Cedar privacy fence, planter and patio behind a South Philadelphia rowhome

The yard

A South Philadelphia back yard is a concrete rectangle, a few feet wide, looking at the back of the next block. What makes it usable is privacy. The old fence was gone; neighbors on three sides could see straight in. The owner wanted a fence that looked like part of the house, not a lumberyard panel.

Building the fence

• Posts first. Pressure-treated posts set in concrete, below frost depth, spaced for the board run. Cedar is the right wood for the boards, but for posts in the ground treated lumber lasts longer.
• Cedar boards, built on site. We ran horizontal cedar boards between the posts rather than hanging pre-made panels. Site-built fences can follow a yard that is not square, and in a rowhome yard nothing is square.
• A planter to match. The same cedar, built as a raised box along the fence. It gives the yard something green without taking the patio space a pot would.
• Stain, not paint. A semi-transparent red-brown stain. Stain soaks into cedar and weathers gracefully; paint on a fence peels in sheets after a few winters. The second photo shows the fence freshly stained with the planter box beside it.

The patio

The existing concrete pad was in good shape, so it stayed. It was pressure-washed, the edges cleaned up, and the planter filled and planted. The last photo is the finished yard: fence, planter with new shrubs, and the pad ready for a table.

Expert notes for a city yard

Get the fence line right with the neighbors first. Rowhome lot lines are old and often not where the previous fence was. We checked the survey before setting posts.

Leave a gap at the bottom. Cedar boards that touch concrete wick water and rot from the bottom. We hold the boards an inch or two above the pad.

Stain within the first month. Fresh cedar takes stain best before it greys. A fence stained the first year and again in three or four years will last decades.

Think about what you see from inside. This fence is in view from the new kitchen window. The color was chosen to work with the kitchen, not just the yard.

Questions we get about city fences

Cedar, vinyl or pressure-treated? Cedar looks best and takes stain well; vinyl needs no upkeep but looks like vinyl; pressure-treated is cheapest and needs stain after it dries out. For a yard you look at from the kitchen we recommend cedar.

How tall can it be? Philadelphia limits fence height, and so do most townships. Six feet is the usual maximum for a back yard. We check the local rule before we order boards.

Do I need my neighbor's permission? Not for a fence on your own side of the line, but a conversation before the posts go in saves a lot of trouble.

Timeline

Posts and boards in July, stain and planting in August, at the end of the whole-house project so nothing got damaged by the work inside.