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About This Project
If you feel as if you’re living in a fish bowl when you’re lounging on the patio, we’ve got the solution. This simple, airy screen will block all but the most persistent prying eyes. It’ll even block heavy wind, but it’s open enough to allow light and cooling breezes through, so you won’t get that hemmed-in feeling you’d get from a solid wall or fence.
Our privacy screen is 12 ft. long and about 7 ft. tall at the highest point. But you can adapt the length or height to your own needs or even mount a similar design on an existing deck.
If you’ve ever built a simple deck, trellis or just about any other wooden garden structure, you have the skills and tools to tackle this job. Most of the carpentry work just entails cutting standard boards to length with a circular saw and then screwing the parts together with a screw gun. In fact, if you stay focused, you can expect to finish the whole project in a relatively sweat-free weekend.
In this article, we’ll show you a foolproof layout technique using the horizontal rails to guide the post positioning and screen assembly. With this simple system, a robust novice can build this project. You can easily adapt it to any screen size. We’ll also show you a new technique for setting solid, rot-resistant posts using dry concrete. And we’ll demonstrate a simple method for making the curved, three-board top using spacing blocks and scribing the curves with one of the top boards.
To build your own screen, you’ll need a circular saw, a screw gun and a sharp chisel, as well as a “clamshell” posthole digger and a 2- or 4-ft. level for digging the four postholes and plumbing the posts.
We chose to build our screen from rough-sawn cedar because we wanted its decay-resistant qualities and rough look. The total materials cost was about $400, but you can spend less by substituting smooth-faced cedar, treated wood or even conventional framing lumber. Whatever you choose, use treated wood for post parts that are in the ground so you won’t ever have to worry about rot.
Planning Your Privacy Screen
We built our privacy screen on a level site, but you can
build a similar screen on just about any slope. For it to look best, keep the
rails level and then follow the slope with vertical pickets that are a
consistent distance from the ground.
Build your screen any length you wish. However, the longest material you’ll be able to buy is 16 ft., so for longer screens, you’ll have to splice the rails and top caps. If splicing is necessary, plan it so the joints fall near the post centers, and splice opposite rails and overlying top cap layers to fall on different posts. Add or delete posts as you wish, but stick with our system for laying out post locations using chunks of 2x6 posts and 2x2 pickets to get the spacing right. However, keep the post spacing less than 4 ft. for a highly rigid, wind-resistant screen.
*Most lumberyards only carry 8-ft. or 4-ft. long 2x2s, which will leave a lot of waste. If you have a table saw, consider buying fourteen 10-ft. long 2x4s and ripping your own pickets to save money.
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