Many of our customers tell us they’d like a little more privacy. Maybe their lot is small, and their neighbors are constantly outside in the yard. Or they live by a busy street. Whatever the reason, privacy slats make all the difference between living in a goldfish bowl and being incognito. This week we’ll cover the basics of privacy slats for your home and realize Buzz sells privacy slats as an add-on feature.
Factory Inserted Slats versus After Market
If you’re planning on a new chain link fence, consider choosing one with factory inserted slats. This type of fencing comes in rolls, just like regular chain link, but the slats are already in place. Installation is much simpler than inserting slats after the fact, and the slats all look uniform and perfect.
Of course, the need for privacy slats might not have been apparent when you first built your fence. Perhaps there weren’t so many homes nearby, or your original neighbors were less obnoxious. Times change. Now you might find yourself ordering boxes of privacy slats and weaving them through your chain link fence one by one.
Degrees of Privacy
If you’ve never shopped for privacy slats, you might be floored by the options. Who knew there’d be so many choices? One of the first considerations is degree of privacy. Slats are rated for privacy depending on how much they fill the chain link, thus blocking the view. A higher privacy rating also means more of a wind block. Slats generally range from 75 to 98 percent.
Locking mechanisms
Slat newbies have seldom considered how the slats stay in place. Don’t you just weave them through and that’s it? Not necessarily. Slats have several different locking mechanisms. Most lock at either the top or the bottom of the fence, some with a runner that all the slats lock into, while others are self-locking.
Colors
Slats come in a surprising variety of colors. Play it safe with a neutral, choose green to blend in with your landscape, or go bold with red or blue slats. Really creative types might go for stripes or a rainbow. You can even choose privacy slats made to look like strips of hedge, but don’t expect to fool anybody into thinking your chain link fence is really a hedge.
Need Help?
After reading about privacy slats, are you itching to get out there and insert them in your chain link fence? Or maybe you need some guidance, advice, or want to hire somebody to do it for you? At Buzz, we love talking fences. Give us a call and we can discuss whether privacy slats are a fit for your fence.
