tl;dr: Neighbors’ galvanized fence is upside-down and very sharp and pokey. How can I make it not be?
To start with, the neighbor is almost never home and therefore hard to contact. Also, they only bought their property last year and probably don’t even realize they own the fence. Anyway.
As you may know, galvanized fences have a top and a bottom. The bottom has sharp bits which dig into the ground while the top is more rounded off.
When I bought my house, there was already a galvanized fence in place between my house and my neighbor’s. I’m no fan of these fences in particular, but that’s fine. Except that I later noticed that it had been installed upside-down, meaning that the top of the 3-ftish fence is covered in sharp spikes, while the safe end has been buried underground.
When I was younger, I had a dog who had her belly horrifically torn open while jumping over an upside-down galvanized fence, and I have two dogs, so this is a serious concern of mine. While my dogs have fortunately never tried so far, a dog could die trying to jump over a fence like that.
Question is, what can I do about it?
I would offer the neighbor for me to pay for it to replace the fence, except for the fact that we are on a serious and convoluted grade and it is no small matter to replace a fence. Because of the grade, there’s no way for me to put up a second fence on my side (trust me, it would require some serious landscaping to do that, in the tens of thousands of dollars–we’re on a hill).
So I feel at a loss except for to try to cap off the sharp tops of the galvanized fence, and my searching suggests that there is no pre-made product for this because this fence was just installed wrong.
Any advice?
You’d have to talk with your neighbor to make any modifications.
Something like this would probably work. You could DIY it with some plastic tubing from a hardware store cut lengthwise and stuffed over the tops of the fence. Maybe anchor it every few feet with zip ties or something.
https://www.hittingworld.com/PolyTube-Cap-Chain-Link-Fence-Cover-p/sig-ptcap.htm
That sure is ugly but it looks effective.
Sure it’s not sharp on purpose? Could be anti animal or anti climb?
I thought of that, but considering the location, definitely not.
Would planting a hedge or shrubs on your side be an option? Much nicer than a fence, provides a biotope for birds, insects and other animals, can bear fruit (yummy berries!)
Growing to a hight of 3 ft (~90 cm) should be a matter of 2 or 3 years, depending on the plants.
I wish, but my side is a retaining wall.
Measure the ends, design some 3d printable caps, maybe? Except it sounds like you might need a LOT of them, 3d printing isn’t as good for that… maybe make a mold for a cap and then thermoform a bunch off of it? Orrr maybe it could be easier to grind the ends down instead?
Grinding the ends down might be a reasonable option.
I agree with Car in that you should talk to them, regardless of how hard it is before modifying anything.
Depending on design, pliers could bend all the points to face downwards.
I’m no fence installer or anything so I don’t know if it’s possible, but instead of replacing the fence, could the chain link part be removed from the posts and flipped over and reinstalled?
Sadly does not appear possible.
