Note
Check with your local administrative office beforehand to find out how high you can build your privacy screen and how much distance you need to keep from the boundary.
DIY privacy screen
Practical long-term protection from prying eyes: with these instructions, you can build your own individual privacy screen.
27.02.2025
Overview: DIY privacy screen
- Privacy screen as a fixed element in the garden or a mobile one on terraces and balconies
- Observe legal requirements, in particular height and boundary distance
- Build your own screen from square-edged boards, round timbers and bamboo canes or hazel rods
- First build the frame, then weave the branches in
- Stand it up and install it onto feet, or fix it permanently in the garden
- Avoid direct contact between the wood and soil, and oil the feet regularly
Douglas fir or larch, for example, are suitable as wood for building your own privacy screen. Spruce also works well. Once you’ve built a stable frame you can also use hazel or willow rods as material for a screen.
Public authorities regulate how high a privacy screen may be at the property boundary. Local regulations and statutes take precedence over national law. For this reason, it is best to ask your local administrative office in advance about the valid regulations for your property.
Whether a neighbour can disallow a privacy screen depends on compliance with legal provisions. If you comply with statutory regulations when setting up your own privacy screen, your neighbour is not generally permitted to disallow the privacy screen. Your local administrative office can provide information about the applicable law. A friendly conversation with your neighbour in advance can prevent tension and conflict.
Whether you need permission to build a privacy screen depends on the size of the screen. Federal states and municipalities vary in how they regulate the dimensions permitted without approval. Municipal regulations, such as a development plan or a local bylaw relating to enclosure, take precedence over national law. You should therefore discuss your project with your local authorities in order to avoid problems later on.
Privacy screens: an ideal design element for gardens
Hardly any other design element for gardens, terraces and balconies is as versatile and popular as a privacy screen. First and foremost, it protects against people looking into your property. But when positioned correctly, a privacy screen can also cleverly add structure to the garden. Structure is important, especially when designing a small garden.
You can choose from a huge variety of colours, shapes, sizes and materials if you buy a privacy screen – or you can add a personal touch to the project by simply building your own privacy screen.
This way you have a unique piece, which you can either set up permanently in the garden or build as a mobile item with feet, for your terrace or balcony. Our instructions will help you take all the right steps, so you can enjoy your DIY privacy screen for years to come.
DIY wooden privacy screen: Materials and tools
This list of materials is intended for a finished item that measures 180 x 140.5 cm. If you want to build a privacy fence made up of several pieces, multiply the quantities accordingly. If you already have material in similar dimensions, you can of course use that instead.
For the frame:
- 4 square-edged timbers made of larch / Douglas fir, 45 x 28 millimetres or similar
- for example 50 x 30 millimetres, length 2 x 180 centimetres and 2 x 140.5 centimetres
For uprights:
- 5 round timbers
- e.g. broom handles with a diameter of 2.2 cm and length of 140 cm
For the screening material:
- a lot of bamboo canes, hazel or willow rods, 0.5 to 1 centimetre thick and 2 metres long
For the feet:
- 4.7 metres of studwork timber or similar (if possible larch or Douglas fir, otherwise spruce) with approximate dimensions of 50 x 30 millimetres, in lengths 2 x 65 centimetres, 4 x 32 centimetres long and 4 x 37.9 centimetres; the last 4 should be cut at 45° each end
For assembly:
- 20 screws: 4 x 50 millimetres for the frame and for the feet
- Wood drill bit set
- Forstner drill bit or flat drill bit, 22 mm
- 45-degree angle measure
- Pencil for marking
- Garden pruner, e.g. STIHL GTA 26 cordless garden pruner
- Chainsaw, e.g. STIHL MSA 220 cordless chainsaw
- Pruning shears, e.g. STIHL PB 10
- Cordless screwdriver
- Rubber mallet
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Get started with the right equipment
DIY privacy screen: observe legal requirements
Before you get started, familiarise yourself with the legal requirements for privacy screens. Boundary distances in particular are important when creating a DIY privacy fence in your garden. The requirements are determined independently by federal states and municipalities; there is no regulation that applies nationwide. As a starting point, the locally valid development plan applies. If fence distances and dimensions are regulated there, then these regulations apply independently of neighbour rights at country level.
For example: if the municipality specifies a maximum height of 1.80 metres for fences in the development plan, but the federal state permits up to 2.00 metres, then the maximum height of 1.80 metres applies to your fence.
Preparation: optimal preparation of bamboo canes
We’ve used bamboo canes, which are about 2 metres long, as screening material. You can buy them from DIY stores or even harvest them from your own bamboo plants by radically cutting them back. Alternatively, rods of hazel, or other types of wood that grow straight, are also suitable for building your own privacy fence. Please note that from March to October you may only prune shrubs due to the Bird Protection Ordinance, but you cannot radically cut them back during that time.
You can either use the stems immediately or store them until you have collected enough material for weaving. Our privacy screen does not require the rods to be extremely bendy because the privacy screen’s struts are spaced far apart. This means that even rather dried-out rods can be used. Bend one of the rods as a test, a few days before you build the screen. If it breaks, immerse the rods in water and soak them until you start building.
STIHL professional tip: The best way to soak the long rods is to place them on a waterproof sheet and use a few stones to support it from the outside and create a kind of tub. Place the rods on the sheet, fill with water and wrap the rods at the end.
Instructions: DIY privacy fence
Are all the materials and tools ready and to hand? Then you can make a start. Our instructions will lead you through each step of building a DIY outdoor privacy screen yourself.
First cut the frame bars to length. Take timbers measuring around 45 x 28 mm and cut to length as follows: 2 x 180 cm and 2 x 140.5 cm. Clamp the wood to a workbench and use a garden pruner such as the STIHL GTA 26 to cut the frame pieces to length.
Now cut the square-edged timbers for the feet to length. If your privacy screen is going to be fixed permanently in the garden, continue directly to step 4.
Mark the 50 x 30 mm square-edged timber as follows: 2 x 65 cm and 4 x 32 cm with straight ends, and 4 x 37.9 cm with two 45° angles on the narrow sides. Clamp the square-edged timbers to a workbench and cut them to length using the STIHL MSA 220.
Now screw the two feet together using 4 x 50 mm screws as follows:
A 65 cm long piece forms the basis for each foot. Measure 30 centimetres from each end of it and then screw two 32 cm long square-edged timbers in place at the measured points, at a right angle to the long piece. The two pieces should be parallel and 4.5 cm apart. A square-edged timber can be used as a spacer. Then attach the 37.9 cm long pieces which you cut with 45° angles: Screw them between the ends of the 65 cm long piece and the 32 cm long piece in such a way that two triangles are created on each foot.
Take the two 180 cm lengths for the frame and, in each of them, drill at five points 43 cm apart, without drilling all the way through the wood. The two outermost holes should be 4 centimetres from the end. Use a Forstner drill bit or a flat drill bit to make the holes, and drill them about 2.7 centimetres deep. To do this you can simply mark the intended drilling depth with masking tape on the drill bit. For best results, clamp the wood in the workbench when drilling. Leave one strip clamped for the next step.
Now insert the round timbers into the drilled holes, rotating them as you insert. Ensure that the round timbers are firmly inserted to make your DIY privacy screen stable.
Place the first bar with the inserted round timbers on the floor. Then place the second frame strip onto the round timbers and hammer it in place using the rubber mallet. Then screw the round timbers in place from the outside, using one 3 x 50 mm screw for each. This makes the frame more stable.
Now weave the canes between the round timbers. To build as dense a privacy screen as possible, press poles down slightly every time you weave a width of 15 cm or so. Use pruning shears such as the STIHL PB 10 to cut off any protruding branch sections so that they are flush.
If you only have shorter rods available, you can let them end halfway, behind the middle round timber and cut them off cleanly. However, the ends will be visible later and make the overall look slightly less pleasing.
Now secure the two 140.5 cm frame sides. These keep the bamboo canes in shape while also creating a harmonious appearance.
Finally, stand up your self-built privacy screen and position it in your preferred location. To do so, place it in its feet on the balcony or terrace. If your DIY privacy screen is going in the garden, you could install it permanently between two support posts instead. To do this, just insert the posts into fence post holders, either hammered into the ground or concreted in.
Maintenance: how to keep your privacy screen in good shape for a long time
When you build your own wooden privacy screen, durability is often very important. After all, long use demonstrates the quality of the work. With the following tips you can enjoy your DIY privacy screen for years to come.
Protect the privacy screen from the wind
Wind isn’t generally a problem for your DIY privacy screen as it simply blows through between the bamboo canes. It is nonetheless advisable to secure the privacy screen in the event of a storm. One way to do this is to attach it to your balcony railing, for example. The best thing is to choose a spot where your privacy screen is not too exposed to wind.
Avoid soil contact
It should be possible for the whole frame of your privacy fence to dry out. That’s why you should make sure there is always some space between it and the ground, especially in the garden. For fixed installations, place stones or gravel under the privacy screen so that the wood does not come into contact with the ground and will dry quickly after rain.
Oil the feet regularly
To maintain an even colour, treat feet made from spruce with wood preserver oil every year or two. You don’t necessarily need to oil the screen part, as this wood dries quickly and water can simply drain off. Of course, if you’d like to oil it for aesthetic reasons, there’s no reason not to.
Privacy screen for the garden: more DIY ideas
When building your own privacy screen, there are almost no limits in terms of design choices. With our instructions, you can make a privacy screen out of bamboo canes. Would you like it to look a bit greener? Then you can also build a trellis yourself. A trellis or pergola, for example, also offers good privacy screening.
Another DIY idea is a privacy screen made from boards. Although it requires a little more care, opaque boards offer the best screening.
Depending on the length of your planned privacy screen, you can also build a complete privacy fence yourself. If you want to let your creativity run wild, you can combine different elements; for example, you could alternate solid elements made from bamboo canes with self-built trellises. Building a DIY garden screen this way not only refreshes the look of your garden, but also makes it unique.
