There are also bushes along the alley side. While they do grant some privacy from those angles, they do require maintenance. The maintenance is mainly picking out garbage that blows in there and cutthing. We considered putting bushes along the long lot side that runs along the sidewalk but the time it would take to trim them every 3 or 4 weeks, ugh. It takes long enough to cut the grass. We looked into a wood fence. It would also take maintenance. While it would hold up pretty well, wood tends to get dirty. If you know how to use a pressure washer, you can clean it yearly like a neighbor used to do. It looked great but it took a full day to do and he had less square foot of fence to clean than we would. We are considering a pvc fence. Easy to maintain, available for the most part in colors other than white, and they have a lattice top that allows some view out of the yard. You can easily clean it with a hose also. A neighbor attaches a carwash brush to his hose and cleans his within a hour or so. And iron fence would look nice but not much privacy.
Since you like the idea of the greenery, you could put either a new wood fence or pvc fence and have planters put in so you can put flowers or other.
No matter what, it's going to be expensive. We had to replace a stretch of wood fence after it blew down in a storm and it was about $2,400. That was just the side section between our homes. Thankfully, insurance covered a bit and we could split it with our neighbors.
You can strengthen wood fences by having steel posts. They just cover them up with wood, so no one knows. I would lean toward doing that over a more expensive iron fence and having to find a landscaper to select shrubs to cover up the gaps in the fence.
We've been in our home for almost 4 years and actually replaced our wooden fence last summer. We realized it was just too much upkeep and like you, we also live on a corner lot and have a very large area to cover. After a lot of research we decided to go with Trex fencing. Springtime in Chicago can be brutal as we learned when part of our fence came down. I also did not like the look of vinyl, but needed the privacy because of our pool. If you are willing to spend a little more money Trex is the way to go. We ended up doing privacy slats and 3 custom gates and used our contractor who purchased the supplies thru a lumber store. All in, the total cost was around 23K, but so unbelievably worth it since we are a summertime/outdoor entertaining family. If you want to private message me I'd be happy to send you pictures and a little more information.
M.:
Please don't choose chain link fence!!! When i see it? I think of low rent places...this is MY opinion and in some areas it works....
So I did a quick google search and found these companies
http://universalfenceinc1.reachlocal.net/services.html
http://www.fence-connection-inc.com/
They might be able to help you. Since you have rough winters - wrought iron might work for you...however...since I don't know what your home looks like - would a stucco wall work?
I know that when we had a fence installed a long time ago - we were told to leave at least 1/4" gaps between the slats to allow the wood to swell in the heat and shrink in the winter/cold.
Depending upon your neighborhood a great concept would be to blend wrought iron and wood...or something like cinder block. Since you plan on putting plants in front of the fence, I would do wrought iron so others can admire the bushes as they walk by.
http://www.dexknows.com/local/construction/contractors/fe...
I replaced my fence this summer with a wooden fence. It's just 3" wide slats spaced with a couple of inches in between. An important consideration is that if people can't see inside your yard a burglar has more time to get into your house. By having some space in between the slats someone on the outside can see movement but not details. The best of both worlds.
I was having my house painted at the same time and the same company did the fence. I learned that it's less expensive when done by someone who does general contracting instead of just focusing on building fences.
