Are you" isolated" ?

[iris lilies]

I like my wood fences between neighbors. We went through a period of having a low chain-link fence between us and the next-door neighbor who borders a busy street. The chain-link fence was there before current ordinances were in place to prohibit chain-link so it was old and dodgy. Anyway – I didn’t realize how open and exposed I was to that busy street that’s one yard over Until this wood fence went up. I really really like the wood fence’s privacy.


We toyed with the idea of installing little grills at dog level so that our dogs could peer over there and see what’s going on because whoever is living there has always had a dog. But we didn’t do it And it’s probably just as well because so many of our dogs get so ramped up anyway at just hearing those other dogs.

[happystuff]

As others have said, I wouldn't take it personally, Kay. After all, they put the fence up for whatever reasons/issues THEY have.

We finally got some really nice neighbors next door a couple years ago. Very friendly with young kids. Over the years we have actually taken down the "barriers" between the yards. Still have some weed cleanup and old fence posts to go, but mostly free paths between. It's really nice.

[Geila]

Kay - here in CA everyone has privacy fences. They're supposed to be 6' tall but many people, including us, find ways to make them taller without breaking ordinance. When we looked at homes in NJ many years ago, contemplating a relocation, we were shocked to see that most homes there just had short see-through fences. I would hate that. I want privacy in my backyard. I always go out in my camisole and underwear when I'm letting the dogs out in the morning, I shave DH's hair in my underwear, after I bathe my dogs I take off all my wet clothes outside, etc... You get the picture.

I want my backyard as private as my house. It would be a real shock to my system to be on display all the time. Even my front yard has a good deal of privacy. I know it would seem unneighborly and rude to put up a fence but I would have to. And it would have nothing at all to do with my neighbors. If I had kids I would want them to be able to run around in their underwear outside (or naked for that matter) without anyone watching them. If there are no privacy fences that means maybe up to 5 households would be able to see everything that goes on in my backyard? No way!

[Teacher Terry]

In Wisconsin many homes didn’t have fences and kids could run around in their bathing suits. I don’t go outside in anything see through.

[razz]

When I went house hunting in 2014, I visited a new house in a new development. From the deck all I could see around me were high wooden fences. Two-storey homes peered into single-storey neighbouring houses. I was horrified that anyone could live that way without suffocating. Since then I have seen condo developments with even more barriers and closer together. Talk about living like a sardine in a can!

When I completed the fencing around my little bungalow, I chose 4 foot black chain link in order to ensure ample airflow, visibility of my surroundings and accessibility with no regrets.

Shrubs, flowers and trees provide privacy and, like TT, I don't go outside in anything see through. The dog can enjoy watching the activities happening on the street, rabbits come visiting and guests comment on the openness of the space despite the small yard.

That said, my neighbour in the back has a dog that has bitten people and started snarling at me aggressively biting at the chain link. This spring she decided to erect a 6 foot wooden fence on her side of the existing chain link fence. I was pleased for this to control the dog. She used to have bonfires every evening that were scary in size and many visitors. I had warned her when she first moved in that the airflow would be negatively impacted by a solid wooden fence. She has high fences on each side of her small yard. This summer was really warm, the number of guests were really low on the warm days and the bonfires few. It was just too hot with no air movement, I think.

[JaneV2.0]

I've always lived in houses that had wooden fences and/or impenetrable hedges. I never felt the least bit constrained by them. Obviously, you either love 'em or hate 'em.

[Alan]

I live on a 3/4 acre lot with the majority of that in the back since the lot is pie shaped at the end of a cul-de-sac. We erected a split rail fence with green wire mesh attached maybe 10 years ago to give our two dogs at the time plenty of room to run and play in the back yard as well as to provide a barrier for the non-existent neighborhood kids who may wander into the pool. Privacy wasn't the issue since the yard is heavily wooded, as are the neighboring yards. In the summer when leaves are on the trees you'd never even know we had neighbors, it's that secluded. So, there are several months each year when Google Earth's cameras may find me sitting in my underwear having coffee in the mornings. I check their satellite view once in a while to see if I've been caught, but so far so good.

[catherine]

Fences in my family are a Rorschach test: I would love a fence--preferably a beautiful wooden one--high enough to keep dogs off-leash and kids safe, but low enough to permit the airflow that razz is talking about--my NJ house had a beautiful view of the public park and I wouldn't want to cut that off, either. I admit I like privacy, and I am definitely introverted.

My DH will never get a fence. He doesn't believe in them. He's an extrovert and occasionally, frankly, has problems with boundaries (literally and figuratively).

But fences may be appropriate in one situation and not in another. DS lives in an urban setting and has 6-foot stockade fencing, and I really like it. Privacy in his situation is needed.

[rosarugosa]

I cannot resist:

Mending Wall by Robert Frost
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'

[SteveinMN]

We toyed with the idea of installing little grills at dog level so that our dogs could peer over there and see what’s going on because whoever is living there has always had a dog.

When I replaced the cedar privacy fence at my mom's place, we purposely left out two slats (?); one in the front, so the dog could see the front yard (well, driveway, actually) and one in the back so the dog could at least sniff at its buddy, who lived with the backyard neighbor. Happiness ensued. Now that both of those dogs are gone, we're replaced the slats. But it worked pretty well for that dog.