There are many different ways to personalise your garden. A trellis or lattice creates a beautiful, timeless look in any outdoor space. If you want to surround your garden with trellis/lattice, you can simply attach them to your existing fence or wall.
Read on to find out how to transform your garden by installing a timber trellis or lattice.
First steps
Before proceeding any further, it’s important to consider a few key things.
What is trellis?
A trellis is a highly robust, grid patterned fence panel designed to support climbing plants. It is built with large gaps between the individual strips of wood, allowing plants room to grow, climb, and weave through. Trellises make for an eye-catching garden feature, especially when entwined with plants.
Trellises can stand alone or, as explained in this blog, they can be attached to an existing fence or wall.
What is lattice?
A lattice is made up of crisscrossed strips, forming a striking pattern. Though the primary function of lattice is to be decorative, it can also support some climbing plants. Like trellis, lattice fence panels add privacy to your garden whilst still permitting some natural light to shine through. A lattice can also be attached to an existing fence or wall.
Decide what your trellis or lattice is for
To start, you need to know what your trellis or lattice is for. Whether you’re planning to decorate it with climbing plants or use it to create a new texture on an existing fence or wall, this will affect the installing of your new trellis/lattice.
If you’re thinking about teasing climbing plants through it, consider the type of plants you’d like to grow. Make sure the trellis/lattice you select can take the weight of the plants you’re intending to grow, and provide optimum conditions for their growth.
Decide what trellis or lattice you want
Different style trellises and our heavy duty lattice offer a very different look and feel. You can’t go wrong with a Standard Flat Top Trellis, robust and traditional, and easy to decorate with climbing plants.
For a slightly different, delicate look, a Small Hole Trellis is ideal. Or offset the lines of a fence or wall with the smooth curves of a Convex Top Trellis, Heavy Duty Lattice Convex Top, or Concave Top Trellis, perfect for creating a traditional, rustic aesthetic.
We also have a beautiful range of elegant lattice including, heavy duty lattice with a flat or convex top, as well as our Omega lattice panel.
Treat your wooden trellis/lattice
Apply a treatment to your timber trellis or lattice to preserve its lifespan and prevent wood shrinkage. At Somerlap, we stock Protek Stable Coat, a water-proofing wood treatment that will give your trellis/lattice long-term protection. Available in five different colours.
Installing a trellis or lattice on the front of a fence or wall
There are several steps to follow when attaching a trellis/lattice to the front of an existing fence or wall:
- If you want to grow climbing plants, ensure you leave some space between the fence or wall and trellis/lattice.
- You will mount your trellis/lattice to wooden posts to create this space. To start, space the posts out about 60cm apart from each other.
- Then attach the posts to your fence or wall using wall plugs and screws, and nail the trellis/lattice to your posts.
Installing a trellis or lattice on top of a fence
- Extend the existing posts of your fence by adding fence posts to the top of your fence until it reaches the height you want.
- Fix your Panel Fixing Brackets (also known as U brackets) to the inside of each fence post roughly halfway between where your trellis/lattice panel will go.
- Slot your trellis/lattice panel into place and attach with screws through the Panel Fixing Brackets.
For trellises, lattices, and more, get in touch with Somerlap today
From trellises and lattices to traditional timber fencing, we’ve got it all here at Somerlap. Visit us at our site in Mark, Somerset, or get in touch with our friendly team to find out more about how we can help with your timber garden product needs.
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