We needed to bring a privacy fence around a tree. This beautiful tree has grown tall over the years and it sits on the property line. The old fence was covered with ivy and broken near the tree. It was obvious that the fence broke because the tree grew, like trees do. So, we went on a quest to find a good solution.
The goal was to not harm the tree with our fence and vise versa. We found out from an arborist online and confirmed at the local nursery that metals can change the chemistry of trees. The brackets we removed were galvanized steel which is not recommended. The preferred metal type is stainless steel. We bought stainless lag bolts.
The next problem was preventing the tree growing from into the fence again. So, we purchased larger deeper brackets which were attached to a 2X4 block which allowed an extra 2″ depth on each side. As the tree grows the frame of the fence will slide closer within the bracket.
The pickets can be moved easily by removing the screws and adjusting for tree growth.
Colors like a sunset
The fence pickets around the tree were placed horizontally. The closest 4X4 posts to the tree were used to place the pickets at different lengths to follow the shape of the tree. When all of the pieces were in place we trimmed the uneven pickets at the 4X4. We used a Dremel cutting attachment for the detailed angles.
We wanted to use warm colors for this pretty cedar fence which is naturally reddish. Our color choice was Behr transparent wood finish #502 Redwood. To create different shades (like a sunset) we used a clear and added various amounts of the redwood color.
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