Close-board fencing

What it is

A close-board fence is the one most people actually want when they say “fence panels”. It’s built on site, post by post and board by board, with properly treated posts concreted in, arris rails notched in, feather-edge boards overlapped, and a capping rail on top. It’s the traditional English garden fence and it’s what the good ones down your road almost certainly are, once you look closely.

Put up properly, a close-board fence goes the distance. Put up on a cheap spec, untreated posts, no capping, thin feather-edge, skimped overlap, you’ll be looking at it again in five. The timber looks similar on day one. The difference shows up after the second winter.

When close-board is the right call

• You’ve got a long run of boundary to cover and you want it to look like one piece of work, not a line of panels.
• The line is exposed to the prevailing south-westerly or the wind off the coast.
• The previous panels have failed and you’re rebuilding the run from scratch.
• You want privacy on a boundary where a gappy picket or a low post and rail won’t cut it.
• You want the fence that lasts the longest for the money, with the lowest repair cost over its life.

How we build it

• Mark and dig the post holes. Usually around 600mm deep, spacing to suit the run and the boards. Ground conditions change the dig; sandstone round Hastings is a different job to clay round Battle.
• Properly treated posts concreted in with postcrete. Not bare timber, not the cheapest grade. Quality materials only, never just the cheapest. Pressure treatment is the single biggest factor in how long the fence lasts.
• Gravel boards along the base. Keeps the feather-edge off the wet soil. Concrete gravel boards for the long-life spec, timber where it suits the look.
• Arris rails notched into the posts. Two rails on a standard fence, three on anything over about 1.8m.
• Feather-edge boards overlapped by about 25mm. So when the timber moves in winter, the line doesn’t gap out. Boards cut from properly sourced, pressure-treated timber.
• Capping rail along the top. Sheds water off the end grain of the feather-edge, which is where the rot starts on a fence without one. We’ll also dab the top of the rail with a preservative before we leave.

What it costs

We price close-board per metre after a site visit, because access and ground conditions move the number as much as the fence height does. In the price: treated posts, postcrete, gravel boards, feather-edge, capping rail and all the fixings. What adds cost: slopes that need stepping, removal and disposal of the existing fence, gate integration, and difficult access for the postcrete and the timber.

What we won’t do

We won’t put up a cheap spec to win a quote. Cheap posts and no capping look the same on day one and give up in about five years. We only fit properly treated posts with capping rails, because that’s the fence that lasts. Quality materials only, never just the cheapest. If our number isn’t the right one for you, we’ll wish you well.