By Dave and Mary

Two Ideas For Installing Lattice
On Your Porch

Installing lattice on your porch is easy to do and can be used for a variety of projects. Our site visitors asked us how to use it as porch skirting and to create a little privacy on their porch.

Lattice, especially vinyl lattice, is a versatile product and can be custom made.

Lattice is perfect as porch skirting and makes a great privacy partition on your porch. Here are two options installing lattice that we recommend you consider.

Porch Skirting on a Slope

Many people have porches built on slopes making it more difficult to install lattice on your porch.

James from Maine writes: "We would like to install lattice frames (build them) to put under our porch with the option of taking them down. We store our wood under the porch.

How do we build the frames since the porch is built on a slope? See the attached pictures".

porch without lattice skirting

I think you have a few options for installing lattice on your porch based on the following assumptions:

Access under the porch (I am assuming you want to be able to remove all of the lattice panels rather than just a few to access the wood.
Something easy but substantial
8 feet between supporting columns
Braces on columns that hinder positioning panels between columns

side view of porch without lattice skirting

Option 1: Floating Panels Following the Terrain

Lattice is easy to cut so cutting it on a diagonal is not an issue. You can either position the lattice panels horizontally or vertically.

You won't be able to follow the terrain exactly but you should be able to come close. Since lattice usually comes in 4x8 foot sections, I would measure from the porch beam to the ground in several places between a set of columns.

That will give you the diagonal from which to cut the lattice panels (you will need two panels per section). Don't cut yet!

You will then build wooden frames from treated 1x2s or similar sized wood. The wood frames will be three sided (unless you want the frame to extend across the bottom of the lattice - not necessary though. I'd let the lattice extend to the ground.

Reinforce the corners with outside brackets as needed.

Next, attach U-channel (purchase at Home Depot/Lowes) to the inside of the wood frames. You will cut the lattice to fit inside the U-channel.

At this point you have two frames with U-channel and lattice panels that are 8 feet wide in total plus the width of the frames. Hopefully, you have dry-fitted them to see if they span across the section. You will want them to extend a little past each column.

Next, build a frame on the outside of each column and across the top to accept the lattice frames. It will be "L-shaped". You can build it easily with two pieces of wood. Make sure the front face extends far enough to cover the frame when it is inserted.

You can now insert your lattice frames into the column frames. Have someone hold the lattice frame in place and at least two holes on each side though both the column frame and the lattice frame. Insert metal pins through the frames to the hold the lattice frames in place.

You can install a gate latch (rod that goes into the ground) where the panels meet in the middle.

Install a latch lock to secure the panels together in the middle. When you want access, unlatch the lock, pull the gate hook, and pull the pins. The lattice under your porch will look nice.

Option 2

If using the lattice panels horizontally, you can use the same method but screw the top panel(s) in place. The lower panel can be secured as above and removed when needed. You would still cut the bottom panel to follow the terrain.

Sounds like a lot of steps but it is fairly easy to do.

The Finished Porch Skirting

James sent us a photo of his porch with skirting installed - nice job!

lattice attached as porch skirting on a slope

Installing Lattice on Your Porch for Privacy

Jane from Virginia writes: "I have a big wrap around porch on a 100 year old house in the city. The side that wraps around (my favorite place to read and relax) gets wind from the north and east. The house is on a corner and lots of neighbors walk by.

I would like to enclose the North and East side with a trellis with small openings for privacy and to block the wind. One side is open to the rest of the porch across the front which I would leave open. The other side is the wall of the house",.

You have several neat options for installing lattice on your porch depending on how much privacy and wind protection you'd like.

red lattice privacy panel on porch

The best option for both privacy and wind protection are custom vinyl lattice panels. You can either choose from a wide variety of designs/colors or create you won design.

You can also determine the size of the openings. Obviously, the smaller the openings the more privacy and wind protection you'll have.

The advantage of these is that you don't have to enclose the entire opening. You could choose to enclose just enough to provide the privacy/wind protection you need.

You can also use them as a trellis in case you want to grow a climbing plant to provide additional protection.

Another good option are porch curtains, shades, or blinds. Each has their advantages and all can be fastened at the bottom to help block the wind and stabilize the fixtures.

Most offer UV protection as well and create some really nice curb appeal.

Still another option are planters that extend high enough to provide privacy and can also block the wind. Although you can use them for larger areas, I think they'd work best for creating a privacy nook.

Climbing vines are used to in the planters to provide additional privacy.

Be sure to see more vinyl lattice options for amazing and innovative ideas. Did our article provide you some good tips for installing lattice on your porch? We hope it did.

Mary and Dave, Founders of Front Porch Ideas and More

Hi! We're Mary and Dave, lifelong DIYers, high school sweethearts, and we both love porches. You've come to the right place for thousands of porch ideas.

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Two Ideas For Installing Lattice On Your Porch