A cry for help .....

On this calm fine day I'm assessing the storm damage to our gardens. The front and back lower gardens survived without damage. But in our upper garden .... most of the fence panels and posts have been damaged to some degree. On one side of the garden where the fence panels were nailed to the posts, the wind ripped half of the panels apart and nearly all the posts have either snapped or are leaning or weakened at the base. On the other side of the garden, the fence panels were slotted into metal brackets then nailed, we found the panels laying in the middle of our neighbour's lawn, mostly undamaged, but the posts were out and the metal clips were twisted

We are living near the top of a hill (so no flood concerns to look on the bright side), but the strong winds are always a problem for our fences in the upper garden. I'm getting rather fed up with replacing and repairing fencing, so am now seeking a long term solution.

On one side, I'm thinking of the possibility of replacing the fence with beech hedging. The question is whether it is workable. Our garden is about 2-3 foot higher than the neighbour's, with a drystone wall retaining the soil. The fence was about a foot or so back from the wall and I've got shrubs right in front of the fence line, so if I plant a hedge it will have to be just 1 foot away from the wall. Would the hedge roots damage the retaining wall? The neighbour's side is empty at the moment, she plans to put a greenhouse there this year, and is happy with whatever we do so long there are no fence panels flying onto the future greenhouse.

Taken from neighbour's garden ​

On the other side, I've got espalier apples and pears trained to the fence, and the fence is right in front of a 2 foot dry stone wall, so really there is no space for anything but a fence. I'm thinking of using concrete fence posts this time so there will be no problems with posts rotting at the base. However what kind of fence panel should I use, given that the wind just ripped the present ones? Would woven ones be any better? The wind will be able to go through but would it be able to weaken the woven structure so that in 2 years time the panels become holely and start to disintegrate ?


Please help, any ideas and suggests are welcome with thanks from the fed up and frustrated me

 

Rather than solid larch lap type of panel, how about searching for louvre door type (much loved by Del Boy). This would allow the wind to filter through and not present such a restriction to and be solidly buffetted by the wind.

Just a thought. Cheers, Tony.

 

Beech hedge is slow growing and needs to be kept well watered all year for a couple of years until the roots can get down.
Bet you have some fine views though; always a price to pay methinks - top of the hill or sheltered below....
Jenny

 

I've seen fence panel been blown out from the concrete post before, and also people can lift them out and take them away

 

Thanks everyone.

I like the look of kleftiwallah's Louvre and Marley Farley's Hit & Miss fence panels, but, gosh, they are expensive.... Agree with Shiney that Woo's suggestion of bracing and putting an extra support post is a good idea. Bearing in mind of all your suggestions we will go and have some more thought.

I could water the hedges if needed, Jenny, the question is: do I have enough space for their root growth without causing problem to the retaining stone wall?

Here is a view from one of our upstairs rooms looking southish towards Bristol. Our house is at the level of the lower garden, and the upper garden is a further 4 foot higher, there really is not much to stop the wind on its way.

 

Hsuh.....Like yours my garden tends to take a battering from high winds and it was proving expensive continually replacing panels and posts. Two and a half years ago I had this 60ft fence erected to allow the wind through, not the prettiest but practical and it's made such a difference with no damage as yet.

 

My kind of fencing fits my situation, but I replaced flimsy fence panels when the neighbors kids footballs wrecked them.
I already had put in concrete posts with massive chunks of concrete at the base about 20yrs ago.
So I then used treated 4x2 to make up framing in the post recesses, and nailed feather edge boarding to that.