Timber, posts and panels, explained

The four fence types you will be quoted

Closeboard

Built on site rather than bought as a unit. Vertical feather edge boards are nailed to horizontal arris rails between posts, each board overlapping the last. It is the strongest of the common types, it follows a sloping garden without stepping, and its real advantage is that individual boards can be replaced when one splits. That makes it the type with the longest useful life in a garden that gets weather. It costs more in labour than a panel because it is assembled in place.

Feather edge

The board itself: sawn thicker on one edge than the other so the boards overlap and shed water. Feather edge boards are what a closeboard fence is made from, which is why the two words get used almost interchangeably in quotes. If a quote says feather edge, ask whether the boards are being fixed to arris rails on site or delivered as a made up panel, because those are different jobs at different prices.

Hit and miss

Boards fixed alternately to the front and back of the rails, leaving a gap between each one. It is the honest answer for an exposed boundary: wind passes through it instead of pushing against it, and on high ground in this city that matters. The trade off is that it is not a full privacy screen, and it uses more timber than a plain closeboard run for the same length.

Panel fencing

Made up panels, usually overlap or waney edge, dropped between posts. Quick, the cheapest per metre, and the easiest to repair one bay at a time. The catch is that a standard panel is a fixed width, and Victorian gardens rarely divide neatly into fixed widths, so a run ends with a cut panel or a slightly wrong post spacing. It also steps rather than following a slope, which is fine on a gentle fall and looks wrong on a steep one.

Concrete posts or timber posts

This is the choice that decides how long the fence lasts, and it is worth more thought than the panel type.

• Concrete posts do not rot at ground level, which is where nearly every timber post fails. They take a slotted gravel board and a panel without any fixings into end grain, and they are the right answer on wet ground and on long exposed runs. They cost more, they are heavy to carry through a house, and a concrete post that does break tends to break badly.
• Timber posts look right against an older garden, cost less to install, and are easier to work with on a difficult access job. Pressure treated timber is fighting ground moisture from the first day, and in the damper valley ground around Bedminster and the Frome that shortens its life noticeably. A proper post foot and a gravel board buy back a good deal of that.

Where the ground is wet, or the run is long and exposed, we will recommend concrete and tell you why. Where a short run matters visually, timber is a reasonable choice made with the facts in front of you.

Gravel boards, and why they are not an upsell

A gravel board is the board that sits along the bottom of the run between the posts, holding the panel or the feather edge up clear of the soil. Timber sitting on wet ground wicks water upwards and rots from the bottom. A gravel board takes that hit instead, and it is a great deal cheaper to replace than a panel or a full closeboard bay. Concrete gravel boards never rot at all. If a quote leaves them out, that is a quote that will look cheaper today and cost more in five years.

Treatment, and what actually needs doing

Pressure treated timber does not need painting to survive. What treatment buys you is slower greying and less water into the cut ends. If you do treat a fence, the parts that matter are the end grain, the bottom of the boards and anything you have cut on site, because that is where water gets in. Once a year or once every two years on the exposed faces is plenty. Composite needs no treatment at all, which is a large part of what the extra cost is buying.

What this does to lifespan and price

Three honest generalisations, offered as ranking rather than as numbers we can evidence for your garden.

• Post type matters more than panel type. A cheap panel on a concrete post will outlast a good panel on a rotting timber one.
• Gravel boards and drainage matter more than height. Standing water finishes more Bristol fences than wind does, except on the high ground where it is the other way round.
• Closeboard costs more up front and is cheaper to keep, because you replace boards rather than bays. Panels cost less up front and are cheaper to fix in a hurry.

For what the market charges, rather than our own numbers, see the cost question in our FAQ. For how a price is built, see how we quote.