When you buy a house or sign a lease, you have a few essential items on your list. You’re probably thinking about space, whether you have enough room for your family. If you have young ones, a yard helps to keep them occupied. And once you’re settled in your outdoor area, privacy comes into the mix. If the house doesn’t have one already, and if your strata/local council allows it, you’ll probably want to put up a fence.
Options for fencing are myriad, and it all depends on your taste, budget, and regional requirements. For our purposes, let’s look at the nine main fencing choices. These are wrought iron, wood panel, bamboo, chain link, aluminium, vinyl, electric, and PVC fencing. Each of these styles has benefits and detractors.
Some homeowners prefer for their fences to be unobtrusive while still offering security. In some ways, the invisible fence offers even more security. Those who belong will know the fence is there. Those that don’t will come all the way up to the fence, then hesitate. That split-second wait is a good way for any observer to spot you and recognise that they are out of place.
For such security purposes, an electric fence is ideal. Not only is it virtually invisible from a distance, it also gives intruders and healthy zap and warns them to back off. All this while allowing the view to remain undisturbed.
Another popular type of fencing is the tubular option. It gives a more rustic feel, allowing your yard to meld into its surroundings. It’s a much less intimidating barrier, but it still offers security from unwanted visitors.
Tubular fences can be made out of wrought iron, aluminium, or wooden poles. Aluminium and iron are good choices if you want to show off your landscaping, but it doesn’t give much privacy to kids playing in the yard, or for sunbathing sessions. Wood poles can be a little thicker, and they can be placed closer together to offer additional screening.
Farm fencing isn’t really appropriate in residential areas. It’s more suitable to vast plantations and wide open fields. It offers an unobstructed view of grazing animals. It’s also easy for farm workers to scale the fence, should they need to. It’s more about demarcation than privacy or security, and can be used to separate pastures from crop fields, or the farm house from animal pens.
Privacy fences should ideally be opaque. If they have any gaps, they should be small enough to prevent peeping. Bamboo reed fences are a good option. They provide an organic, natural ambience while fully protecting the inside of the property. Bamboo fences can be grown as live hedges, or they can be constructed using harvested reeds held together at strategic points.
Live bamboo fences will need weeding, watering, fertilising, spraying, and pruning. If you’re not up to this kind of maintenance, you can opt for cane or rolls instead. These two types of fences tend to be more sturdy than live plants since they are reinforced with wood and wire frames.
For artificial options, vinyl works well. It’s expensive, to begin with, but it doesn’t need to be painted or repaired, and you can clean it with soap and water. Since it has a surface that paint doesn’t latch onto, any kind of oil-based dirt can easily be washed off, and so can graffiti. The wide panels offer a great deal of privacy, and they are closely fitted to minimize gaps. Vinyl is thought to be a stronger fencing material than wood.
Another alternative that promises privacy is PVC fencing. It’s one of the cheapest fencing options available, and its wide panels protect your discretion. Usually, PVC sleeves are slipped over wooden poles, which cuts down costs and increases opacity. They come in a wide range of colours, so they’re also the most attractive private fencing Gosford option.
When privacy is your primary fencing goal, you’ll find that bamboo, vinyl, and PVC is your best options. As we’ve seen, PVC is the cheapest, vinyl needs the least maintenance, and bamboo needs the most intensive attention. Select the fencing style that works best for you, then enjoy some downtime in your comfy, closed off yard.
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