Ideas/Advice on Garden Screening

[Rustinho]

Hi there folks. Just thought I'd see if anyone out there in Surfland can give me any ideas about a small problem I have.

Just to set the scene, the back garden at our house backs onto the garden of a convicted paedophile. We only discovered this a couple of weeks ago when we were warned by another neighbour about a bit of suspicious activity in his garden (basically he has trimmed the hedge back on his side and built a new shed which has a door opening directly facing our back garden and a window which looks towards our garden).

Parts of the hedge are a bit on the thin side and can easily be seen through. This has left me feeling uncomfortable about allowing my little boy to play outside without being "spied on".

The new shed, etc, could well be perfectly innocent and the bloke has to live somewhere but I'm not prepared to take the risk.

I've thought of putting some bamboo screening up to obscure the view through the hedge. I've also got the option of building some kind of wooden frame and wrapping garden netting around it.

I don't want to inhibit the growth of the privet hedge and make it even easier to see through and I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do for the best.

Plans were to probably relocate to another part of the country as soon as I've finished my teacher training anyway but I need to do something to put my mind at ease in the meantime.

Any thoughts or musings about solutions to my problem would be welcome (apart from anything unhelpful like suggesting I "send some mates round" or burn his house down or whatever).

Thanks folks.

[animal]

Bamboo screening is still quite see through up close. Can't you just put a 6' fence panel or 2 up to enclose the garden.
Good job you put up not to post about sending some mates round because id love to see some anti peado justice done, ###### sickos.

[gary-r]

phone plod as an anonymous do-gooder and complain about the smell of aromatic fags coming from the shed if that doesn't work a buy a cattle prod to keep the fecker in line.

on a more serious note i guess a screen of some sort is about all you can do. must be a worry every time the wee lads outside.

its a sad world when they let convicted perverts re-house where there are kids

[Mork]

B&Q sell 8 foot wooden fence panels, posts, and whatnot.
It'd only take an afternoon of effort and a bit of ££ to get the back of the garden neatly fenced off.

[rich2484]

first thing is height. how tall are you looking?

second thing is you will not disrupt privet hedge, i have cut those down to stumps at ground level and they do grow back. hardy fxxkxxg things they are.

a net screen will come apart from the hedge after a short period.

you can go for 6foot panels with a foot gravel board at the bottom on concrete posts. but use postcrete as it sets in 15 mins and you can build the fence up as you go (rather than concrete as you will have to wait for the posts to set before panels go in) and you will need 9 feet of posts. 2 in the ground and 7 above for gravel board and panel.

this can be expensive when doing a long fence, but if you are clever you could work out how far along whole panels fit until they cover the door and window then place a couple of panels infront of door window then do rest at a later date.

apart from keeping an eye on him thats about the best i have got.....

i hate neighbours and wish i lived in the middle of the sticks.

HTH

[rich2484]

oh sorry i completly forgot about planning laws over windows facing over other propertys, if the e it may conflict with planning laws and how close it is to paths and roads. my mate had a neighbour complain about his shed as it was a double garage shed and they said it looked ugly and was to close to the road. he has noone behind his house just a big field. had a visit from council and they said it was fine. but i would check with local authourity to see if any planning laws come into play with the door and window...

[gwh200]

Apart from screening, Make the area, adjacent to his shed as unpleasnt a place to be, as possible. I'm sure, you can think of ways, to make staying in his shed, a really miserable experience.

[spacast]

Well, not that bothered with neighbours myself, the odd delinquent squirrel is about as bad as it gets here, however... the prob with fences is that unless they are totally peek-proof they might actually make it easier for him to spy on you (assuming that's his intention, which seems likely).

Don't know how long your garden is, but if you put a screen/fence up a few feet from the hedge so that he couldn't get right up to it, then he wouldn't be able to look thru any knot holes, cracks etc.
Store all your old rubbish behind it.

Nice to see you the other day

[JD_975]

Hi mate, it does seem a bit strange that he has pointed the windows at your property rather than his own, I`d be concerned too.

I think I would go with putting up a fence using the cheap 6x6 panels, the bamboo screening etc is almost completely see through from a distance especially on a sunny day and I wouldnt worry about the hedge at all, privet is nearly impossible to kill and is probably the second most abundant substance on earth!

I got a load of those fence panels from a proper builders merchants last year for a fraction of what the normal DIY places charge, think the panels worked out at under a tenner each and the posts about 3 quid a piece.

[Wolfracer]

What Spacast said...
If you've got the room, build the fence AWAY from the privet, then it will be impossible to see through...
I'm sure if you need some help, we could get the boys around...to sort your fence that is?
If its only "temporary" then go cheap panels and wood posts - it'll still last a long time.

[bimmaman]

Why not just block his view from the shed? I don't know the layout of your garden etc, but if you were to just put up a big board or something in the right place, it could totally block his view of the garden, without you losing a lot of light, or whatever.

You'd soon know if he really was spying on your boy, as his shed might move to another part of the garden!

I have attached a picture so you know what I'm waffling about...

[stormforce]

6'6 is the legal height for a fence bordering neighbours,so i would go for that and put it as close to the hedge as you can so not to lose any of your garden.

[HONEST AL]

Rusty,I have used this firm in the past,not as obtrusive as waneylap or the like.but it is unobtrusive
Its called FEDGE,basically its a fence panel covered in that plastic grass beloved of butchers windows,cant give you a price,but have seen it in place and it is relatively NON see through....the only number I have is

07860 235315..

but as for myself ,razor wire and a cattle prod do it for me.

On another topic,have you forgotten me or are you still contagious,Alan

[schrodingers-cat]

Maybe an anonymous poster campaign informing everyone for miles around what lives there would drive it somewhere else

[Sancho]

Why don't you just go and knock on the bloke's door, explain that you've heard about his past and tell him that you're concerned?

It's going to be an embarassing conversation all round but, if he's out of prison, he should have had lots of counselling and be far more interested in making sure he can live in peace and get along with his neighbours than in maybe being able to see into your garden. He'll probably willingly block up the window or put some kind of fence up to demonstrate that he's no danger.