Types of Garden Fencing: Which Is Best for Your Garden?

What are the main types of garden fence?

The common ones are panel fencing (overlap or lap panels, the most familiar), closeboard or feather-edge (vertical boards built up on site, the strongest), and more decorative styles like slatted, hit-and-miss and picket. Closeboard lasts longest, panels are the quickest and best value, and the decorative styles trade some privacy or strength for looks. How they compare:

Which fence lasts the longest?

Closeboard, on good posts, outlasts everything else, because it is built up from individual boards that can be replaced one at a time rather than as a whole panel. But the single biggest factor in how long any fence lasts is not the panel at all, it is the posts and how they are set.

A quality panel on weak posts fails at the posts; a basic panel on good posts lasts for years. That is why we spend the thought on the posts first and the panel second.

Concrete or timber fence posts?

Concrete posts last longest and are worth it on most boundaries, because timber posts rot at the ground line where they meet soil and moisture, which is the first thing to fail on a fence. Concrete posts do not rot, hold panels securely, and let you slot in or replace a panel easily. Good timber posts, properly treated and set, are fine and look better, but they are the part most likely to need redoing first.

Either way, how the post is set matters as much as what it is made of: set to the right depth in concrete, with the timber kept clear of sitting water. On exposed or coastal boundaries we lean towards concrete posts and galvanised fittings, because salt and wind get at the cheap parts first.

What is the best fence for an exposed or coastal garden?

Something the wind can get through, on the strongest posts you can justify. Solid panels act like sails and are the first to blow down in a gale, so on an exposed or seaside boundary a hit-and-miss or slatted fence that lets wind pass through, built on concrete posts with galvanised fittings, lasts far longer than a solid lap panel.

This is everyday work for us on the boundaries near the water around Portchester and Hayling Island, where salt air is hard on timber and on cheap ironmongery. Spending a little more on the posts and fittings there is the difference between a fence that lasts and one you redo in a few years.

How high can a garden fence be without planning permission?

Up to two metres high in most places, or up to one metre if the fence is next to a road used by vehicles, measured from ground level. Above those heights you need planning permission. There are extra catches around listed buildings and in conservation areas, where an Article 4 direction can mean you need permission even to take an old fence down.

We build to the right height for the boundary and flag it if your street is one of the stricter ones. The full detail is in our guide to garden planning permission.

Should I repair or replace a fence?

If the posts are sound, you can usually replace just the failed panels or boards and get years more out of a fence. If the posts have gone, it is almost always worth replacing the run properly, because new panels on old, leaning posts will not stay up and you will be back out there next winter.

We are happy to look at a single panel as readily as a whole boundary, and we will tell you honestly which way is the better spend. You can see our fencing work, or send us a few photos and we will give you a fixed price.