Our Work: Added Privacy For Our Clients In Mayfield

Our lovely clients in Mayfield contacted us with a problem. They had a lovely backyard, a lush lawn bordered with raised garden beds, and a cozy covered patio with a stunning timber feature wall. Our clients had put in the work to create a lovely little oasis in their own home, but for one thing, the aforementioned problem which led them to call on us. The problem was one common in hilly areas, and that was one of privacy.

This sounds like a job for Squarepegs Handyman

Our clients’ rear neighbours’ house is elevated enough that when they are sitting on their rear deck, they are looking not only into our clients’ yard, but right through the sliding glass doors into the house as well. This is especially awkward due to the neighbours’ deck being only one metre away from the back fence, which has them practically sitting in our clients’ backyard!

With this in mind we attended the property to come up with a solution. 

The obvious choice was to extend the fence with privacy screening. The only question was what type. The most common styles of privacy screening are paneling, slats, and screens or lattice. Each type has its pros and cons and is best suited to certain situations. 

Which type of privacy screening is right for you?

Paneling can be made from timber, fiber cement or composite materials. This offers the highest level of privacy, and can be painted or rendered any colour. The downside is that it does not allow airflow or light to pass through, and can create an imposing wall if the screen is too large.

Slatting consists of battens with gaps between them. They can be mounted vertically or horizontally and can be made from steel, aluminum, timber or composite materials. The advantage of slatting is that it allows light and air to flow through, and the slats can be angled to create directional privacy. The gaps between slats can be adjusted based on the situation, with smaller gaps leading to greater privacy.

Screens and lattice are made up of premade panels which are either interwoven plastic or timber in the case of lattice, or cut out designs in the case of screens. These panels are cost effective, and can create a point of interest in your garden. They are also ideal as a trellis for climbing plants.

No maintenance at all is a good maintenance schedule

After measuring up the required height of the privacy screen to achieve the desired privacy, panels were ruled out due to the amount of light they would block, and screens were not inline with the aesthetic of the back yard. Slatting was the perfect choice with a balance between allowing light through for the gardens while still creating privacy.

A big priority was for the screen to be as low maintenance as possible, and for this reason we choose aluminium slatting. The powder coating used on aluminium slatting is hard wearing and never needs repainting, and the aluminium is also rust proof, leading to an essentially maintenance free product.

The clients wanted the screen to fade into the background rather than be a feature so black was the ideal colour. To encourage climbing plants to grow we also decided to add stainless steel wires at 100mm spacing from the top of the garden bed to the lowest slat.

The rear fence was in bad shape so as part of the job we added bracing from the screen posts to the fence to straighten and stabilise the panels. 

The screen looks great and makes a huge difference to the feeling of the backyard by providing privacy from the rear neighbours, something that they also undoubtedly appreciate as well.

SQUAREPEGS HANDYMAN does Privacy Screens And More

Aluminium slatting is a great solution for so many projects around your home. We have used it to build gates, fences, pool pump covers, bin storage units and more. Best of all, the materials used in all of our custom aluminium projects is sourced from other small business located right here in the Hunter.

Contact us here to organise a free, in person estimate with Handyman Sean. No matter what the project, we are here to help.

WHERE WE WORK

You’ll find Squarepegs Handyman in and around Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, the Hunter and beyond. Contact us to find out if we service your area. 

We cannot wait to work with you!

More from Squarepegs Handyman