Wood Fence Advice

[RMS]

Hi all,

I am building a 3ft fence in my back garden as a divide. I have used pressure treated 100mm by 100mm posts and have fitted the appropriate rails. I am going to fit pressure treat boards approx 120mm wide by 15mm deep. I have seen these fitted with a gap or overlapped. I have also recently seen these fitted butted up together on some new build houses. This is the method I am going to use.

I am wondering if there could be any problems with expansion when the boards are wet when using this method?

Any help appreciated.

 

[r896neo]

Yes you guessed right. It looks good for a year at the most and then one of two things happen.

1. they start to twist and warp and pop eachothers nails out.

2.the timber unevenly shrinks and whilst the gaps don't look so obvious when the boards are spaced 5mm apart when you put the same two warped boards tight beside eachother then it makes it unmissable.

You can use higher quality hardwood well treated/ sealed and it will have much more chance of looking good for longer or use very thin strips as the smaller a piece of timber the less relative shrinkage

 

[imamartian]

IMO.. for a 3ft fence, 100mm posts are overkill, 75mm x 75mm would be fine. As for the boards... they will do very little once outside and 'in action'. Their worst phase of activity is taking them out of B&Q or Wickes, and nailing them in place... they'll do allsorts for a few months....twist, split etc... maybe buy some decent quality rough cut, pressure treated boards and get them home and store them outside (under cover?) until early spring - to acclimatize - and then whack 'em in place?

I also reckon if the worst did happen, then it won't cost a fortune for a 3ft fence, to replace them in 5 years or so?

 

[RMS]

Thanks for the replies.

I realise the posts are oversized but I am incorporating 2 gates into the fence. The wood / boards are rough sawn pressure treated from a timber merchants.

I understand what ever I do the wood will warp, expand, shrink etc depending on humidity. Just wondered if this would cause any major problems when the boards are fitted butted together as this is the style I like.

I have left the boards outside to acclimatize. I'm thinking out putting them on (butted up) when they are wet so thee boards will shrink at worst when dry leaving a small gap.

I will be using a nail gun and ring shank nails.

Does this sound okay?