Friday, October 7, 2011

SOS...Advice Needed!

We are stuck with how to proceed with our front fence/wall. We need to retain to about 600mm to be in line with the pool coping (that end of the pool sticks out due to the slope of the land). Then we need to go 1.8m high from the top of the retaining wall to pass pool safety and have adequate privacy. The other side of the wall is the front of our house, so it needs to look good. It will be 9 - 10m long. Basically, where the temporary fence is in this pic below, is where I am talking about.

The following are our options we are weighing up. Of course, all vary price wise so that is one of our considerations too. Please read on and HELP!

Option #1: Modular Wall System
Are you familiar with this at all? It is the look of a rendered wall without the cost (apparently). I am slightly nervous about it's toughness and longevity. The bottom panel is 'retaining wall strength'. www.modularwalls.com.au The quote for this type of wall is just shy of $6k. I think it is a pretty good copy. You can see the posts and where the panels join (they join horizontally)




Option #2: Brick built rendered wall
This would be built in besser blocks and cement filled for strength. We all know what these look like. I have a quote for the wall to be built but not a quote for rendering yet. My builder friend suggests that rendering is usually $30 - $35 per sqm. So this option would be around $1.5k more than the modular wall.

Option #3: Brick rendered retaining wall with cheap option on top for fence such as colourbond or timber. I will be meeting a fence guy tomorrow to get a quote for the top section of this option. The retaining wall section would be just under $3k unrendered.

No great examples, but you get the idea.



My other dilemma is the pool fence. It will be glass, but unsure if it is worth the extra money to do frameless over semi frameless. I love frameless, but it is DOUBLE the price. The guy doing it said a compromise can be to do the part that borders the outdoor room in frameless and the section that goes across to the boundry fence semi frameless. He said it is quite common for people to do it like this and he thinks it's a very smart option. Doing this puts the price pretty much straight down the middle of semi and full frameless.

Semi Frameless



Frameless


Worth double? Go the compromise? Opinions please. If you have any experience with either the fence/wall situation or pool fence I'd love to hear from you.

I've spent time looking at fabric to make into artworks - but that's another post!

Enjoy your weekends. I'm off to a lovely dinner with friends tomorrow night - private dining at Otto - can't wait!!!

Cheers
Kylie

3 comments:

  1. Is the front fence your pool barrier? I can see you need a privacy screen here though.

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  2. We did a modular wall at my business from the polystyrene system the sheeted over to hide the joins and make it look flat then rendered over. Much cheaper, looks like your major cost is in the retaining wall section?
    Framless on outdoor area the semi the rest

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  3. I think go with the brick rendered option so you don't notice the retaining section and you have a uniform look for the entire fence. I quite like semi frameless glass. I don't think it's worth double for frameless, but then again it depends what your view will be like when you're sitting in your outdoor room. If you have a strong preference for frameless over semi, you shouldn't compromise. It's not cheap either way so you dont want to feel disappointed every time you look out the window. Long after you forget what you paid, you'll be enjoying having what you want.

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