Makeshift Fences Make Good Neighbors

[mortonfox]

I mentioned in passing last week that we were putting up a fence but didn't go into detail. It was basically to deal with the problem of kids trespassing to take a shortcut. Ah, the challenges of homeownership. I'm not sure that it's actually quicker or easier for them this way, but for whatever reason, kids were entering the front yard and using the strip of land next to my house. Then they climbed the tree and hopped over the back fence into the back neighbor's yard and went out to the next street. Aside from the issue of trespass, there's also a liability problem if they fall and injure themselves. Although I did see them crossing through a few times, I'm usually not around to stop them.

Solution? Put up a small fence to block off this strip of land. After visiting both Home Depot and Lowe's and considering various options, we decided to go with the simplest materials. We got a roll of 4' wire mesh, two 6' yard posts, and two bags of concrete. (Got one bag at first but it wasn't enough. Luckily, Lowe's was just a few minutes away.)

The posts were easier to install than I thought. I thought we'd have to dig to the depth of 2 feet but we didn't. Once the holes were deep enough to place the posts, I merely stepped on the posts and they cut through the dirt to the required depth. Added the concrete and let it set overnight. By the next day, the posts were solidly in place. Then we took about 14 feet of wire mesh and wrapped it around the posts to make a 2-layer 6-foot-wide barrier. Fastened the mesh to the posts with wire ties, painted the mesh, and that was that.

I was out for the next 3 days so I didn't see the effect until Thursday. Well, it works. No more kids cutting through. Also, since this was no longer a viable path, they didn't stray into the front yard either.

Comments

[altivo]

It amazes me how rude people (even adults) can be about this sort of thing. We had the same problem in Chicago, even though we already had fences in place. They had to open two gates to walk through from the front to the alley in back. Worse, they would leave the gates open all the time, so we couldn't let our dogs out without going to check the gates, neither of which was visible from the back door. It was finally solved by putting a lock on the back gate and "Beware of Dog" signs on both gates.