How to Make a Fence Taller for Privacy: 5 Simple Ways
Get the solitude you need with a few smart tricks
Fences offer a lot to an estate, from keeping pests out of your garden to providing your home with added security. If your fence isn’t providing the coverage you desire, you may be wondering how to make a fence taller for privacy. Use these five tips to instantly hide your outdoor space from the rest of the world without uprooting your existing fence.
Determining a Method to Increase the Height of a Fence
To pick the best method for making your fence taller, you first have to figure out exactly how much more height you’ll need. To do so, start by measuring your current setup. Most fences range between 4 and 6 feet in height. While 6 feet of height will be enough to keep others from looking in, going up to 7 or 8 feet will add an extra layer of security and privacy.
Once you’ve determined how many feet you need to add, find out exactly how tall your fence can be according to your homeowners' association. Some HOAs place restrictions on fence heights, so make sure your plans fit the local requirements before making any new purchases.
If more height for your privacy fence is necessary to shield your yard from the outside world, you might need to combine a few extras—like a trellis and climbing plants or post extenders with fence toppers.
5 Ways to Make a Fence Taller
Making a fence taller involves installing material on top of an existing fence, such as a trellis, lattice, or additional boards. Another option is to extend the height of the posts or hang up a screen that's taller than the fence itself. And, if you have pets, making your fence taller is a great way to keep them in the yard.
1. Add a Fence Topper
Fence toppers add both extra height and a design flair to your setup. They come in a range of styles, such as trellises, which have a unique thatched pattern and are especially ideal for growing climbing plants like ivy to create a living fence. Other options include lattice board fence toppers, chain link, mesh, and decorative panels.
Since they are available in several materials, from vinyl to wood to metal, it’s easy to find a fence topper that matches your current fence rather than sticking out like a sore thumb.
You have several installation options for adding a topper to an existing fence. For starters, you can hang or attach a prefabricated lattice board to either side of your fence. Individual lattice boards range from $30 to $100 on average and are between 48 and 72 inches tall. On the flip side, the cost of building a custom trellis for your fence is more expensive, ranging from $400 to $2,400 for the materials and labor. If all that sounds like too much, you can hire a local privacy fence company to do the work for you.
2. Attach Additional Fence Boards
Though it requires a bit of labor, attaching additional fence boards is one of the quickest ways to add height to your existing fence—especially if you have a fence with horizontal pickets.
To attach the boards, you’ll need a drill and wood screws, but some options come with mechanisms that allow you to clip them directly onto your fence without any extra work. Another option is to work with a local fence company to install the boards for you.
3. Add a Lean-In
If your furry friends have a habit of jumping up and over your fence—and you don’t think a traditional fence topper will stop them—chain-link or mesh-fence toppers will keep them inside and safe from whatever is beyond your yard. With these tightly woven fence additions in place, rodents and other pests will have a harder time entering your yard, too.
Lean-in fence toppers feature L-shaped brackets or arms that you attach to the fence posts with screws. You then attach poly or wire mesh to the brackets with zip ties. Since the brackets bend, or lean in toward your yard, it makes it difficult for pets or pests to jump over the fence.
4. Use Post Extenders
Post extenders attach to the base of your fence and can add up to 3 feet of height in just seconds. Though they may seem complicated to install, the process is actually surprisingly easy. Most commonly made of metal, they slip directly over the outside of your existing fence posts, and you can secure them with self-tapping screws. After installing them, you can adjust them up or down to reconfigure the height of your fence.
5. Hang a Privacy Screen
Privacy screens are ideal for fences that are easy to see through, but they can also add height to a fence when applied in a certain way. To do so, attach two vertically placed panels to the top edges of your fence. Drape the screen over the fence; these additional panels will prop it up and make it appear taller.
How Much Does a New Privacy Fence Cost to Install?
If you're not happy with the height of your fence, installing a new, taller, privacy fence may be the way to go. This is especially true if your existing fence is older or shows extensive wear and tear.
But installing a new privacy fence isn't inexpensive. How much it costs to install a privacy fence depends on the material, fence height, yard size, and yard slope. The average cost is $4,300, but the price tag may be as low as $1,800 for a smaller yard or as high as $8,000 for a larger yard. You can expect to pay less for a wood privacy fence than for vinyl. A composite fence is likely to cost the most.
If your yard is sloped or has uneven terrain, expect the price of your new fence to go up, especially if you hire a local fence company to install it. In certain cases, the company may need to level your yard to make it easier to install the fence.
If you have an existing fence, you should factor in the cost to remove the fence you currently have—between $350 and $700, or $500 on average.
Audrey Bruno contributed to this piece.