Closeboard or lap panel fencing: which is better?
Closeboard for longevity, wind resistance and cheap repairs. Lap panels for the lowest upfront price and the fastest installation. Closeboard is built on site from vertical feather-edge boards on horizontal arris rails, so it holds its shape under wind loading and fails one cheap component at a time. Our closeboard runs £90 to £130 per metre excluding VAT.
The structural difference explains everything else. Closeboard uses tapered feather-edge boards run vertically, each overlapping the next by at least 20mm and nailed to arris rails that span between the posts, with two rails up to 1.2m high and three above that. A lap panel is horizontal slats stapled into a light frame and dropped into a slot. Under wind load the vertical-board-on-rail system holds its geometry, while a panel flexes as one sheet and pops out of its posts.
Repairability is the argument nobody mentions in the showroom and everybody meets in year eight. When closeboard is damaged you replace the damaged part: a feather-edge board is a pound or two of timber, an arris rail repair bracket is a few pounds plus a few minutes. When a lap panel is damaged you replace the panel, which is a supply cost plus a labour cost, and you get to hunt for a panel that matches the weathering of its neighbours.
Closeboard also lets us set the bays out to fit your garden. Bay width is a design choice up to about 3 metres, so an awkward run divides evenly instead of ending in a silly 400mm gap filled with an offcut. Panel fencing is fixed at the standard 1.83m panel width, so the run has to accommodate the panels rather than the other way round. On irregular boundaries and slopes, that flexibility is worth real money.
Where lap still wins: budget, and speed. If the boundary is sheltered, the run is regular, and the priority is a tidy fence for the lowest number today, lap panels are an honest answer and we will fit them. What we will not do is fit lap panels into ground that is going to eat them and let you believe you bought twenty years.
More in materials and lifespan, or browse all 36 questions on the FAQ index.
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