Lattice Designs for Landscaping

Overhead Deck Lattice

• Installing a pergola over your deck or any other seating area in your yard helps create shade and adds design interest to your yard. Support the pergola with beams that anchor into holes in the ground you dig with a post-hole digger. As with fence posts, ensure that the posts stand the test of time by filling the hole around the posts with wet concrete. These posts then hold cross member boards that sit in notches at the top of the posts. Anchor the lattice boards to the cross member boards using wood screws. The pergola provides a place for vines to grow, increasing the amount of shade on your deck.

Fences

• If you want to install a fence anywhere in your yard but do not want the fence to be solid, lattice gives a higher-end look than chain-link or other see-through materials. Since lattice is made of wood, trim it so it fits between the fence posts with the wood strips running vertically and horizontally or with the strips running diagonally. The fence must have solid posts at the ends of the lattice panels, as well as wood framing around each lattice panel since the flexibility of the lattice will cause the panels to bow inward or outward.

Trellis

• Framing lattice panels with solid pieces of wood transforms the panels into trellis usee for a variety of purposes in your yard. The trellis provides a surface for vines to grow, instead of allowing vines to grow on your fence or side of your house and damage those structures. Placed around various parts of the house, such as a patio area, a trellis also acts as a wind block or a sun shade, especially if the trellis has vines growing on it.

Under the Deck

• Lattice placed at the gap between the bottom of a deck and the ground below not only gives the deck a more finished look, it also creates a barrier. With lattice panels installed in the gap between the deck and the ground, small children and animals cannot wander under the deck, where they may become hurt or wreak destruction. If you have utility boxes or other features you must access on a semi-regular basis under the deck, frame one of the trellis panels and install hinges on the edge of the panel and the adjoining panel, creating a door you may open and close. Secure the door with a hook-and-eye, padlock or other locking device of your choice.