Privacy Fence for Your Patio

Our neighborhood was built in 1970. The developer installed a 48 inch high chainlink fence around every back yard. And those fences remain today . . . 53 years later. Perhaps people were not interested in the privacy of their yards in those days.

We are one of the few houses in our neighborhood with a privacy fence. And I’m glad. We want to relax on our patio while enjoying an adult beverage, entertain our friends, chill out on our hammock — even garden, and not feel like our outdoor space is a communal environment where our neighbors can see every move we make or overhear our conversations. We’re not anti-social or snobby neighbors. We just like our privacy.

Another plus of our privacy fence is that many of our immediate neighbors have dogs who, before we installed our privacy fence, barked and barked and barked when we were in our backyard. Now that they can’t see us they bark much less. 

Frankly, in all of the cities in which we’ve lived (we’ve been vagabonds in the past) every house in our neighborhood had a privacy fence. So for us, it was one of three main objectives for which we budgeted as a patio project goal in our initial patio development.

And finally, our privacy fence is a good investment, increasing the value of our house. In a selling situation, a privacy fence will make our home more desirable and command a higher price than a fenceless house. It’s a good value.

Research Your Fence Options

We did quite a bit of research online to determine the material we wanted to use for our privacy fence. We narrowed our options down to three types:

• Chainlink Fence, Preferably Black, Vinyl-covered With Slats
• Solid Wood Fence
• Solid Vinyl Fence

Here’s what we found out in our research to make our final decision:

Chainlink Fence, Preferably Black, Vinyl-covered With Slats

We found a chainlink fence manufacturer who uses slats in the chainlink to create “privacy”. This manufacturer has developed a better type of slat that offers 98% privacy versus the standard slat style for chainlink fences which doesn’t look very private at all. The photos on their website (eprivacylink.com) of this type of fence looked really clean and contemporary. Sadly, however, we were fence shopping at the height of the COVID pandemic when everyone was improving their homes. No one knew how long the pandemic would last. People didn’t leave their homes except for necessary reasons like grocery shopping. So demand drove up the price, putting this fence style way outside of our budget. But you might check it out — it looks really cool.

Solid Wood Fence

A wood fence was our least desired option because we’ve had wood fences in the past at other homes we’ve owned. They never lasted as long as the supplier promised — in one instance our wood fence rotted and fell down after just seven years. Plus, to make them really last you must treat the wood with protectant every two to three years. That meant having spraying equipment or buying cases of beer, gallons of sealant, and boxes of paint brushes with which to con our friends into helping us re-seal our fence on a regular basis. Not an optimal situation as we have 331 linear feet of fence. 

And at the time we were shopping, wood was hard to get (pandemic issue) so the cost between wood and vinyl was almost the same when we purchased our fence.  

Solid Vinyl Fence

In the end, we selected a solid vinyl privacy fence for these reasons:

1. Aesthetically we really liked the clean lines of the fence design, enhancing the appearance and value of our property overall.
2. Both sides of the vinyl fence look the same. So we didn’t have to worry about which side faces our neighbors and which side we get to look at inside our yard, unlike a wood fence.
3. Vinyl fences can last over 30 years. 
4. The vinyl material is very low maintenance — as simple as power washing or hosing down the vinyl material every two to three years as needed. Much better than spraying or brushing on sealant on a wood fence every two to three years.
5. Vinyl fences weather very well, so our yard and patio area looks well-kept throughout any season of the year. 
6. The amount of privacy we feel we have far surpasses the other two materials we were considering.

Consult With Your Local Building Code Officials

I made it a point to go to our town offices and speak with the code official. I found out:

• I did not need a permit for my fence.

• Regardless of whether our fence was DIY or professionally installed, someone — the installer, if professionally done, or us, if DIY — had to contact 811 to determine what utilities were underground. Please note: Whomever calls to schedule for utilities to be marked is the responsible party. If you do not have the utilities marked before digging and something gets broken, you (the home owner) or your fence installer will pay for repairs. So if you are having your fence professionally installed, have the installer call for the utility marking. No digging should occur until you get the paperwork saying it was inspected. And you should clearly see visible markings on your property. By the way, we did have a gas line moved. By asking the gas company well in advance of our install date, they were able to work the gas line relocation into their normal schedule at no cost to us. Yahoo!

• Our code official suggested we have our fence inset on our property about six inches from the property line as a “hedge” against unknowingly installing our fence on our neighbor’s property. Because there is an existing chainlink fence installed directly on the property line, that six inch space was our responsibility to maintain or risk a citation. We would have to negotiate with four neighbors every time we mowed our lawn to allow us into their yards to weed whack that six inch space. No way. And then the code official suggested we inset our fence the width of our lawn mower plus an inch or two. Genius! Now we just run our mower around the 27 inch space between the two fences and then relax on our patio with a cold beer.

• The code official told me that if we extended our fence beyond the front plane of our house, the height of the fence would have to drop down from six feet to four feet. The fence could not extend any farther than 25 feet from the front of the house. We decided not to extend our fence into the front yard.

• Finally, they identified the maximum fence height at six feet six inches. That was valuable information because we wanted a taller fence. Because we verified the correct fence height, we avoided an unknown code violation. That violation would have caused us to remove the fence and install the correct height. And if not corrected now, the error would need to be corrected before we could ever sell our house. By the way, we asked for a code variance for a taller fence and they said ‘no’. But they were nice about it.

So the point here is, do your due diligence with your local building code officials so you know the rules before you contract with a fence supplier — in particular, whether a permit is required. If there’s no permit, there’s no official inspection and no one would notice any code violations until it’s too late, requiring expensive corrective action.

Selecting a Privacy Fence Supplier/Installer

Again, given the COVID pandemic situation at the time we were ready to purchase our fence, many of the vendors we contacted were booked a year in advance. We found only two suppliers, but getting more than one estimate saved us thousands of dollars. There was a $6,000 difference in the price estimate from one vendor versus the other . . . for the same fence! Needless to say, we highly recommend getting more that one estimate. 

Also, we checked-out both bidders online to read reviews from past customers. The company we decided to buy from had great reviews — happy customers. They are a smaller local company which we liked because we dealt directly with the owners who were a joy to work with.

And they were very honest with us about supply chain issues due to the COVID pandemic and weather issues in states where the materials for our fence were produced. We ended up with a delay of about five months. But our fence vendor was excellent about communicating with us so we always knew where we were in their cue and had accurate expectations of when our fence would arrive from their supplier.

By the way, if you are in or near Roanoke, Virginia, please include on your prospective supplier list, J & M Fencing. They did a great job for us and we recommend them for the quality they put into their work.

Other Privacy Fence Considerations

We communicated between our concrete vendor for our patio and our fence vendor so both vendors knew our project plans and timelines. This process is very important to making the entire project come off without a hitch. From both suppliers we learned that it would be better to pour the patio first and then install the fence. Otherwise, we stood a good chance of having to remove some of the fence to make room for the concrete equipment and then re-installing the fence thus adding to the overall cost of the project. Not good.

Another decision we made was to have a pedestrian door installed from our carport out to the patio and then, on the other end of our house, have installed two four-foot gates that, when opened, would allow for other equipment to get into our backyard (like a bobcat) in the event we wanted to make further backyard improvements in the future.

We Love Our Patio Privacy Fence

So now it’s been a little over a year since our privacy fence was installed. It still looks great. We enjoy private time on our patio lounging in the sun or entertaining our friends. We enjoy beverages, adult or otherwise and feast on fun patio food. Some nights we climb into our hammock and marvel at the stars. And all of these activities we enjoy without feeling like we’re sharing with our neighbors because . . . we have this beautiful privacy fence. Sometimes the simple things in life make us the most happy. Yes, life does happen on the patio.

And remember, every day is Friday on the patio!

Privacy Fence FAQs

How much does it cost to put a privacy fence around your yard?

Privacy fence installation can cost between $12 to $50 per linear foot depending on materials and the height of the fence.

Are vinyl fences cheaper than wood?

Initially, vinyl may cost more than wood. However, premium vinyl fencing will outlast the wood fencing by years, requires no maintenance upkeep, is impervious to insects, and over the long run, vinyl is less expensive than wood! Not only will it be less expensive than wood over 10 years, but it will also have about 6-1/2 times the Return On Investment (ROI) over wood.

What type of privacy fence lasts the longest?

Vinyl is hands down the material that is going to give you the most bang for your buck in terms of longevity. Vinyl fences can last over 30 years if they are properly maintained.

If you’re set on having a wood fence, cedar is the best choice for its durability (natural rot and insect resistance) and low-maintenance (no need to paint or stain). If overall maintenance and durability is a primary factor, vinyl fence may be a better choice.

What is the best season to build a fence?

Winter is definitely the best time to install a fence if you have a manicured landscape. Most plants are dormant during the winter months, which means trees, plants, and shrubs are less likely to be damaged during fence installation and construction.

Who gets the good side of a fence?

The finished side of a wood fence should face toward your neighbor. Not only is this more polite, but it’s the standard and may be a code regulation. Your property will look a lot nicer with the “good” side facing the outside world. But remember, vinyl fences look the same on both sides so you and your neighbors see the same great looking fence.

Please Leave a Comment

Leave a comment below and tell us if this information was of value to you or let us know what we missed and can add to this post. Do you have a privacy fence around your patio/yard and what kind? What was your experience in selecting and installing your fence. Add a picture so we can see how your fence looks.

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