How to choose a timber fence

Start with what the fence has to do

Before comparing styles, answer these. The answers point you at a style far more reliably than looking at photos does.

• Is this fence mainly about privacy, or mainly about marking a boundary?
• Will you see the top of the fence, or is it screened by planting or hidden down a side path?
• Is the fence visible from the street, or only from inside your yard?
• Does it need to match an existing fence or an existing gate?
• Is the ground flat, or does it fall along the fence line?
• How much is the difference in material cost worth to you on this particular boundary?

The two decisions that actually matter

Every timber fence choice comes down to two separate decisions, and people often conflate them.

The first is the timber: treated pine or hardwood. That is a decision about appearance, weight and cost.

The second is the paling layout: single paling, lapped, or lapped with a capping rail. That is a decision about privacy and how the fence is finished at the top.

Once you separate them, the four systems make more sense. Three of them are treated pine with different paling layouts. The fourth swaps the timber.

If privacy is the priority

Go lapped. Both lapped only and lap & cap overlap the palings so there is no straight gap to see through, and unlike a single paling fence, seasonal timber movement does not open up a sight line.

Then decide whether the top of the fence is visible. If it is, add the capping rail. If it is not, lapped only saves the material.

If appearance is the priority

Lap & cap is the most finished of the treated pine options, because the capping rail gives the run a single clean line along the top. That line is what makes a fence look considered from a distance.

Hardwood is the other answer, but for a different reason. Hardwood is about the character of the timber itself: the colour, the grain and the variation between palings. It is worth choosing when you want the fence to read as timber rather than as a fence.

If cost is the priority

Single paling in treated pine uses the least material for a given length, because the palings sit edge to edge rather than overlapping and there is no capping rail.

Lapped only sits in the middle: overlapped palings, no capping.

Lap & cap uses the most treated pine, because of both the overlap and the capping rail.

Hardwood is a more expensive material than treated pine regardless of layout.

We do not publish prices, because the fence style is only one input. Length, height, gates, removing the old fence, access and ground conditions all move the number, which is exactly what the free site measure is for.

If the ground falls along the fence line

On sloping ground the fence has to step or rake, and the top line becomes the most visible thing about it. A stepped fence with a plain paling top can look uneven, while a capping rail gives each step a deliberate line.

That is why lap & cap tends to be the better answer on sloping Sydney blocks, and why the setting out matters more there than on flat ground.

Compare the four side by side

A summary of how the four systems differ.

What to do if you are still unsure

Do not guess. The site measure is free, and standing at the boundary looking at the actual ground, the actual neighbour and the actual access is worth more than any amount of reading.

The quote form has an "I am not sure, I would like advice" option on the fence style step for exactly this reason. Choose it and describe what you are trying to achieve instead.