Adding privacy divider on top of block wall

On Mon, 06 Dec 2004 07:23:31 GMT, "Fred" vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

Ooh! We're just going to all sorts of Ngs. Oh! We just happen to have ads on our page. Ooh! I bet we're paid by the hit!

So slap away, and think of all the money rolling in just to make it work for ya!

You might want to check out the Geocities home page. They offer "free" web hosting. Now why do you think they do that? Perhaps they put ads on your site in exchange for the free server space? Perhaps it's Geocities that's making the money and not the guy who posted?

Looks like it will work. You may want to check zoning laws for maximum height of a fence though. Even though the two of you want it, the nosey bitch up the street may still turn you in.

In my city walls and fences around residential back yards are limited to six feet. Not quite high enough. The common answer here is to plant fast-growing hedges because there's generally no limit on height of hedges in backyards unless it interferes with line of sight for traffic.

I'm partial to various species of bamboo.

--RC

You can tell a really good idea by the enemies it makes

2) geocities offers free web hosting. the catch is the ads. the same adds that are on everyones free geocities site. new to the web are you?

as for the original poster, looks fine as long as you dont get terrible winds. if it were me i would consider some sort of vine plant to enhance the looks and strength of it.

randy

The bottom piece will trap water. Not good even if you use pressure treated. You could mitigate that by making a rabbet rather than a dado in the bottom piece, sloping the bottom of the rabbet a bit, using solid lattice and nailing the bottom of the lattice into the edge of the rabbet.

-- dadiOH ____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.05... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at

On 12/6/2004 2:23 AM US(ET), Fred took fingers to keys, and typed the following:

Check with your local building department before proceeding. They may have restrictions on the height of residential fences. No sense going through the expense and time, just to have them make you remove it.

Your solution looks doable.

Here in Calif, privacy fences are a way of life and most of them are six feet high. If you reduced your top lattice work to one foot in height (or even fifteen inches), it would offer less wind load and you would still maintain your privacy. It seems to me that the wind load on a one foot height should not over-stress your solution, which I assume is lag bolts and concrete anchors in the top of the wall. If you're worried about it, here are a couple suggestions for added strength:

If you have access to the block cores, cut posts to fit and extend them down into the core a couple feet. (I'm assuming, however, that there is a concrete cap that covers the top of the wall and the cores.)

If you don't have access to the block cores, you can still erect posts by fastening them to the inside of the wall with concrete anchors.

Regarding widn loading, keep in mind that if you anchor the extension well to the wall the top course of blocks might break off and blow over with it.

Na, mound earth either side, then extend with more blocks, raise the earth so the "apparent" height is still within allowed limits. Around here the front fence must not exceed 3 feet, so those requiring privacy have 4 foot plus mounds and then a 3 foot fence on top of that!

It looks like a weak design that won't hold up (is that really what you want??.) Use 4 foot posts with a 2' half laps fastened to the wall with 2 or 3 concrete screws.

Neither did I with OE with the most recent MS patches installed.

Gary

Thanks, Randy. Good idea. Fred

Gee whiz... it's a free website. They put the ads up, not me....

Thanks, but won't work here - not enough space for the earth.

I've seen those around here. Might be the way to go but I was trying to avoid adding any braces on the sides. You're probably right about the weak design though. First big wind might do it in. Still thinking....

Thanks for this info! I really hate geocities now that they push these popups on you, and you have no control over what they're advertising. Used to use angelfire until they went overboard with it.

One of the folks replied to this and I accidentally deleted his message in mid stream. He was talking about changing the grooves and putting something at angle..... didn't quite get it because I was looking up every other word in the dictionary....

Anyway, would you mind sketching out your idea and posting somewhere, like at... alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking

Thanks! Fred