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In the garden adjacent to the house there was a short stretch of palisade fence, which had been there for years. The wasps liked it and gnawed off material for their own /buildings/ every year. However, the wood had become rotten at the bottom ends. Someday one of them sticks would tip over in the wrong moment and in falling create a fancy dent in the neighbors car[a]. Obviously even nice neighbors don't like this sort of event, so replacement of the fence was being called for.
At least two ideas were trying to get my conscious attention. On one hand I wanted a screen to block the sight towards the terrace table, while allowing to see the garden green. Something like vertical blinds. On the other hand I toyed with this notion, that the blinds would be spacious enough to house nerdy or artistry gimmicks. Maybe something with boxes, 25cm[b] by 25cm basic area, open to the sight of passersby showing a nice toy. There is no shortage of whacky ideas in my creative brain.
To unite these ideas I decided for vertical blinds with a mutual distance of 25cm. The aforementioned boxes would just fit in between them. The blinds would be positioned 45° relative to the line of the fence. The blinds would need to be 50cm wide by law of geometry, but this seemed doable. I imagined the blinds to be made from Douglas fir and a few parts of metal, coated with varnish.
The diagram shows the rough outline of the new fence. The mutual distance of 25cm between the blinds and the chosen angle of 45° demand the blinds to be 50cm wide. The size of the boxes needs to be reduced by the thickness of the blinds material.
I cut the iron parts, drilled holes and put on coats of varnish (metal primer and RAL 4004 finish). All screws are stainless steel, the spacers made from plastic, nuts are self-locking. The whole thing should hopefully last for a while.
Viewed from one angle the outside of the fence is blocking any sight. It may seem a little bulky or high.
Viewed from the other angle the fence looks more like an outside shelf lacking the rear cover. Nerdy gimmicks are still lacking, however, there is plenty of space for plants and decoration.
A /detailed/ diagram including dimensions isn't luxury but simple neccessity.
The blacksmith in the next village is able to create much nicer parts in much shorter time than I can. His pal down the road can put on primer and powder coating with modest effort. The result would look much better than my own paint brush artistry.
So far you cannot buy such a fence off the shelf. And yes, it works beautifully just as anticipated. It does not lock out the cats, but that was not a design goal.
My neighbor, landscaper by profession, and his crew created a durable foundation onto which I bolted the fence. It stands stable and it has survived meteorlogical depressions like /Fabienne/ unscathed.
8 of 10, 2 points subtracted, because the space between the blinds is not quite square. The boxes fix moderately well.
All Images (C) 2015-2018 Erich Wälde
[a] Bonus points for the /new/ car!
[b] 25cm is approximately 10 inch
The fence is standing tall, it has created conversation with neighbors and passersby. I do /not/ own any rights on this structure, so if you feel inclined to build one yourself, please go right ahead.
Thanks to butshesagirl for motivating me to translate this post.
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