26' Intex - Planning, Install, Upgrades, and Landscaping Thread

[jseyfert3]

Okay, so fence wise I'm starting to think pay someone to put a maintenance free fence up. Wood has to be cleaned and stained regularly. I've got someone coming out Monday to quote a fence.

Now, getting onto the PLANNING!!!

Weather is warming up. Snow is all gone. Here's a couple quick snaps of the backyard. I'm thinking in the middle back, right where the putting green is. It's the flattest section. Leaves lots of room to landscape around it. Partial deck towards the front of the house.

I have a feeling the neighbors on the side you see in my pictures are going to hate the fence and pool, but it'll all be done to code and there's nothing they can do about it. We didn't pay $250,000 for someone to tell us what we can't do on our own property.

The ones behind me won't care, especially if we invite them over for a BBQ and let their kids swim in the pool while we talk and have some drinks.

 

[kimkats]

You will come to hate leaves if you put your pool right under those trees. Can you cut them down? I do see why you would like it there but those tress will laugh at you trying to get the leaves out each day!

Fence...........not a one in site I wonder if the kids just tromp from one year to the next there? You will LOVE the fence for that reason!!

Kim

 

[jseyfert3]

The bushes are on my property, but the trees are not. I may be able to get permission to cut them down from the city, they don't want lots of trees in the greenbelts anyway. That said, I like them. The prior owners had zero, that's right, zero trees anywhere on the property. I like trees. You are right though, fishing leaves out would be a royal pain.

Yes, not a fence in site. Not a lot of kids though. This subdivision was built in the late 80's and early 90's, and many of the houses are still owned by the people who built them 30 years ago. Such as the neighbors next to us, visible in our pictures, who said "fences weren't allowed because of the greenbelt and keeping it natural."

Well, that's BS. There is a restrictive covenant that all fences have to be approved by the Architectural Control Committee, but I've officially confirmed the ACC no longer exists, and a clause in our restrictive covenants says if you don't hear from the ACC in 30 days, it's as if you got approval. So no ACC = no fence restrictions except the ones outlined by city ordinance.

Because there's so many houses with owners for 30 years, there are a lot of retired people (or close to retired) and not a lot of kids. I expect over the next 5 years a large amount of retirement based house sales and a transition to a younger generation of homeowners.

After all, that's exactly what happened with our house. Owners built it in 1990. They retired and built a house in Arizona, which is why they sold this one.

 

[kimkats]

Sounds like you have it all worked out! Sweet! There are pool covers that may be helpful to keep most of them out. We will talk more about that as you get closer to putting it up.

That neighbor is going to try to mess up you fence so be ready with the paperwork. Just give him a copy of what you found out and smile as you walk away.

Kim

 

[jseyfert3]

You know who does tromp yard to yard? These guys:


And then my puppy (seen in the yard pics, still need to start a thread about him in the Coffee Bar) wants to eat their droppings.

I'm hoping to start laying out possible pool locations with ropes on stakes and paint, like we discussed a long time ago, in the next few days, or by the weekend for sure. It would be nice to confirm utility locations, which corresponds to fence location, before I find a spot it just "has to be".

I'm hoping the fence can go on the back of the lot, where the row of bushes are, but the roots and utilities may prevent that. We shall see in the next couple of weeks!

 

[kimkats]

need to start a thread about him in the Coffee Bar)

YES you do!!! LOL I was looking at the pics and wondered what kind of puppy it was!

I'm hoping the fence can go on the back of the lot,

The bigger the fenced area the better with the puppy! Have you been potty training to the back corner of the lot? If not let me know and I will tell you how to do it.

Kim

 

[jseyfert3]

First quote, for a 6' semi-privacy in tan or almond, with two 4' walking gates, for 266' feet of fence came back at $16,000. GLUP! We are re-quoting with them in white, as colored is more expensive. According to a quick Google search, almost 3x more expensive than white. So we will see.

Also apparently the semi-privacy is more expensive than full privacy. We had decided semi-privacy as the neighbors can see over the fence anyway, so may as well let some light and air through. Not a huge fan of picket type fences though. 6' though cause I want to put cat proofed nets on the top of the fence and let the cats out so they loose weight, but not let them out of the yard.

Anyway, in addition to a white semi-privacy, they will quote a full privacy. Apparently that is somewhat cheaper than a semi-privacy because the semi-privacy they have to mod more to get them to rack (go up and down hills without stepping). But they said the labor was only about $2k, materials being the rest of the cost. Will update when I get the re-quote.

 

[kimkats]

OUCH!!!

 

[jseyfert3]

So I got a few more details. They have a sale, so the semi-privacy fence we wanted was $14,661, not $16,000. Still a lot. In white that style fence was $13,180. The cheapest 6' full privacy fence they sell is $10,566 in white. And I hate full panel white privacy fences.

So...looks like we're back to a DIY wood fence, cause $10-$14k is just a lot of money to spend on a fence, even if it won't need much maintenance and will last a long time. A treated pine full privacy fence ran about $2500 in materials last I looked (your typical solid wood fence). Throw in a couple friends and an air nailer or two, and an auger and the whole thing should go pretty quick. If anyone has any suggestions on cool looking wood fence designs, I'm open to seeing them. Post a picture. Looking specifically for 6' high fences. Either full privacy or semi-privacy.

 

[kimkats]

You can put a pretty curve on the top and top the post with a decorative something to dress it up some. Oh and you can do the semi private with the slats on this side then that side.

 

[krazykrames]

Here's a cheap DIY fence. Did upgrage to cedar as recommended by my brother in law who owns a fence company (lasts longer, doesn't warp much, no maintenance). Price was $10 a foot from Menards.

 

[gonfishin]

I wish I had a photo of the privacy fence my folks put up ....

It was rough cedar planks. Planks were on oposing sides of the 2x4s. To make it look less like a fence, they planted Engleman Ivy in various locations and let it spread. Over 50+ years, they only had to replace a few of the 4x4s due to rot.

 

[jseyfert3]

Okay, so the start of planning/layouts! It's unfortunately cold and windy, so we didn't play around as much as we wanted. I did ring a 26' circle with white flags to outline how big our pool is. It's positioned about 12' inward from the rear property line, which is about as far as we can go. There is a 10' utility easement and the pool cannot be inside the easement, nor closer than 5' to any electrical lines.

Anyway, I started pulling up the fake grass putting green, and there is sand underneath. Ugh. I imaging we want to dig down to the untouched dirt below that sand, otherwise the walls that cross the sand will sink and the other ones won't. Ah well, guess that's why I'm paying someone to grade the area, right?

View from the NE corner, looking SW.

View from the E side of the property, looking NW.

View from the deck, looking N.

Right now I'm thinking if we build the pool here, I'd build a partial deck off the right side of the pool. I was never thinking of doing a 360° deck, just too much work. Building the deck off the side of the pool facing the house deck eats way too much into the yard.

Also I put in a utility marking request for the entire backyard so I could see where the pool/fence can and cannot go.

My guess is that the line of bushes will come down. While they don't look bad, the fence would go behind them, so they'd get in the way of maintenance, get in the way of pool access, etc.

I think our neighbors are going to think we are crazy. In addition to the fence and pool with a small deck, we're planing 4 fruit trees, in our front yard, probably another two in the backyard (peaches/pears/apples, most of which will be used for hard cider and wine once they are established). Eventually there will be a veggie garden and probably some fruit bushes. I tell you what, if the neighbors don't like the fence, well, they certainly won't like all the other stuff we are doing to do...

It was rough cedar planks. Planks were on oposing sides of the 2x4s. To make it look less like a fence, they planted Engleman Ivy in various locations and let it spread. Over 50+ years, they only had to replace a few of the 4x4s due to rot.

I thought about putting ivy on a wood fence if we built one. Not certain about it though. Would certainly look a lot nicer than a plain old fence IMO. Also thought about using the fence as a support for grapes. You know, for more wine. Cause all those fruit trees won't be enough.

 

[Newdude]

I thought about putting ivy on a wood fence if we built one. Not certain about it though. Would certainly look a lot nicer than a plain old fence IMO

While pretty, ivy quickly grows so thick it will back out any sunlight from the fence and retain all that moisture. It will greatly increase the aging/ rotting process and cause the fence to fail many years early from the weight of a wall of ivy, which is much more than most people realize.

I’ve seen it done ‘The right way’ with beefed up posts and steel cables run along the perimeter spaced 4 to 6 inches apart in height. I seem to remember ‘climbing ivy’ is a thing for this way of doing it. It takes a few years but will eventually be a live wall with almost full privacy.

 

[kimkats]

there is sand underneath.

BUT that sand has been there for a good, long time so should be solid by now. I wonder how deep it is? So long as you use large stepping stones under the upright I think you should be okay.

build a partial deck off the right side of the pool.

Just make sure to make it big enough to hold two loungers and a table it will all be good!

put in a utility marking request for the entire backyard

Good idea!!

My guess is that the line of bushes will come down

Smart move there!

Please go grab those lawn staples out of the grass so the puppy we have not met yet (hint, hint LOL) does not get hurt on them.

KIm

 

[jseyfert3]

Good point. I'll probably just stick with my plan of cleaning it each spring with my pressure washer and re-coating it every two years or so. For the coating I'd get a nice airless sprayer and it shouldn't take more than a few hours to do the entire fence.

I thought about cedar fence panels but the ones from both Menard's and Home Depot had bad reviews. Lots of people saying saying there were tons of warped and unusable panels. Hence I think I may just stick with the cheap pressure treated pine pickets and just stain them to my desired shade of reddish-brown.

I like this style of wood privacy fence, but that's certainly a bit more work and about 50% more pickets to give the textured walls. (also needs to be stained some sort of reddish color IMO)


A semi-privacy shadowbox fence is a bit easier to make. That just alternates sides with pickets, leaving an opening if you look diagonally through, and letting a little bit of air through while not feeling like an impenetrable wall. I don't like the typical style with the open top, but this model with simple top rail looks both nice and easy to build.


Of course there's a reason the typical straight fence with dog ear pickets like this is used...it's cheap and dead nuts easy to build. Those top rails, while they look nice (IMO), mean extra work to make sure everything lines up, especially when going up and down hills, whereas the non-top rail fence you just slap the picket up, hit in with your air nailer a few times and move on to the next one.


So ultimately I may just end up with the regular style wood privacy fence due to the triple combination of being the fastest, easiest, and cheapest wood privacy fence to build. That is what I priced out at about $2500 worth of materials a month or two back.

 

[Newdude]

I thought about cedar fence panels but the ones from both Menard's and Home Depot had bad reviews. Lots of people saying saying there were tons of warped and unusable panels

I did fences for a while inbetween careers with a friends company. He would get far superior product shipped down from Canada both with less knots/warp and thicker too. But each panel was 2-3x the Home Depot price that everybody saw out front. It’s sounds like your fence guy is shipping in the better stuff too. Ask him for the specifics of it’s not too late. (Thickness and clarity). It’s like everything else, pay once for better stuff, or replace it more often.

Locally we have distributors that have the better product, or family owned building supply places that might make their own better quality stuff. I would look for either of those two for pre made.

If you decide to totally DIY, Use your actual lumber yard for the right cut pieces that won’t warp as much. I haven’t needed to do it myself in a while so I’m rusty at the moment, but you can tell from the end of the plank which ones are going to twist and warp. Google it In the meantime, or the lumber yard people will be happy to tell you why and which of their stuff is more expensive than the HD twisty kind.

 

[jseyfert3]

Our fence guy was quoting vinyl fences, and high quality most likely, but just a bit too much. I don't think I'd pay someone to do wood fence, they are really easy to DIY. Plus then I have an excuse to buy an air nailer.

Good point on checking local lumberyards for higher quality wood. I will have to do that.

 

[Newdude]

Vinyl was the same thing. It was better quality either in thickness or finish. My buddy got the angry phone calls from his customers 5 years later if his fence was garbage. Nobody ever fights Home Depot or Walmart because the price was so low in the first place. . For a reason. Lol.

 

[jseyfert3]

The main utility locating service is here.

Poor guy has to duck around the bushes between the bushes and the trees.


Also that's right near the property line, most likely too close to put a fence on the rear property line. So I may have to put the fence 10' back from the rear line anyway.

Ah well. If I clear the bushes and put a fence up 10' back with a gate, then that section could become a nice semi secluded area to put a hammock stand or some similar.