Ways to Improve your Privacy in a Narrow Lot Home

Ways to Improve your Privacy in a Narrow Lot Home
April 26, 2017 Great Living Homes

In the current land and housing market in Perth, block sizes are rapidly reducing in size which has resulted in many new housing estates that have houses that are seemingly right on top of each other. This has also led to the reduced amount of backyard living space available and a rise in double storey, narrow lot homes Perth. Every inch of land on a narrow lot site now tends to be used up as building space leaving no space between the house and the fence which separates the yard from neighbouring homes. This new trend causes issues with privacy, particularly when two storey homes overlook single storey homes but also any noise you make at home can now be heard by neighbours!

narrow lot homes

In these newer narrow lot estates, residents are struggling to find ways to maximise their privacy when entertaining guests outdoors, letting the kids play in the backyard pool or just trying to block the view of a prying neighbour. There are things you can do to improve your privacy without causing any disputes with your neighbours, and without breaking council restrictions!

One popular solution is to increase the height of your fence by using fence toppers, timber slats or decorative screens (as pictured). Alternatively, you could build an enclosed patio area for entertaining, use shade-cloth or shade sails for blocking direct views into windows while maintaining a pleasant yard.

Using clever landscaping such as hedges and tall bamboo trees or even conifers is also a popular way to privatise your outdoor living spaces and obstruct views from two storey home owners into your yard without making you feel claustrophobic.

You can also reduce the noise you hear from neighbours by installing a water feature somewhere in your yard. The more tiers the feature has or the further the water needs to travel in the water feature will increase the sound emitted by the water and while you will always hear soothing water trickling constantly (it will become normal and you won’t even notice it after a while), it will also drown out some of the noise from your neighbours. You can get water features with adjustable settings so you can create the perfect amount of water falling without it being annoying.

If these ideas fail to work for you, another suggestion is to visit some narrow lot display homes to see what tools builders use to help their clients combat neighbour privacy problems. Speaking to friends living in similar circumstances can also yield creative solutions as can internet research. The problem of narrow lot homes and privacy is only going to become more common in the future and trialling new ideas will be the best solution to overcoming the issue.