Do you have an outdoor area you’d like to cover up or a spot that needs more privacy?
A timber screen is a cost effective, durable and decorative landscape cover-all that can be built in a day.
This suburban home had a large underhouse area that was ideal for storage but open to the weather and visible from the garden.
The solution was to install a screen to hide the area from view, protect it from the elements and provide security for the items being stored.
For this home, the screen was mounted between brick piers but the same techniques can be used for a freestanding screen or to create a wall trellis for climbers and espalier.
Measure the space
To build it you’ll need 90 x 20mm ACQ decking, $2 a metre, and 90 x 45mm H3 treated pine, about $5 a metre. The timber for this screen cost about $150.
The only other costs are hardware, paint and aluminium core flashing, which can be bought in rolls, such as Sureform Lead Free Roof Flashing, $96 for 140mm x 5m, from Bunnings.
Measure the space, dividing the finished height by the slat width plus gap to calculate the number needed.
The decking boards used for this project were 90mm wide and 20mm thick. A board was used as a spacer, so 110mm was allowed for each slat.
TIP At 1.8 x 2m high, this timber screen needed 19 slats.