Three ways to make a chain-link fence private (and one not to)
You bought a house with a chain-link fence. Or the neighbor put one up and you want to block the view. Or you're building cheap and privacy is an afterthought. Whatever the reason, you don't want to tear out the chain-link (that's $400+ in labor right there) but you want privacy. Here are the three real options, and one option you should avoid.
Option 1, privacy slats (the classic)
Vertical plastic strips that weave through the chain-link. Come in rolls or bundles, install one slat per diamond. They block about 85-90 percent of sightlines depending on the slat style.
Cost: $1.80 to $3.50 per linear foot from Home Depot, Lowe's, or Amazon. For a 150ft fence that's $270 to $525. Installation is DIY and takes about 4-6 hours for two people on 150 feet.
Brands I've used: Pexco (my go-to, UV-stabilized, 10-year life), Hoover Fence Company private label (similar quality, cheaper if you buy direct), and the Home Depot house brand (shorter life, 6-8 years before the tops start cracking).
Color options: green, brown, beige, black, redwood-brown. Green fades fastest in direct sun. Black holds up best but absorbs heat. Beige hides dirt worst. Brown or redwood is the sweet spot for most yards.
Pros: cheapest privacy option, DIY-friendly, no extra load on fence structure, replaceable in sections.
Cons: looks exactly like what it is (slatted chain-link), won't fool anyone into thinking you have a "real" privacy fence, and the slats are brittle in deep cold.
Option 2, windscreen fabric
Rolls of polyethylene mesh fabric in 4ft or 6ft heights. You zip-tie it to the fence top, bottom, and every few feet along the posts. Available in green, black, and beige. Popular on baseball fields and commercial yards.
Cost: $1.20 to $1.80 per linear foot for 6ft height. For 150ft that's $180 to $270, plus $20-$40 in zip ties. Total under $310 in most cases.
Installation: two people, 2-3 hours for 150 feet. Pull the fabric tight against the fence, zip-tie every 18-24 inches along top, bottom, and posts. The fabric will sag over time so expect to re-tension once a year.
Pros: cheapest of the three, fastest to install, can be removed easily, good for temporary privacy needs or renters.
Cons: clearly reads as "construction site fencing," fades and tears within 5-7 years, acts as a massive sail in high wind (can actually rip the chain-link loose from posts in a storm).
Best use case: rental properties, temporary needs, dog yards where you just need to block the dog's sightlines so it stops barking at the neighbor's dog.
Option 3, privacy hedge
Plant a row of fast-growing shrubs along the fence line. The classic choices: privet (ligustrum), Leyland cypress, emerald green arborvitae, or holly. Let them grow up and fill in against the chain-link.
Cost: 3-gallon shrubs run $18-$30 each at a local nursery. Plant one every 3-4 feet for a privacy hedge. For 150ft that's 38-50 shrubs at $700-$1,500 initial cost. Add mulch, irrigation, and starter fertilizer for another $200-$300.
Time: this is the killer. A 3-gallon arborvitae takes 5-7 years to reach 6ft and fill in. A privet can get there in 3-4 years if you fertilize heavily. Leyland cypress can hit 6ft in 3 years but grows too tall too fast and becomes a maintenance nightmare.
Pros: by far the most attractive result, increases property value, attracts birds, feels permanent.
Cons: slowest privacy by far, needs watering (especially first two years), shrubs can die, and you still have the chain-link underneath.
Best use case: you plan to stay in the house 10+ years and want a real privacy solution without tearing out the chain-link.
If you want privacy in a week, slats. If you want it on the cheap, windscreen. If you want it beautiful, plant shrubs and wait three years.
The one not to: bamboo roll fencing
You've seen it. Tan-colored bamboo rolled mat, zip-tied to a chain-link fence. Looks vaguely tropical for about six months. Then it starts to gray. Then individual bamboo stalks start cracking. By year two it looks like a dumpster fire.
Cost is cheap ($2-$3 per foot) but the life is short (18-24 months in sun, maybe 3 years in shade). You'll replace it as often as you would high-end windscreen, and it looks worse the whole time.
Reed fencing (similar product, made from reeds instead of bamboo) has the same problems.
Skip both. Spend the same money on windscreen or privacy slats and you'll get 5-10 years of service instead of 18 months.
Combining options
The move I recommend for people who want privacy now and beautiful privacy eventually: install privacy slats for immediate coverage, plant a slow-growing hedge, and in 5-7 years when the hedge has filled in, remove the slats. Best of both worlds.
Total cost: $350-$525 for slats now, $700-$1,500 for plantings, $900 or so in irrigation and maintenance over 5 years. About $2,000-$2,900 all in, which is still less than tearing out the chain-link and putting up a wood privacy fence ($3,600-$5,400).
Installing privacy slats, step by step
If you go the slat route, here's the method. Buy 10-15 percent extra slats to cover mistakes. Start at one end of the fence and work toward the other, not from both ends toward the middle (you'll end up with mismatched widths at the meeting point).
Each slat inserts top-down or bottom-up depending on the style. The "locking" slats (which is what Pexco and most quality brands sell) snap into a plastic strip at top or bottom that holds them in place. Thread each slat through one diamond, push down until it catches the lock strip, move to the next.
Expect 60-90 seconds per slat once you find the rhythm. For 150 feet of 4ft chain-link you're installing roughly 420 slats. That's 7-10 hours of work. Two-person crews cut it in half because one person feeds slats while the other snaps them in.
Windscreen install notes
For windscreen, tension matters. Loose fabric sags, tears, and catches more wind (defeating the purpose). Start by clipping the top edge with zip ties every 12 inches. Then work across, keeping tension by pulling downward and sideways. Add bottom clips last. Trim excess with scissors.
Wind loads on a 6ft windscreen run are significant. If your existing chain-link is old or the top rail is thin, the windscreen can actually lift sections off the posts in a storm. Consider adding bottom tension wire or an extra mid-rail before installing fabric on anything older than 10 years.
Use the calculator
If you're deciding between adding privacy to existing chain-link versus replacing with a wood fence, run the FenceCalc estimator for a 150ft 6ft wood contractor-install. That's your comparison price. If the privacy hack gets you 80 percent of the result for 30 percent of the cost, hack wins.
Related: cheap fence options, wood vs vinyl math, the fence FAQ.