Build a Modern Privacy Fence

Need some privacy in you backyard? You kind of handy? If so, this do-it-yourself guide will show you how to build a modern privacy fence in your yard.

Where My Problem Started

My home’s side fence is a bit dilabidated, aged, and was just a smidge too short. I could see the neighbors while I hung out outside and the neighbors could see me. While all my neighbors are great people, I personally highly value those early morning moments of solitude in my yard with a nice cup of coffee. I had to do something to get some privacy.

What Did I Try First?

Problems With A Pre-Built Gazebo

1. Spiders & dust everywhere

My metal gazebo had mosquito netting and several decorative aluminum slats around each corner; it had hundreds of creases and crevices. This led to tons of bugs and bugs led to spiders. While it was fairly comfortable and effective at giving me some privacy when I first got it, it was nearly impossible to to clean and maintain after about 6 months of being up.

I tried everything from hosing my gazebo down to trying to clean it with a broom. Even my leaf blower didn’t really help much. It was a dusty mess of webs and nonsense.

2. It’ll block your views

My outdoor lounge space is directly in front of my kitchen sink window. I have a lovely view of some nearby hills from my kitchen sink. My Gazebo sat right outside my window and while it made things a bit more shaded and private, it completely blocked my nice views of the hills.

3. It’ll blow away in a heavy wind

I’m in beautiful Southern California. Every other year we’ll get winds around 60mph. That might not be very wild for the folks in the tornado and huricane states, but it’s wild in earthquake country. I stupidly didn’t tie down my gazebo when I first stood it up and learned my lessen when it moved across my yard one windy night.

My short term fix was to tie it down to some heavier lawn furniture but it took away from the gazebo’s look to have it tied to barrel. Bolting it in the ground would’ve worked too, but I cut my losses before investing any more time into the temporary structure. This was realistically the last straw.

We Tried A Metal Gazebo for Privacy, What Next?

So, after abandoning our metal gazebo. I had to go back to the drawing board. Here’s our criteria.

Criteria

1. I wanted privacy
2. Still wanted my view from my kitchen window
3. Wanted something that didn’t get dirty as quickly
4. The smaller the patio footprint, the better
5. Modern aesthetic

I had a laundry list of wants that a temporary gazebo just couldn’t handle. I wasn’t ready to swap out gazebo every few months. This hinted that I might need to build something from scratch.

After much deliberation, my partner and I decided to build a modern privacy fence. It checked all of my boxes and gave me the added benefit of giving me a “blank” wall to decorate and throw a TV on. Or that’s what I though I might be able to do.

Materials

1. Pressure treated 2″x4″x12′ – I used 16, your count will vary. These will be used to block the view on your modern privacy fence and will go horizontally across 4x4s. Ideally you’d only use one length wise. The next size up is 2″x4″x16 I believe. They also come shorter if need be. Luckily my space was around 13 feet across.
2. Pressure Treated 4″x4″x10′ – These will go vertically in your wall and will hold the 2″x4″ slates up. You might want 4″x4″x12′ if you’ll be burying your posts instead of mounting them to a cement pad. Bury them about 2 feet deep. I’ve had good luck with just burying my posts without any cement. I’ve read cement holds moisture and leads to rot. TBD if that’s accurate.
3. 4×4 Cement Mount – I picked up my mounts from Lowes. I linked a similar product you can find on Amazon, because amazon affiliate links and also the Toja Grid ones I picked up from lowes seem to be sold out.
4. Wood Screws – These will be used to attach the side of your posts to the metal bracks so they can’t be lifted out. They won’t be do any heavy lifting, the’ll just keey our 4″x4″ posts attached to their steel plates.
5. Concrete wedge Anchors – The size will depend on the 4×4 mount holes on the brackets you purchase
6. Painters Tape – This will be used to mark your drill bit and control depth.

Tools

1. SKIL 7.5-Amp 1/2-Inch Corded Hammer Drill – Your regular drill might do the job, just make sure to get masonry bits specific to your drill
2. Masonry Bits – Make sure to get masonry bits that match your concrete wedge anchor sizes. The wedges should probably have a size recommendation on the packaging.
3. Chalk Line – This will help you make straight lines on your cement pad.
4. Hammer – This will help you insert your concrete wedges into your slab.
5. Wet Vac – This will help you clean up the holes you drill so your wedges actually fit.
6. Wrench Set – This will let you bolt down your mounts.

The Job

1. Plan out your privacy wall

Step 1 is going to be plan out your privacy wall. Put the mounts on the floor and pull out your measuring tape. Try a couple different setups before finally pulling the trigger on the one you’ll want. This privacy wall will be a pain to move or redo. Let’s get this right the first time around.

2. Mark up your cement slab

Measure out two dots an equal distance from the side of your slab. My dots were about 12 inches from the edge of my slab and about 11 feet apart so that my 12 foot 2×4 could stretch across the entire distance. Have a friend hold one end of your trusty chalk reel on the cement. Stretch the line nice and tought to the second dot you made. With the line nice and tight, pinch the line and let it hit your cement pad. Repeat across the line if it isn’t dark enough for you. Place your 4×4 mounts on the line to see what it’ll look like.

3. Start Drilling

So, place your 4×4 mounts on your chalk line. Move them around to where you think they should go. This will be one of the last times you’ll be able to easily move them. Once you have them in a desirable location, it’s time to start drilling.

Let’s figure out how deep we want our holes drilled. You can either read your concrete wedge packaging or measure out the length of the wedge part of your concrete wedge. Measure the same length on your drill bit and mark it with tape. This will prevent you from drilling too deep.

Cement powder can be bad for your health. So, we really recommend you mask up! Better to be safe than sorry.

Now, for my first go at drilling my holes I attempted to mark the holes, remove the mount, and then drill. This resulted in a bad hole that wasn’t perfectly center. So, I might recommend you leave the mount in place and drill through the mount holes if at all possible. Repeat the process for every single one of your 4×4 mounts.

4. Clean and Hammer in your concrete wedge anchors

Drop the wedges in the holes with their nuts slightly screwed on. This will spread the impact of your hammer out so you don’t flatten the top of your wedge. Start hammering until the cement meets just under the wedge’s threads. Repeat for every hole.

4. Install 4×4 mounts

Place the mounts on the wedges. Tighten bolts. Do note, that these wedges will snap if you over tighten. I’m not recommending that you leave them super loose, but they aren’t unbreakable. Repeat this step for each of your mounts.

5. Put 4×4’s in your mounts

You’ve fixed your mounts to your cement pad. That was the tough part! Now it’s time to put your 4x4s in the mounts. Get a friend to help you with this. 4x4s are heavy. We don’t want you to pull a muscle. Once you have all your 4×4’s up and vertical, take your wood screws and secure your posts to your mounts. These screws won’t be supporting too much, but they’ll prevent the posts from slipping out of their mounts for whatever reason.

6. Install your modern privacy fence’s slats!

You’ve got your posts up. You’ve got your mounts fixed to your pad. Now it’s time for the part that actually gives you a bit of privacy. The slats. For me, I’m in a windier part of California. So I knew one thing for certain, I didn’t want to have a solid wall. This would increase the chances it could get blown over a gust. I wanted my wall to be able to breathe a bit. For this reason I left 4 inches between each slat and staggered slats on each side of my posts. This blocked my view of the neighbors but still allowed wind to flow freely through the structure.

Decide where to start installing slats, you shouldn’t need them the whole way down your wall. My slats stop at around 3 feet from the ground and the only go about 6 or 7 feet high. Going the full 10 feet would’ve been overkill and could contribute to some instability in your privacy wall. Do note that I removed the top slot seen in the photo.

The photo to our right only has one side of the slats done. Do note how that doesn’t really do the job at providing privacy. It’s the second layer of slats that really closes the wall up.

Here’s what the final product looked like. I left the bottom pretty open. But I matched the slats on the opposite side which almost completely solved my problem. It’s been more than a year now and the wall is standing strong. We haven’t had issues with the wind, and it’s a nice little place to hang a couple of plants. I can’t be heavier with the result. Want to give an indoor DIY a go? Check out this article on how to freshen up your home’s interior.