Fence advice - unusual conundrum

AmmDram

If a 5ft wooden fence was butted up against the stone wall (the section that goes alongside the neighbour’s garage) would it likely rot due to lack of air flow? I did ask the fence company guy who came to quote, he said it wouldn’t rot and they attach fences to walls all the time, but he would say that, as once they have my money and the fence is in situ, it won’t be his problem if it does rot and he’ll have my £900+. 

twopenny

I was going to jest 'are you going to get an Afgan - but similar perhaps

I had an Afgan hound and mostly she slept but did jump a 6ft fence from standing once. Long (and now funny) story

Greyhound forum - there are more answers to the same question

https://forum.greytalk.com/topic/298818-do-greyhounds-need-a-6-ft-fence/

I think it would also be helpful to ask the rescue centre. They have experience and suggestions. The greyhounds also come in all shapes and sizes.

Eldi_Dos

Get a stout post of suitable height put in on your land near front of neighbours garage then some short rails from that across neighbours wall but not touching garage ( if neighbour is agreeable to this) should stop dog being able to get out that way.

At rear of garage two posts on your land and then fence. I would not attach anything on to wall as there is no need to.

I would get more than one quote for this.

AmmDram

twopenny said:

I was going to jest 'are you going to get an Afgan - but similar perhaps

I had an Afgan hound and mostly she slept but did jump a 6ft fence from standing once. Long (and now funny) story

Greyhound forum - there are more answers to the same question

https://forum.greytalk.com/topic/298818-do-greyhounds-need-a-6-ft-fence/

I think it would also be helpful to ask the rescue centre. They have experience and suggestions. The greyhounds also come in all shapes and sizes.

Thanks, I know it would depend on the specific dog, I’ve spoken to the people from our local retired greyhound rescue and they told me unless they have the motivation (ie a see a squirrel) they aren’t likely to bother trying to scale any kind of boundary but I would like to mitigate the risk. I showed them pics of our garden as I was worried if it saw a squirrel it might jump from the highest point above the red brick wall. 

One lady at the rescue meeting said her grey would easily jump a 6ft fence from
standing but most others said their dogs wouldn’t. I just want to try and make it as safe as I can before we get one. 

Bendy_House

AmmDram said:

This is taken from further away, you can see the ground level on her side at the front of her garage. That flimsy fence panel used to be attached to the side of a garage. That is the edge of the other photo. If the dog got on top of the stone wall, it would be at ground level next door (at the front of her garage) and could easily get out. 

That stone wall shown in the pic above behind the bins is, what, 5'-ish high? Is that high enough there?

As for the stepped part along the neighb's garage, the fencer who quoted in your opening post probably has the obvious solution; posts embedded in the soil, tight against - but not bolted to ('cos it's prob not your wall, and you also don't want to do anything to risk loosening the stones) - the wall, to whatever height is needed. Take it as far as the return panel already thete. Wouldn't that do?

Yes, timber posts will likely rot, but that should take 10 years, and there are ways of delaying that - painting the buried sections in Black Jack, covering them in poly sheet, etc, before then embedding them in concrete. Or, just use concrete or composite posts - these will last forever. This doesn't need to be a 'strong' fence - it's purely a deterrent, and is in a sheltered location.

On a different note, there is nothing in your, or your neighbour's, deeds regarding the stone wall? And you cannot tell on whose land it lies? 'Usually' it's the responsibility of the person whose land is being retained - ie your neighb - but this ain't writ in stone. Your vendor took some responsibility for maintaining it, so that was a thoughtful thing to do. It possibly 'is' worth trying to find out for sure, by checking both your, and your neighb's, deeds, but if there's nothing there, and the wall isn't clearly in one or other's land, then 'shared' responsibility is prob a considerate option.

AmmDram

Bendy_House said:

AmmDram said:

This is taken from further away, you can see the ground level on her side at the front of her garage. That flimsy fence panel used to be attached to the side of a garage. That is the edge of the other photo. If the dog got on top of the stone wall, it would be at ground level next door (at the front of her garage) and could easily get out. 

That stone wall shown in the pic above behind the bins is, what, 5'-ish high? Is that high enough there?

As for the stepped part along the neighb's garage, the fencer who quoted in your opening post probably has the obvious solution; posts embedded in the soil, tight against - but not bolted to ('cos it's prob not your wall, and you also don't want to do anything to risk loosening the stones) - the wall, to whatever height is needed. Take it as far as the return panel already thete. Wouldn't that do?

On a different note, there is nothing in your, or your neighbour's, deeds regarding the stone wall? And you cannot tell on whose land it lies? 'Usually' it's the responsibility of the person whose land is being retained - ie your neighb - but this ain't writ in stone. Your vendor took some responsibility for maintaining it, so that was a thoughtful thing to do. It possibly 'is' worth trying to find out for sure, by checking both your, and your neighb's, deeds, but if there's nothing there, and the wall isn't clearly in one or other's land, then 'shared' responsibility is prob a considerate option.

Yes, the fence proposed by the fencing co mentioned in my first post would ‘do’, he said we could have durapost metal posts with a 25 year guarantee, I asked for paling style fence as it gets very windy. I believe due to the slope they would have to assemble this on site. I was just worried if the wooden fencing planks were touching the wall, they would rot. I can seek out other quotes but wanted to go with a company with the best recommendations. Quite a few have a worrying amount of unsatisfied customers. 

Nothing in our deeds about the wall. Would have to check our neighbour’s deeds but she’s been here 30+ years so would’ve thought she’d know, though as she can’t see the wall supporting her land she wouldn’t know unless informed that there were any issues with the pointing/state of the wall.  I would rather go halves than cause a scene should anything arise with the stone wall. 

Thanks for your comments. 

Bendy_House

If it's windy there, then a design of fence that allows wind to pass through would make sense. As long as the gaps are less than dawg sized...

I wouldn't worry about the posts being in contact with the wall - they will barely be touching, or you could even leave an inch gap if you wanted, but it'll be fine regardless.

Once the posts are in, and set to the required height, the actual 'fence' part can begin at the top of the wall height, and just go up whatever more is required - 3'-ish? So the actual - and lovely - stone wall would still be visible under it.

Apodemus

Perhaps the simplest solution (but not cheapest) might be to simply extend the brick wall to the full five foot height along its length, with a join at the front end to the stone wall (and light infill behind).  Then block dog access above the back corner, as existing. 

AmmDram

Apodemus said:

Perhaps the simplest solution (but not cheapest) might be to simply extend the brick wall to the full five foot height along its length, with a join at the front end to the stone wall (and light infill behind).  Then block dog access above the back corner, as existing. 

Thanks. Would have to work out what to do with the soil area as it would be very hard to get to for weed prevention. The stone wall has large weeds which need regularly removing. 

This shows the state of it before I did the weeding last week. Those weeds are growing out of the wall, not in soil behind it. 

I think I am beginning to understand why the previous owners had poured concrete over that soil area. We removed it (that’s what the pile of rubble is) as we didn’t know what was underneath and it wasn’t stable/safe to walk on. We thought it would be straightforward to dig down to level it for gravel boards and fence panels but it isn’t ‘just soil’. 

Bendy_House

AmmDram said:

Apodemus said:

Perhaps the simplest solution (but not cheapest) might be to simply extend the brick wall to the full five foot height along its length, with a join at the front end to the stone wall (and light infill behind).  Then block dog access above the back corner, as existing. 

Thanks. Would have to work out what to do with the soil area as it would be very hard to get to for weed prevention. The stone wall has large weeds which need regularly removing. 

This shows the state of it before I did the weeding last week. Those weeds are growing out of the wall, not in soil behind it. 

I think I am beginning to understand why the previous owners had poured concrete over that soil area. We removed it (that’s what the pile of rubble is) as we didn’t know what was underneath and it wasn’t stable/safe to walk on. We thought it would be straightforward to dig down to level it for gravel boards and fence panels but it isn’t ‘just soil’. 

These are weeds?! I'd assumed they were plants!

Simple - weed-kill these, thoroughly - you don't want the roots to start undermining the stonework. Pour some bark chips over the soil behind it (there's a soil gap between the stone wall and the garage wall?) first it if you want, but just make spraying summat like Glyphosate an annual routine - 5 minutes, safe when it hits the ground or dries, job done.

The fence only has to be a trellis-type, so you can have as much access through it to spray - or even grab a handful of weeds - as you wish. But I would kill these weeds - they won't do any good.

Obviously, discuss this with your neighb first, as anything behind that stone wall will surely be theirs, if not even half the wall itself (or, perhaps, all the wall!) Explain that the roots of weeds and shrubs growing there will almost certainly damage the mortar between the stones, loosening them over time. No-one sees that strip, and no-one will have easy access to it after your fence goes up. So, weedkiller is the sensible option here, I think. Make sure they are happy with the idea.

I think you are over-thinking this. Put in that fence, and plant periwinkle or similar in the soil bed between the fence and the red brick wall - have it cascade over the wall. I picked some cuttings of some wild Peri recently - the easiest thing in the world to propagate - and it's lush, deep-and-ever-green, and you can have them in blue, white, and shades in between.