MrJago

Thank's for the feedback everyone. Bancroft to answering your question regarding the size of the battens. The reason I have planned to use these as they are standard sized roofing battens which are relatively inexpensive. Also because they are 25mm thick they will be more solid than a 19mm thick fence board. I suppose it depends on the look you want to go for but this is the style I am aiming for. You can also get 75x25 roof battens which would be ever sturdier and I have contemplated using that size also. Think you are right about the screening degrading before the fence will. The plan for this was not on outside but to attach screening to fence post then attach battens over top of it so you would not see any vertical posts behind and create a seamless look. I have hedges on neighbours side so they can't see it anyway as it wouldn't look to appealing from their side 🤣

Hi everyone. I am planning on building a new horizontal slatted fence in my garden but have a few questions, and hope that someone has some experience or advice on this which would be much appreciated. I am planning on using grade A imported roof battens 50 x 25. My plan is to install vertical posts at 1.8m centres, then install the roof battens across them with 8mm gaps between each batten. I also plan to attached support battens behind the slats at about 400mm centres to provide extra support and hopefully reduce any bowing of the slats. I have seen in online videos, landscapers installing similar style fences but using black privacy screening fabric under the slats to give a nice contrast to the natural wood and also provide privacy from not being able to see through the fence gaps, which I like the idea of. However I have some concerns about using this as there doesn't seem to be much feedback online about it. My questions are: If I use privacy screening behind the slats, which are UV resistant, would the screening last long enough without degrading as my worry would be that the fabric degrades and ends up with all the stringy threads flapping about in the wind which would look terrible? Also regarding the fitting of the slats, would I need to leave a gap between the ends of each batten where they join at the vertical posts for expansion? And if so how much of a gap? I could cover these joins with a vertical slat which should look quite nice. Thanks Jack