Pushing the limit

In Seattle, residential fences can be a maximum of 6 feet tall, not including a decorative top, such as lattice or arbor.

Most fence builders simply cement the wood fence posts below ground and call it a day. It takes a few years, but eventually they rot or warp, especially in this climate.  We've had more fences than I can count in 35 years of living here, some home-built jobs that did the trick for a while, and other professional jobs we paid good money for that just didn't last.

All-City Fence Co. uses a "post on pipe" construction method. A steel pipe is cemented 30+ inches into the ground, and the wood posts are bolted on top above ground.

As you can see, using longer pipe allows them to set the bottom of the boards a foot up, level with the alley, not the yard.  This makes a very tall fence indeed-- six foot plus one foot plus 18 inches of lattice, to be exact. But hopefully (unless an urban village busy-body complains) it's still perfectly legal along the alley grade. 

It's funny what a person can get used to.  Our little private garden world was exposed for months, and now it feels odd to be suddenly closed in again.  Quite honestly,  looking up from the yard level this feels a bit like the Berlin Wall!
But looking out from the deck and kitchen window, it's perfect. When they finish up today, all we'll see is the tops of houses.

And now I have an interesting landscaping challenge!