About Privacy Fence Design & Building

Height

You can turn a privacy fence into a not-so-private fence if you miss the mark on determining the right height. Four and 6 feet are standard fencing heights. However, you might want to go to 8 feet or more for absolute privacy. Consider the lay of your land. Realistically assess how much privacy you can achieve. Going for an 8-foot tall fence might be a waste of materials if your neighbors have an upper deck or upstairs windows that allow them to view activity in your yard. If that's the case, choose "live" fencing in addition to your physical fence materials, such as planting evergreen trees to help block visibility.

Wood is commonly used to build privacy fences. Wood is versatile, functional and comes in a wide variety of colors, styles and types. If a board rots, you can replace it with little fuss. Vinyl is also a good choice. It's weather resistant, doesn't fade or shrink, splinter or warp and is essentially maintenance free. You can create stacked stone corners to anchor the fence and add a stately border or wrought iron for the gate. Create a semi-private fence by combining wood or vinyl on the sides and front, and use chain-link on the back, which could be a winning combination if your property borders a wooded area and you still want to enjoy a relatively unobstructed view of trees on your property.

Fence boards for a privacy fence are spaced in two styles -- shadowbox or solid board. A shadowbox style has open spacing in between each board and creates a semi-private design. From street or curbside, people can't see all the way through the fence. However, the closer they physically get to the fence, the more they can peek through the boards and see into your yard. A fence made with a solid board design has as little spacing in between the boards as possible, hence the term "solid board." Use this style if you want absolute 100 percent privacy. Overlapping boards (called board-on-board) is a solid board design variation. This technique is used to ensure that there's not even a crevice of visibility in between the boards of the privacy fence.

Determining how to build the gate is the enjoyable part of designing a privacy fence. For example, you can paint or stain the gate to add a touch of character. You can design a double-wide gate that opens in the center so you can easily drive a riding lawnmower from your front yard into your backyard. You can also add a trellis or pergola over the gate and decorate it with climbing vines to add color. Add an Intercom system and an electronic door release on a panel at the gate to let visitors in.