Close Board Fencing

[ABCwarrior]

Decided to go half on the costs and labour of putting up a 28m fence between us and the neighbours. We both want proper privacy, so far I've estimated that we'd need 17 (100mmsq)posts to make 16 bays @ 1.8 m apart, using 3.6m (100x38) rails and 150x19mm boards- fixed to both sides of the rails. Height would be 1.8m and posts concreted in to glacial till(no movement) 600mm deep.
We live in the Highlands, so wind would be an issue- I reckon a 38mm spacing between boards either side staggered accurately means nobody can see through it but allows passage of wind.
It almost doubles the cost of boards though..... and any discrepancies in board width may eventually show up as gaps that can be seen through (found that with our larch decking...not all the same width!)

So, I was considering using 150mmsq posts at the same intervals and depth, but just close boarding the lot. I doubt at 1.8m centres the wind would break these(more than double the cross sectional area of 100mmsq posts), and at that thickness would be far more durable.

Any ideas? Other ideas would be to brace the end posts and every 4 bays (0-7-14-21-28m) but wouldn't look too good and may well be overkill! If done couyld maybe make some feature from the bracing?

 

[scbk]

Don't know what it's called, but what about the style of fence with horizontal boards and no rails.
The boards are both sides but staggered, you can't really see through, but some wind can pass through.
So you have a 6" board, 6" gap, 6" board, all the way up on either side

 

[roberta1000]

Ranch style.

You can get away with a smaller overlap hence less wood because any see-through is only up or down so quite private. No rails either so a bit cheaper overall. Don't really like the appearance myself though.

 

[ABCwarrior]

Not Ranch, dated looks plus the neighbour has 3 young kids so not having a ladder for them to play on and look over....
I googled for ages and found some spec from Leicestershire and their council.
Their spec is posts 100x150mm at 3m max spacings for 1800 high, but with 3 rails, and about the same depth for the posts(750)
I doubt the weather would be as bad down there wind wise, but given the perfect ground conditions for putting in posts(bar digging the holes with a pinch bar and hands due to amount of stones/boulders ) here, maybe if I did them at 2.4m centres with these thicker posts it'd be fine?

http://www.leics.gov.uk/sd313.pdf

 

[mikeey84]

Having just put a close boarded fence up myself, here are my thoughts:

Do it once, do it properly.

While its going to cost more intitially to have shorter centres, I would recommend going down to 1.8m centers, on the thickest posts you can. I just sunk in 125x75, 700mm deep for my 1.65high fence at 2.4m centres, and i dont live in the highlands!

Think about the effort and cost you will have if it blows over and falls apart, cheaper to over spec it slightly now, and not have to worry about it for a few years

 

[JohnD]

Concrete posts are strong and don't rot.