Closeboard or Panel Fencing for a Maryport Coastal Garden?

What is the actual difference?

Panel fencing uses factory-made panels, normally 1.83m (6ft) wide, dropped or fixed between posts. The cheapest are waney lap panels, made from thin overlapping horizontal slats in a light frame. Closeboard panels are a heavier version with vertical boards.

Traditional closeboard, also called feather edge, is built on site. Posts go in first, then two or three horizontal rails are fixed between them, and overlapping vertical feather edge boards are nailed on one at a time. Each board is fixed to every rail, so the fence behaves as one continuous structure and not a row of separate rectangles.

How each one copes with Solway wind and salt

Wind is the deciding factor here. A solid 1.8m fence acts like a sail, and exposed plots around the harbour, the Promenade, up the hill at Ewanrigg and Netherton, or out towards Flimby and Crosscanonby get the full force of it.

Waney lap panels are the usual casualty. The slats are only a few millimetres thick, the frames are stapled, and after two or three winters you often see slats blown out or whole panels lifted from their slots. Site-built closeboard is far stiffer because the load is shared across rails and posts, and if one board splits you replace that board for a few pounds instead of a whole panel.

Salt air attacks fixings before it attacks timber. Bright steel nails and cheap brackets rust quickly near the sea, so ask for hot dip galvanised or stainless fixings whichever style you choose. Timber should be pressure treated, and posts in the ground should be rated UC4.

• Waney lap panels: roughly 5 to 10 years in an exposed Maryport garden, sometimes less
• Heavy closeboard panels in concrete posts: around 10 to 15 years
• Site-built closeboard with concrete posts and gravel boards: 15 to 25 years with basic care

Posts and gravel boards matter as much as the boards

Most fences that fail in a gale snap at ground level, where a timber post has rotted. Concrete posts avoid that problem and are our usual recommendation near the coast. If you prefer the look of timber, 100mm x 100mm UC4 posts are the minimum, and 125mm is worth considering on an open boundary.

For a 1.8m fence, posts should go about 600mm into the ground and be set in concrete, deeper on soft or made-up ground. Closer post spacing helps too: 2.4m bays on an exposed run are stronger than 3m bays.

A concrete or treated timber gravel board along the bottom keeps the boards clear of wet soil, which is where rot starts in West Cumbrian gardens that stay damp for much of the year.

What it costs around Maryport

As a rough guide for a 1.8m fence supplied and fitted locally, lap panels on concrete posts tend to fall around £70 to £100 per metre, and site-built closeboard on concrete posts with gravel boards around £100 to £150 per metre. Treat these as ballpark figures only. The real price depends on access, ground conditions, slopes, how much old fencing needs removing and current timber prices.

Closeboard costs more up front because there is more timber and more labour. Spread over its lifespan it usually works out cheaper, because you are not replacing blown panels every few winters.

So which should you choose?

For most Maryport gardens with any exposure to the west or north west, site-built closeboard is the better buy. It also follows sloping ground neatly, which suits the many plots here that fall towards the sea.

• Choose closeboard if the garden is open to the wind, on a slope, or you want it to last 15 years or more
• Choose heavy-duty panels if the garden is sheltered by houses or walls, the budget is tight, or you need a quick like-for-like replacement in existing concrete posts
• Avoid thin waney lap panels on any boundary that faces the Solway
• On very exposed plots, consider hit and miss or slatted fencing, which lets some wind through and reduces the load on the posts