Landscaping Garden Design Services, Landscaper Dublin, Wicklow Landscaping Garden Design Services
We provide wall extensions/fencing as part of our Garden design/build service. Wall extensions are very useful in providing an instant screen surrounding a garden. Unlike hedges they take up little space and are low maintenance, especially if left untreated. We no longer use hardwoods, depending on planed pressure treated Scandinavian Spruce as a sustainable source and unlinked to illegal deforestation.
Scandinavian Spruce is a very slow growing timber, has a low moisture content and long life. It is the closest to a hardwood available in softwoods. It is also pressure treated extending life, beyond 30yrs. As the timber is planed and pressure treated it can be left untreated after installation. Being planed, it is also easy to paint. The first painting practice is staining, the advantage of which is it retains all the beautiful filigree of grains and knots within the timber. The disadvantage of staining is there is a limited amount of colours to choose from, with different shades of brown making up most of the palette.
Painting with colours opens up a huge range to choose from, although you do loose most of the filigree of grains and knots, the advantages are endless with ideas, like matching/contrasting with existing features and so on. Painting would be my favourite option. It provides warmth and class to a space.
We provide custom built wall extensions, from which there are a number of styles to choose from. The board width ranges usually from 3”-6” all capped with 2×1” latts. The cheapest and most common is vertical with 5-25mm spacing’s, then horizontal with 5-25mm spacing. ‘Hit & Miss is also popular, this style is on the horizontal, it is porous to the wind, but can’t be seen through.
The extensions are connected to 4×3”, planed, pressure treated Scandinavian Spruce posts. The posts are either connected directly to the wall (If the wall is sturdy) or dropped into holes filled with concrete, if the wall is weak. On very weak walls, the posts can be connected, using express nails, increasing strength of wall. Ideally the walls themselves should be plastered, unless natural stone or decorative brick. The plastering of the walls allows for painting. This provides the possibility of the wall being painted in a colour which compliments or contrasts with the wall extension. The differing materials also add to the look/interest, holding the eye within the space.
Heights vary depending on neighbours. We have installed wall extensions as high as 3.4M, but the regulations allow for 2M in height. The capping with overhang is a very important feature, this gives a finished/polished look, also protecting the timber. The overall feeling a wall extension gives is a feeling of enclosure and privacy. The surrounds of a garden are one of the most important features of a good garden design, giving that closed in, roomy feel.
We also include lighting on our wall extensions adding another dimension, with light glazing the feature at night.
I hope you like the pictures and they give you inspiration for your future Garden Design.
Kevin Baumann
