Thanks deep roots, I'll be using wood as it's in the upland portion of a wetlands, and retaining the natural feeling is a desired goal. I have gotten some furhter advice from my construction friends that concrete actually cures very well in saturated soils/groundwater. So I'll be putting in concrete piers with 4X4 metal post attachements on the top. The piers will be made using a sono-tube concrete form to prevent hole collapse in the saturated soils and to prevent phase separation of the cement components which may be caused by pouring them into standing water. The peirs will be constructed to be a few inches above ground level (in case of seasonal flooding), which will keep the post dry. These posts may actually last longer then the other posts installed above the groundwater level!!

Yes - the bike rack/fence post support thingie would be on my side of the fence. Both sides look nice, designed to pretty much look the same on both sides. If it works if I can get down deep enough to sink the metal post it will be the perfect solution -stabilize the post AND give us secure place to lock bikes (bike thieves run rampant around here). If not - I wonder, what if I just expand the concrete slab that the post is sitting in, make it larger/wider? Right now its about 2 feet thick but only about a foot wide! I think if it was wider it wouldn't be so moveable. say about 2 x 2 feet square - or larger? Might frost heave up and down but oh well. The posts on either side of it (8 feet distance) are securely sunk down 42 inches. Re: what to use for metal fence post - thinking either black or galvanized iron pipe - 2 inches - attached to the fence via 90 degree elbow at the top and 1 or 2 T joints. Is a 2 inch pipe for plumbing going to be as strong and rigid as a galavanized fence post made specifically for that purpose? Or are they pretty much equivalent, just one is marketed for plumbing the other for fence posts? Those pipe fittings just screw on correct? No glue or welding required? Klem - the brackets you refer to I think are for wood attaching directly to the metal post. I don't think I can get the metal post right up close the wood one, not without drilling through the concrete and gravel that is directly below the wood post That's why I was thinking of having the metal post be 6 inches from the wood one and then attaching it 2 or 3 places via the pipe fittings/flanges. However if it would make for a significantly more secure and stable fence Im willing to give it a go! Ive invested so much time and effort into getting this fence right - what's a few more days, weeks, months. Maybe this will be done by 2016. THANKS ALL!

We have a similar situation; a medium sized suburban yard with a mish mash of chain link fence. Replacing it with a privacy fence would be very difficult because a long stretch of it goes right through the middle of 40+ year old thicket of honeysuckle bushes with massive trunks and roots. They are great for privacy in the summer, but do almost nothing all winter. Neighbor has three motion lights that shine right in our windows much of the year! On one section with no honeysuckles we got the rolls of 6' reed fencing and tied it the 4' chain link with wires. It held up well for a few years but the wind and animals trying to climb it damaged it a lot. The wire holding it together is thin and starts to rust and break after a few years too. Cutting it back to 4' when it got ratty helped tidy it up a bit, but obviously a lot less privacy. It is a very temporary solution at best. Since your fence is not even on the property line, I concur that getting a new and more private fence pushed back to the line is a better solution. If that doesn't pan out though... the reed fencing is an option. Ideally you would pair the reed fencing with some type of evergreen shrubbery which will help as well. They help with noise too. We have a massive silver maple and previously had several in our yard and next door. Yews would grow under them, slowly at least. Sweet woodruff is a good groundcover for dry shade too, although it is not evergreen. If you do put in any shrubs, plant them far enough away from the fence so they have room to grow. I have seen our one neighbor out with a scissors cutting off just the very tips of our red-twig dogwoods that stick through the fence. People are strange.

Would a new, wood, privacy fence on one side only (all 3 bedrooms) necessarily be a selling point by which I could recoup the fence investment, or would it instead be a turn off and potentially lose me prospective buyers? I've been receiving tons of mail from as-is investors, so I wonder would they offer more, less or no different with the new fence in place? They will likely turn it into a rental, as most are around here now, and therefore won't care one way or the other about the fence, but I wonder whether bumping my price up to cover the fence cost would lose those potential buyers. For those curious, the reason for the single-side fencing is the rental property next door on that side. I've lived in this house for over 50 years, the owner of that rental property has owned it for decades, and the renters get worse with each turnover. The other neighbors don't intentionally cause me trouble, so I don't feel the need for more than the existing chain-link fencing on those sides. The last tenants were neighbor-from-hell, drunk & drugged out, criminal trespassers who habitually abused my property during all-night parties with numerous friends and relatives. They only escalated their terrorism after I called the cops on them. They were finally evicted after a number of years. These houses are very close together, and I don't want a repeat of that experience for the remainder of my stay here, no matter how short it may be. I've ordered new security lights and will get those up, hopefully before new people move in, and will likely install cameras as well (perhaps not if I put the fence up). I could have put security measures in place during the previous renters' stay, but I've no doubt they would have made good on their threats to stab me in the back, etc. (their relatives threatened to stab each other during one fight). At the very least, I'm sure they would have sabotaged my fence posts during the night while the concrete was curing. I'm not going to bother discussing a "joint" fence with the rental property owner, for a number of reasons – one being that my new fence would extend well beyond the existing chain link fence border, to cover the entire side of my house and well into my front yard, up to the allowed street setback point, and there's no way he would agree to share in that additional cost. So, I'm going to almost certainly have to build on my side of the existing chain link fence. Yes, a new $urvey would be performed first. I just need to know whether I'd be taking a big loss with the new fence. My peace of mind is worth something, but I'd like to put those multiple thousands of dollars into my new place instead of this old house that I'll be leaving behind in the not-too-distant future, especially since I won't be fixing it up. If I can be reasonably sure I'll recoup the investment with a higher selling price, I'll put up the fence. TIA, Gus