A few adorable privacy screens have caught our attention on TikTok lately, but they’re not meant to stop your polite neighbor from checking out your lawn-stripping or steak-grilling technique. Instead, the kind of privacy these screens provide may be the most common… by hiding the unsightly bits you don’t want your family, friends or neighbors to see. In this case, you’re hiding outdoor electrical equipment like your power meter. It turns out you don’t have to stand in your front yard and say “Holy moly, look at that!” To every passerby, while pointing away and vaguely from your electrical service infrastructure to… well, nothing, maybe.
Some of these equipment screens are out there, and most include mesh panels, a friend of trellis-climbing plants and enabling under-deck storage. TikToker @dad_life_diys Took it a little further and added some very special horizontal slats made from pallet wood, along with a planter. This screen sits in the corner of your home and hides your meter base, buried service entry cables and cable or telecom junction boxes. It is made of two panels – a lattice and a slats – at a 45-degree angle to each other. The lattice panel has a planter at its base, which is sensible because the lattice gives the plant something to cling to.
The planter gives the screen something to stick to, and @dad_life_diys probably doesn’t need any other support for his screen panels since they’re attached to a weighty planter. Without a planter, it’s best to run a post or two to support the panels, or attach them to your house, or both.
Hides tools and screen itself
Wait, did we say these screens are eye-catching? It’s not quite right, because being eye-catching in some ways is exactly the opposite of what you want. That’s because your screen can’t completely obscure electrical devices from all angles, for reasons we’ll explain below. So a dramatic — and particularly out-of-place — privacy screen is likely to draw more attention to the equipment and the fact that you’re hiding it, not less. The trick is usually to make it look like it belongs on your screen, that it fits in with your home environment or at least doesn’t stand out. And, as there are many Creative ways to hide an indoor breaker box, There are many ways to hide meters and other outdoor electrical equipment.
TikToker Victoria Sanger (@filmedwithvictoria) Found a genius way to create mesh appliance screens that will suit any home, offer more privacy and look completely seamless. It manages what it looks like by combining it Synthetic boxwood roll panels On the back of standard lattice panels, creates a screen that really strains the eyes. Meanwhile, the greenery background creates the impression that whatever is behind the screen looks natural and acceptable. Sanger has her screen in the back corner of her house, and it already seems to be mostly hidden from the street by the chimney, so she’s probably hiding electrical gizmos from backyard guests.
Incidentally, there are many options for more bespoke versions of Sanger’s screen. is Decorative screen panelsMetal privacy screens, mesh with faux greenery already covering it, and many varieties of greenery that you can integrate.
Is hiding electrical equipment a code violation?
Now, you’re trying to play one of those freestanding, pad-mounted ones Transformers that are usually hidden with landscaping Or the base of a meter connected from outside your home. Even the simplest meter base usually has various things attached to it: the meter itself; weather head and mast for aerial cables or conduit for buried service entry cables; The main disconnect that allows you Turn off your power before your breaker box; And maybe a circuit breaker panel or sub-panel. Although it is not surprising that you want to hide all these ingredients, you still need to be careful. Covering electrical equipment can be dangerous, but by following a few rules, it’s easy to make your equipment’s screens NEC-compliant. This is especially important for company-owned equipment such as transformers and meter bases, which require specific clearances for working space and — in the case of transformers — for cooling.
Power companies are not always fans of efforts to hide electrical equipment, with placement regulations usually supported by building codes. Generally, according to NECEquipment should have 3 to 5 feet of working space on one or more sides, depending on conditions. The work area must also be as wide as the equipment or 30 inches, whichever is greater, and have a clear space equal to the height of the equipment from the ground or 6.5 feet, whichever is greater. Because there are some other rules specific to outdoor equipment, it’s worth reading up and calling your local code compliance or zoning office before you get started.
