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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

This is a spinoff from Jeremy's privacy thread. What are the best methods of creating a visual block quickly to disarm some potential "overlooking" objections from ground floor windows into neighbouring gardens, if it needs to look permanent by the time Planning is applied for? 1 - The classic would be a hard landscape feature - say a brick wall, or a 2m closeboard fence, which can then be conditioned to remain. Problem: pricey at approximately £40-£70+ per metre run for the fence and fitting, or perhaps at least £150-£200 per metre run for a decent 2m wall. 2 - Tightly cropped Lleyandii 2m hedge. How long? Does it take about 3 years to grow and be dense clipped to 2m from planting if planted at a tight staggered spacing in a double row? 3 - Are there alternatives to Lleylandii for the similar job? 4 - A fedge? (ie Living fence). These tend to be made from willow and later become thugs unless kept under constant tight control, 5 - Thinking around the box, plant something a little slower and propose a condition that first occupation not be allowed until a dense 2m visual barrier exists? That does not completely disarm the objection. I think my *strategy* would be a quick grower as above, but plan to remove it later and plant something else in front which will be more attractive. The con of that approach is the effective loss of garden when the initial block hedge us removed. Has anyone done this? Thoughts and comments are welcome.