Cool Solution for Building a Fence
Around a Tree
As if on cue, Treehugger asks for entries into a “weird eco habits” contest and my friend shows me what a tree lover he is.
Since he is among the blogless, I hereby nominate my friend and workmate Marc for his recent tree loving invention that some may find weird, but I think is just plain cool.
Marc needed to build a fence for his backyard, but a tree had a few branches in the path of where his fence needed to go. Here’s a picture of the frame of the fence and the tree that intersects it’s path.
He could have simply cut the branches and finished his work, but he figured he’d try something a little different. Here’s the job partially done.
And here are shots of the finished product from both sides.
Yeah, he’ll probably have to revise the fence as the tree grows over time, but the results are pretty cool looking.
Permanent Link
Comments (12)
now THAT is just plain cool.
looks great. are those fence supports commonly available at lumber yards ready notched?
it looks great and is tree-friendly – how perfect! is there anything else green about the house? i might want to do a story on this in our green home building/remodeling magazine! feel free to write.
gorgeous.
I know what would be even more eco friendly, how about NO fence…
leave it to the righteous (‘I Know’) to have no sense of perspective (and humor,I’m sure) – sometimes fences are necessary. grow up.
That is cool.
I love the idea to grow and look through. Yeah it may be more eco friendly not to have a fence but the idea is imaginative and wonderful fun.
This seems logical to me , the extra trim is a bonus ! How would you set a privacy wood fence when there is a big oak tree on the property line in the way of the fence ? Without cutting the great tree , how could you build the fence ?
cool design, I love anything that is tree freindly. as a woodworker it represents job security. I also thought it was very refreshing that only one person suggested cutting down the tree out of the many comments.
A wise response to a tree, thank you. I have done the same in the past including notching fences at ground level where the trunk was nudging the fence out of it’s way. And to confirm an earlier writer, as years went by the tree did accommodate the fence! Looks nice and honors the tree!
Interesting…and hard to see the details from the angle but for anyone thinking about copying the idea it looks like that bottom rail with the notch or groove cut in it is very likely to fill with water and rot prematurely.
When you make anything outdoors, think of how to let the water run through it and not collect on/in it. Might be better to support the wood at the bottom by making the bottom rail a ‘sandwich’ – put 2 pieces of wood alongside the vertical boards – and leave the bottom open for water to drain?