Ideas wanted to deal with fence beside neighbour's patio

[tcarnell]

Hi all,

I'm looking for ideas and suggestions how to erect a new fence beside our neighbours patio.

There was an old panel fence but it's gradually fallen apart over the years and one of the posts which was beside the patio (roughly where the camera is in the first photo below) rotted at ground level.

Patio3

• tcarnell
• 19 Apr 2018

Looking back from the opposite direction you can clearly see how some of the blocks are leaning...

You can also see where a couple of the blocks are leaning. This is historical and probably occurred when the patio was laid about 10 years ago.

Patio1

• tcarnell
• 19 Apr 2018

You can see that the blockwork of the neighbour's patio is leaning, and some of the slabs are...

Looking back from the opposite direction shows the leaning blocks and you can just about see that the slabs at the far end are loose.

My dilemma is this:
I want to erect a new close board fence, with the posts, rails and gravel boards on my side, and the boards on the neighbour's side. All is well apart from when I get to this patio area.
I know that if I put the boards on my side I could fit a gravel board and bring the boards down to meet it, hiding the blocks, but that's not what I want to do. I think the extra moisture generated at this point will just rot the boards away in a relatively short space of time (as it did the post that was there). Also, the owners of the property aren't living there and are renting it out as an HMO, so I want the majority of the fence's structure on my side so that I can maintain it more effectively.

My thought was to use Post Saver sleeves on the posts to minimise the risk of rotting (http://www.postsaver.com/Postsaver/Postsaver-Uses/Fencing/Garden-Fencing.html), not have a gravel board at this point, and bring the boards down to stop an inch or so above the level of their patio, but that will leave a foot or so of ugly block work visible on my side.

Any ideas how to conceal this eyesore and minimise the risk of rot in the future?

All ideas gratefully received

Tony.

 

[Tigercubrider]

concrete gravel boards? I believe that you can stain them
Maybe concrete spur posts to bolt wooden posts on?
or concrete posts.
I have concrete posts and gravel boards with panels and trellis and it doesn't look like the Berlin Wall

 

[JohnD]

Yes, use concrete.

You can paint it with masonry paint. I use dark brown to match the woodstain.

 

[tcarnell]

Thanks for your suggestions guys.

I thought concrete gravel boards would be the way to go, and whilst planning that I hit upon a slightly different idea.
I'm now going to install the posts and then between them I'll try using 600mm x 600mm paving slabs installed on their edge into a trench roughly 200mm deep. The 400mm above ground will come up to the top of the patio and hide the rough blockwork, and the 200m below ground (set into concrete) should stop the slabs from moving (the patio will shield them from the wind).

I plan to put a paving slab path up beside the new fence in due course, so using matching slabs will help it to blend together well.

That's the plan anyway...!

Thanks again,
Tony.

 

[Tigercubrider]

I remember my dad did something similar in the 70's and it worked.
maybe he couldn't get concrete gravel boards, or they were the wrong size

 

[JohnD]

concrete gravel board are very heavy. You can manage the 6-inch ones, but the 1-foot high boards are a bit of an effort. The 300mm ones are just as bad.

I like them, you can set your concrete posts so the gravel boards sit on the concrete infill around the posts, and will have a couple of inches below the surface, which discourages weeds, rubbish and animals getting through the gap. You do have to put in Hedgehog openings at intervals, and at the ends of the garden. This is easier at a short piece where a full panel won't go and you have to make up a filler.