Adding trellis to stop neighbour intrusion

[RosesAreRed85]

I live in a 4 in a block. I'm top floor and my garden (private) is the one shown on the left of the photo, surrounded by the fence. Neighbour is beneath and the window shown is her bedroom window. Both fences are mine, previous owner paid for them and for them to be erected.

I get on well enough with downstairs neighbour however the issue is that every time I go out to the garden, she comes out and chats, for a good half hour. She's elderly and I get that she just wants to chat, I have no problem with a short chat now and then, but last time I was out there, I had a whole day free when DC was at their dads and so wanted to get cracking on the garden, she came out 5 separate times, 3 times to chat for ages and will sometimes stand watching me from her bedroom window, which is a little awkward.

I'm not sure if it would be unreaonable of me to heighten the fence a little to give me privacy? I don't want to completely block her light, just her view into my garden! I was thinking of popping a trellis on top, so that light still gets through. Maybe pop some climbing flowers on it. The taller fence that can be seen is 6ft tall, i was thinking of matching the trellis height to this. Local planning permission dictates 6ft 6 inches is the limit that you can have fences, so I don't think I would be breaking any local laws. I'm sure she will complain as she's quite fixed on how she thinks things should be, so I'm not sure if it's unreasonable of me to do this?

Can you get a freestanding garden screen that you can put in your garden but leave a bit of a gap so it's not right up to the fence?

That’s why I offered some straight forward sentences to help let her know when you need alone time. Communication is everything.

Putting up a trellis will be pointless and unkind in my opinion.

This changes things, it's not as if you will be depriving her of her only view from her flat if you create some sort of screening.

Lots of good suggestions here. I'd definitely go ahead

Hello. My dad had a similar problem (but neighbours aren't that chatty). He got some big pots and some tall clumping bamboo. It's made a wonderful screen without being too dense.

Bamboo in pots! Just to be doubly sure it doesn't go nuts and root everywhere.

Headphones are your friend “I have to get back to my audio book”.
I would also consider trellis.

Why don’t you just talk to her about it.

Stop being nice. Tell her you’re busy and can’t talk. Put the trampoline next to the fence. I assume it lets light in so it would love all your problems

I do hear you, she is likely a very lonely old lady and happy to see someone kind, it’s probably the most she’s spoken to anyone in weeks. I’d just say “lovely to chat but I really must crack on I have a lot to do while x isnt here” and walk off. Do this a few times and maybe just the first time chat for 5 minutes. Feels a bit mean to not try a few options first.

I would first try other ways of deterring the conversations first. Put some head phone on and listen to a podcast. Or tell her you’re listening to something for work and need to get it finished. Or a few conversation ending phases: “lovely to chat with you, but got to get back to the garden now”, “we’re in the middle of a board game now, but I’d be happy to catch up another time”.

I’m going to go against the trend here. I would put up trellis and maybe grow some bamboo in pots along the fence. It looks like it’s only her side access to her front door. I don’t know what that window is but you could keep a bit of a gap so as not to block her light. The fence is far too low in my opinion.
and you have a right to privacy.
doesnt mean you can’t keep a section open so you have the option to chat but you need to feel private in your own garden.
Other option might be a swing seat or something facing away from her house to provide bit of a barrier.

This picture gives you an idea of how it will change her view. We had to add a trellis to a wall in front of our window to hold a rose bush up, it’s about 3’ from the window with a walkway in front (please excuse the twigs, the crows did it!).

Op, if you do decide to put a trellis or anything else up, I would love it if, in due course, you post a photograph of whatever you eventually decide upon.

Have you looked at how others flat owners have solved this problem. Surely you are not the only one to have this dilemma

Yes this would be my suggestion, something you can plant in pots, that can be moved. They won’t block the light but will give you some privacy.
Maybe look at pleached trees as that could work too. They aren’t cheap but look really nice.

Not that many folk seem to use their gardens in this row of flats. I have just taken a look, all of the gates bar ours are further back, making me think that the pathway outside her bedroom window should indeed be shared. But as for privacy screening, I can't see anything.

If it should be shared who would use it other than your nieghbour and who put up the fence? Is it legal?

There has been a fence since day dot, the previous owner of my flat replaced the original low fence with the 6ft fence up as she was having the same issues as I was, said she wasn't able to sit in peace in her garden.

I don't know who else would use it, perhaps me so that I can have access to paint/repair the fence? I have no idea, I certainly don't need to use it. Hence why I haven't said anything about it, as if I were her, I'd prefer to have that bit as private as it's directly outside my bedroom window, so I'm happy for it to be for her sole use.

Sorry didn't see this... But here's how you do it...

You use posts and postcrete. Get pressure treated posts as they will last when in contact with the ground.

The post needs to have a third of it's height buried in the ground - so for a 1.8m high post, you'd want to buy a 2.4m post and bury the bottom 0.6m of the post in the ground.

You dig a hole three times the width of the post - so if you use a 50mm post. you want a hole 150mm (15cm) wide.

So in the above example, you need a hole 60cm deep and 15cm wide.

You can buy post hole augers that width which are very easy and convenient to use. I have this one;

https://www.screwfix.com/p/spear-jackson-post-hole-auger/3911k

Put the post in the hole, make sure it's level, then add Postcrete followed by the correct amount of water. Keep checking for level while the postcrete hardens.

Postcrete is convenient as it's VERY fast setting and you can attach panels to the post almost immediately. If you're only adding trellis and using 50mm posts. you should be able to get away with about half a bag of postcrete per hole - but check the instructions on the website/bag

So the process would be:

• dig first hole and put in first post
• while postcrete goes off, measure distance to next post and dig hole
• screw trellis to first post - support trellis base at unsupported end so it doesn't sag
• put second post in hole and add postcrete - use trellis to ensure it's the right distance and a spirit level to make sure it's upright

Watch some youtube videos about how to install fence posts.

Thank you!