Adventures in Fence Building: Going Horizontal
Yesterday evening, we visited some architect and designer friends who bought their house in Crown Heights last winter and are just starting to make some headway on their backyard. We thought this was an interesting twist on the vertical slats of a more traditional cedar fence.
Yesterday evening, we visited some architect and designer friends who bought their house in Crown Heights last winter and are just starting to make some headway on their backyard. We thought this was an interesting twist on the vertical slats of a more traditional cedar fence.
What kensingtongal said.
Also– don’t the root systems of bamboo completely take over the soil, far beyond where it is actually planted (like, into lawns, planting beds, and adjoining yards)? I seem to recall that its quite aggressive and invasive. Maybe there is a way to keep it under control, but do beware.
thanks fencer :). i found alot of sites on the net selling these giants.
I think the fence looks great. Hopefully, your neighbors love it as well. If they decide that they are not that enthralled, they could turn you in to the DOB because it’s 2′ too tall. When we installed our fence 2 years ago, we checked with the DOB and was told 6′ was the max height.
I’m not the guy who did the bamboo research, but we’ve gotten it from a place called Bamboo Sourcery (prob available on the magical internet). They’ve proven very easy to deal with and knowledgable (so the report goes). We tried two varieties and the Vivax is the winner so far.
I have a horizontal fence that my architect built – it steps down in height from 8 feet (closer to the house) to 4 feet at the back. (So we wouldn’t look stand-offish ourselves…) Architect came up with the brilliant and cheap idea of purchasing 8-foot sections of cedar picket fencing from [shudder] Home Depot, cutting off the tips, and turning them on their sides. Have had the fence up several years now and it’s still in fine condition, and the cedar turned all silvery.
fencer where can i get some nice bamboo those tall ones?
i’m thinking either of bamboo or wild rose bushes to run along my yard.
Hey – I’m one of the designers of the fence, so I thought I’d chime in with our rationale, just so you guys can mull it over while you love or hate on the fence. The fence is 8 feet high, and the goal was to make it high enough that we could stand on our deck (low, platform, about 12″ off ground at its high point) without looking into the neighbors’ yard. Privacy and sound transmission are two-way streets in our minds, and we didn’t imagine our neighbors (who are a bit stand-offish) wanted to watch and listen to us BBQ and so on. Eventually the bamboo at the back of the yard will be a continuous grove running the length of the fence. So there you have it. Chat away.
It’s more Berlin Wall than Great Wall of China.
I agree with Meryckawyck. I think you could repel the Cossack Hoardes with this one. I like the basic privacy ideal, but I would break it up with a couple of small gaps or cut outs so it’s not so in your face forbidding to your neighbors. Actually, just making it a bit lower would do it.