Garden privacy ideas

Whether you want to avoid nosy neighbors, live on a busy road, or simply want to avoid prying eyes, there are options to achieve more privacy in your yard without breaking the bank. For example, you could consider installing a privacy fence or planting high hedges. Here is a look at some budget-friendly options for restoring privacy to your garden.

There are two aspects to privacy:

1. Visual privacy not only protects you from prying eyes, but it also allows you to work or relax without being distracted by whatever may be going on outside your designated private space.
2. Noise privacy is just as important as visual privacy. The constant noise from traffic and other forms of noise pollution can have a negative effect on your health and well being.

Both visual distractions and noise pollution need to be addressed if you want to reclaim your garden as a private oasis. The only way to achieve visual privacy is to erect a barrier above eye level wherever it is needed.

Fencing material to reduce noise

In order to dampen or eliminate noise, the barrier must also be insulated. Sound travels in a straight line, so a barrier that is above eye level (1.8 metres is usually enough), will also help dampen sound. However, some fencing materials have better sound insulating qualities than others:

• Aluminium fencing offers relatively poor sound insulation but provides visual privacy
• Timber fencing offers good sound insulation, but only if there are no gaps between the palings. Thicker timber offers better insulation. Lapped palings cover gaps and doubles the thickness of some of the surface area of the fence.
• Acoustic plywood panels provide even better noise insulation than solid timber.
• Acoustic foam “bricks” provide the highest level of protection against noise.

If noise is primarily a problem just on one side of your garden, consider spending more on a superior fencing material on that side of the yard and choosing another, less expensive fencing material for the rest of the fence. Timber, acoustic plywood and foam bricks can all be painted to match or you can find inexpensive and virtually maintenance-free aluminium or PVC fencing in a complementary colour.

Enhancing privacy with plants

While plants and trees will not reduce noise pollution, it will keep others from seeing in. High plants, trees, and shrubbery enhance a sense of security and privacy.  

While they may have only a psychological effect, planting trees and shrubs or a vertical garden against an existing fence or along the border of your garden may be all it takes to make you feel a sense of greater privacy.