# Forum Home Renovation Fences & Screens  Privacy screening - no idea

## penguins

Hi All, 
I want to preface this by saying I am a female bimbo with zero outdoor skills. 
My whole back garden is just pavers & concrete, and I have a newly built estate behind me. I want to put some sort of screening against the fence to have a barrier. I understand that the chances of creating a sound barrier is zero, so a bit of privacy is better than nothing. 
I like the idea of using artificial ivy but I don't know to put it up....do I have to bolt some sort of ivy scaffolding to the ground? 
I have attached: picture of the fence linepicture of the pavers/where to stick the scaffolding

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## joynz

Not quite sure why you mention that you are a female - nothing to be worried about. 
How about planting clumping bamboo?  It creates a tall screen really quickly.  I recommend Gracillis. 
You would need to remove the pavers to allow around 1,2 metres from the fence and plant the plant so it is at least 60cm from the fence.  
being clumping is is easy to control - just snap off any culms you don’t want. 
You can try planting 3 or 4 every 2 metres or so - and if you like the effect plant in the gaps later on. 
I planted something around 4 years ago and they quickly blocked the view of the house next door.

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## Moondog55

Can you get those blue barrels olives come in cheaply where you are? Or any cheap 200 litre plastic drum?
If you can then clumping bamboos as above, by planting in a tall barrel you get an immediate 1200mm height boost and can use smaller/cheaper plants as they grow very fast. The advantage is that they can be moved around.
Just drill some drainage holes around the bottoms of the barrels with a cheap spade bit and half fill with rubble before adding potting mix. You can use the same barrels for putting a post in, set the post straight, fill to the top with rubble and screw treated pine lattice to a pair of these posts, saw that done on the ABCs Gardening Australia although they used a Hardenbergia as the screening plant

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## penguins

> Not quite sure why you mention that you are a female - nothing to be worried about.

  I know -  I just didn't want anyone assume that I knew the first thing about manual labour or tools.   

> You would need to remove the pavers to allow around 1,2 metres from the fence and plant the plant so it is at least 60cm from the fence.

  They are cemented in, I assume I would have to jackhammer them out or something? I would want to avoid that. 
I also want to avoid plants that require maintenance - would the plastic ivy idea be silly?

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## joynz

Ok - if you want no maintenance, then you need a different type of screen than bamboo or plants as they need water. 
Are the posts and horizontal rails wood or metal? 
Bunnings sells screening panels with plastic ivy on them - is that what you mean? 
It sounds like you want to raise the height of the fence with a screen?  How much higher?

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## Moondog55

I know it sounds silly but the plastic stuff also needs constant and continual maintenance, because spiders seem to love the stuff and you need to brush all the cobwebs off and hose the dust off so not much difference to watering a pot plant once a week. Shade cloth on posts might work better if it's just a privacy screen you need

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## penguins

> Ok - if you want no maintenance, then you need a different type of screen than bamboo or plants as they need water. 
> Are the posts and horizontal rails wood or metal? 
> Bunnings sells screening panels with plastic ivy on them - is that what you mean? 
> It sounds like you want to raise the height of the fence with a screen?  How much higher?

  The gray posts are metal with slots that the wood palings slide into, and the gray horizontal bars are also metal. The panels are wood in between. 
I was looking at something like this https://hedgeyourself.com.au/products/ivy-leaf, and yes, I would like to raise the height of the screen by a foot or so. 
Someone mentioned using planter pots? But that would require living plant (I think)? The lack of trees and grass really let the sounds echo through  :Frown:

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## r3nov8or

Which windows are you most concerned about the overlooking? If the upper floor ones, then the screen will need to be very tall if done at the fence line. Do you use the yard past the storm water grate? You might consider something along that plane, but depends on the structure you are prepared to invest in

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## penguins

> Which windows are you most concerned about the overlooking? If the upper floor ones, then the screen will need to be very tall if done at the fence line. Do you use the yard past the storm water grate? You might consider something along that plane, but depends on the structure you are prepared to invest in

  I would like to cover up to the ground floor windows, not the upper floor. 
Is the storm water grate that black square thing in the middle of the garden? If so, yes, the kids use the whole garden. 
I am cheap and lazy, looking for a low maintenance solution (and hoping to sell the house in a few years).

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## r3nov8or

> I am cheap and lazy, looking for a low maintenance solution (and hoping to sell the house in a few years).

  Cheap? To cover the fence we can see in the photo with the product in your link will cost you about $2000

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## joynz

I don’t think that ivy screen at the link posted above would be suitable as the 1m x 1m panels are made up of much smaller squares clipped together. 
Penguin - what is your budget for this? 
In Victoria, we would use a wooden fence extension (see screenshot below)  but I don’t know if that would work with the metal post and rail fence you have (here, most side and back fences have wooden rails and posts). 
Another way is to put posts in front of the fence and screen those - e.g. with shadecloth as Moondog suggested or timber.  But you would need help with the posts (and it’s not the lazy option). 
I thought about brush fencing on a roll - but it’s generally only 1.8m high...

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## johnc

Is it possible the two rows of pavers against the fence are loose and will just come up. If so you should be able to plant a fast growing creeper or hedging plant. Depends on how soon you intend to sell and move. Plants do a very good job of reducing sound as they act as baffles, longterm they are probably easy maintenance . Doing what you want on a tight budget certainly limits your options.

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## joynz

I’d be surprised if the pavers were mortared in judging by the weeds, it might just be sand?

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## penguins

> I dont think that ivy screen at the link posted above would be suitable as the 1m x 1m panels are made up of much smaller squares clipped together. 
> Penguin - what is your budget for this? 
> In Victoria, we would use a wooden fence extension (see screenshot below)  but I dont know if that would work with the metal post and rail fence you have (here, most side and back fences have wooden rails and posts). 
> Another way is to put posts in front of the fence and screen those - e.g. with shadecloth as Moondog suggested or timber.  But you would need help with the posts (and its not the lazy option). 
> I thought about brush fencing on a roll - but its generally only 1.8m high...

  The linked ivy screen was just an example of the sort of plasticy plant screen that I have in my head. 
Budget wise.... I was thinking $500 but I guess that's way too low?

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## penguins

> Is it possible the two rows of pavers against the fence are loose and will just come up. If so you should be able to plant a fast growing creeper or hedging plant. Depends on how soon you intend to sell and move. Plants do a very good job of reducing sound as they act as baffles, longterm they are probably easy maintenance . Doing what you want on a tight budget certainly limits your options.

  Haha, I was waiting for someone to bring that up. Those last two rows of pavers are cemented in. The rest of the pavers are using sand. 
The last two row are at a slight downward angle so that water passes through with ease. And they were cemented down because the builders behind us kept ripping out our pavers and not putting them back.

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## Marc

I agree with the bamboo screen.  
You don't need to lift the last two rows of pavers or you will otherwise be too close to the fence. Lift 4 pavers behind the first two rows in a square, every 1.5meter and plant 2 or 3 per hole.  
Bamboo is a sort of weed and needs hardly any attention once it is established and they can go up 5 meters no problem. To make a similar screen in any material you want to dream up, you will pay through the nose and at that height, you will need council approval.

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## penguins

> I agree with the bamboo screen.  
> You don't need to lift the last two rows of pavers or you will otherwise be too close to the fence. Lift 4 pavers behind the first two rows in a square, every 1.5meter and plant 2 or 3 per hole

  Stupid question - it would need soil, right?
There's no soil at all - it's sand all the way down.

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## Marc

Sand all the way down? How much down is down? 
Not to worry, sand is better than rocks, easy to dig out. 
Get two big screwdrivers to lift the pavers, and then arm yourself with a post hole shovel like this 
Dig up as much as you can according to the size of the plant and some more, and fill around the plant roots with topsoil you can buy in the nursery in bags. Add a nitrogen rich fertiliser and bob is your father's brother.  :Smilie:

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## penguins

> Sand all the way down? How much down is down? 
> Not to worry, sand is better than rocks, easy to dig out. 
> Get two big screwdrivers to lift the pavers, and then arm yourself with a post hole shovel like this 
> Dig up as much as you can according to the size of the plant and some more, and fill around the plant roots with topsoil you can buy in the nursery in bags. Add a nitrogen rich fertiliser and bob is your father's brother.

  There was a pool underneath which is now full of sand. So probably 5-6ft deep?

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## craka

Bamboo is not that fussy with soil, and from what I can understand will grow in sand but probably will need more water. It has shallow roots, so you may be able to dig a bit of sand up, put some matting down, cover with some soil and plant your bamboo over the top otherwise.

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## r3nov8or

I think you should plant something (bamboo, yep, great) to soften the aesthetics of the yard, as it will also be much more attractive to buyers when it comes the time to sell.

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## johnc

yep, bamboo will grow in almost anything and if the old pool is still there it will contain the roots. you are after a clumping bamboo and Marc's suggestion is cost effective. throw a bag of potting mix or similar into the hole to give the roots a chance to establish

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## joynz

In Melbourne - which has a colder climate so harder to grow things - I planted one bamboo plant every 80cm (each plant had only about 4 culms.  But they are now a thick screen and tall. 
In NSW, they grow faster and get taller than in Melbourne. 
One thing - you must ensure for bamboo is that they never completely dry out as the plant doesn’t like that (that’s why in ground is better than in pots).  It doesn’t have to be wet but bone dry is not  good. 
In Penguin’s case I suggest starting with one or two plants and see how it goes.  No point in wasting money if you really aren’t going to water them.

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## Marc

You need to choose the right species and need to know how far apart you can plant them to achieve an effective screen  
Get in contact with Don Burke and send him an email asking about species and spacing between clumps. He answers emails rather quickly and is on the ball. 
Or try the other guy in 2GB ... or trust the nursery to tell you the right thing.

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## Moondog55

> I  
> One thing - you must ensure for bamboo is that they never completely dry out as the plant doesn’t like that (that’s why in ground is better than in pots).  It doesn’t have to be wet but bone dry is not  good..

  *Good point.*
If you do use blue drums for planting in you can assist this by drilling the drainage holes about 300mm from the bottom

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