Front Yard Fencing

I think you are underestimating the effectiveness of the 8′ chainlink fence.

Since the rest of the fence is 8′ high and its not being climbed, what I see is that they are taking the easiest route. So don’t try to make your part of the fence unclimbable, just make it harder to climb then the rest. Then they’ll climb up elsewhere if they choose to and not hurt themselves on your properly.

For example, typical chain link fence fabric is easy to climb because you can put your shoes in each “diamond” and climb up. So I would put up an 8′ fence using very dense fabric (1″ diamonds instead of 3″, or something like that). Another solution that I saw was a fence that had extra vertical wires inside of each standard diamond. That kept your foot out. A final solution that I saw, which I doubt worked well, was to put two layers of fabric on top of each other, with the center of one diamond on top of the edge of the other (therefore somewhat difficult to use diamonds).

I’ve dealt with issues like this a number of times. A similiar issue I had was with my garbage cans. Even though they are not next to the sidewalk, people would walk up to my very neat and organized front yard to throw away wrappers and stuff like that in my cans. It would have been fine except that they didn’t separate garbage and recyclables and they would just throw off the lids. My solution was to get new cans with heavy permanently hinged lids and chain the cans to the fence tightly so that the lids don’t stay open. After that it was easier to go elsewhere with their garbage instead of using my cans.

I was a BK kid and I climbed many fences to play baseball when I was a teen so take my word on it.

Bedstyliving – Actually it was kind of an ongoing problem that has been made worse by the contruction. My councilman is Bill Deblasio and their office claimed they would talk to the parks department and the school for me. They also claimed they would speak to my police precinct about coming by when it happens. As far as i can tell none of that has helped at all. The school told me that they are only responsible for their kids and they didn’t think any of their kids were trespassing on my property (which honestly i can’t prove). They also told me that when its not school hours that its really the park’s department’s responsibility and they aren’t allowed to do anything.

The liability issue is actually what concerns me the most. This is why this has me so frustrated. I feel like its only a matter of time before someone hurts themselves and i get sued. I suspect that issue may prevent me from putting up barbed wires also. I feel i am damned if i do and damned if i don’t if i put up something to deter people from climbing the fence i am actually increases the risk of someone getting hurt and suing but if i do nothing i may get sued anyway. I can always try danialk’s suggestions though 🙂

What about coating the chain link fence with vegetable oil imbued with a strong die and coating the top of the fence with the sticky glue used in rat traps?

That way anyone climbing the fence will ruin their clothes with the dye and will lose their shirt to the glue.

If the problem continues into winter you can get one of these http://www.comforthouse.com/scarecrows1.html But I think it would just attract kids in the summer, unless you used stinky water, you can make the water stinky by using one of those hose attached fertilizer tubs and filling it with sulfur.

Good Luck!

Anna, get some big thorny shrubbery. It can grow higher than 6 feet, you don’t need a permit, and it’ll scrape a lot of hands and knees.

Or (but this is probably more long-term than you want) concrete wall with broken glass at the top like they do some places in S.A.

J