Decks and fences in Nashville, TN

Close neighbors and small backyards

In East Nashville, Germantown, and 12 South, many houses sit on narrow lots with side yards you can cross in a few steps. Newer infill homes, often two stories, now stand beside older bungalows, and their back windows can look straight down into the yard next door. That is a big part of why privacy tops the list for so many Nashville homeowners. It shapes deck plans too, since a deck raised well off the ground puts you on display unless screening is part of the design.

In a small yard, every bit of open ground has a job. Cover all of it with a deck and there is nowhere left for the dog or a garden bed. A fence run tight against a neighbor's house can leave them no way to paint or repair that wall later. Before picking a deck size or a fence line, think about how the yard gets used on an ordinary weekday. Sometimes a low deck and one tall stretch of fence do more for privacy than a big structure.

Alleys and narrow side yards

Plenty of older Nashville streets have alleys behind the houses, and that usually helps. Posts and lumber can come in from the back instead of being carried past the house. Alleys come with their own things to work around, though, like overhead lines and neighbors who need to get their cars through. Where there is no alley, every board goes through the side yard by hand, which takes longer. Mention how your lot is reached when you request an estimate, since it affects the plan and the price.

Historic and conservation overlays

Some Nashville neighborhoods sit inside historic or conservation zoning overlays, and those overlays can review changes to the outside of a house. What gets reviewed depends on the type of overlay, so a fence that needs approval on one street may not need it on another. Metro requires a preservation permit for a fence in a historic preservation or landmark overlay, but not in a neighborhood conservation overlay. Before you settle on a design, ask the Metro Historic Zoning Commission staff about your address. Their review is its own step, separate from the building permit, and it can add time.

Most permits here run through the Metro Codes office, since Nashville and Davidson County share one government. A few small cities inside the county keep their own rules, and Belle Meade is one of them. If your address falls inside one of those cities, expect the permit and any design review to go through that city instead. Rules on fence height and deck placement vary from place to place, so confirm what applies to your lot before work is scheduled.

Decks for Nashville homes

Nashville deck projects tend to start from one of a few places. Older bungalows often have a worn back deck that has been patched more than once. Infill houses frequently come with a small landing and a back door set well above the yard. In Bellevue and other hilly parts of Nashville, the ground can drop away behind the house, which means taller posts and a longer stair. Limestone also sits close to the surface in many yards, so footing holes sometimes hit rock early. The Nashville deck builder page goes through all of this in more detail.

Fences for Nashville yards

Most fence conversations in Nashville come back to privacy along the side and rear lines. A solid wood privacy fence is the usual answer, with a gate facing the alley if the lot has one. Bigger lots in Donelson and Belle Meade raise other questions, like a longer run with more than one gate, or keeping posts away from the roots of large trees. On any Nashville lot, the property line needs to be settled before a post goes in, and our guide on fences and property lines in Tennessee explains why. The Nashville fence page covers the rest.