6 tips for designing fences and paving

If you’re planning customized fencing and paving you need to consider both the practicality and the cost of material you’ll use. These tips will help you make a decision for the best fencing and paving without breaking the bank.

Laying paving and building a fence is simpler than it may appear to you on the surface. For example, most roads on rural properties are little more than tracks formed by bulldozing the top soil and compacting the earth underneath. They do the job well at a low cost. Similarly, most fences are simple affairs of timber post-and-rail, metal or timber post-and-wire.

If you’re planning paving and fencing at home though, you have to give a lot more though to appearance. What you decide on will depend on the setting and design of your home. You can’t just lay any old paving or put up whatever fence is easiest.

You need to ensure that materials, style, size and shape are all sympathetic with the house and garden. Consider these tips:

If your house is built of stone it will look best with a matching stone wall and stone paving.

A weatherboard house will look best with a timber fence or low, masonry fence. A patio, fence or wall that is adjacent to the house looks most effective if built of the same materials.

Local materials are often preferable because they tend to look appropriate in the setting. They are also likely to be cheaper than ma­terials that have been brought long distances. This is especially true of certain heavy, bulky materials that are produced in relatively small amounts, such as some types of stone.

Materials for paving include concrete, bitumen, paving bricks or units, stone and gravel. Fences may be made from metal, timber or masonry. All have different characteristics and price tags.

When choosing materials, you need to take into account the need for maintenance. Ask yourself how much time you are willing to spend maintaining the surface, wall or fence. On a country property, fences define both the boundary line and the paddocks within the farm. They aslo stop animals straying, aid in the sorting, treating, herding, transport and, in some cases, training of livestock.

Requirements within the property will vary according to what’s you’ll use it for. Fences for enclosing horses are very different to those used for sheep and cattle. Sometimes only a wall will do the job, for example, to block noise from a road.

Paths, like fences, are meant to be primarily functional. That doesn’t mean you can’t add a little flair to your planning though. You need to think about things like path position in relation to the other design elements such as whether it's straight, curved, wide or narrow, as well as on the materials used.

Spending a few hours on matching a path and a fence to each other, and to their surroundings, is time well spent. What is appropriate in a suburban setting may look out of place in an open landscape unencumbered by buildings.

The appearance of the outside of your home is as important as the inside so when you’re planning new fencing and paving, keep these tips in mind for the perfect result.