Closeboard fencing, fitted in London.
The strongest timber boundary you can buy, built board by board on site.Also sold as Close board, Feather edge, Featherboard.
Closeboard fencing — also sold as close board, feather edge or featherboard — is built on site from overlapping vertical boards nailed to horizontal arris rails, rather than from pre-made panels. Supplied and fitted in London it starts at around £175 per metre with timber posts, more with concrete. It is the most solid timber option and typically lasts 15–20 years, but it cannot be lifted out panel by panel later.
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Every run is fitted by our own team — see how a fence installation in London works end to end, or what's involved in a full fence replacement.
- From, fitted
- £175/m
- Typical lifespan
- 15–20 yrs
- Privacy
- Total
Supply, fit and waste away
Longer on concrete posts
No gaps, no see-through
What closeboard actually is
Closeboard is not a panel. It is a fence built in place: concrete or timber posts go in first, two or three horizontal arris rails are jointed between them, a gravel board takes the ground contact, and then feather edge boards — tapered, thick on one edge, thin on the other — are nailed vertically so each one overlaps its neighbour by about 25mm.
That overlap is the whole point. There is no gap for a board to shrink into, no frame to rack, and nothing that can be lifted out of a groove by wind. It is the closest thing to a solid timber wall that a fence can be.
You will see it advertised as close board, closeboard, feather edge, featheredge and featherboard. They are the same fence. The variation is in the timber grade, the number of rails, and whether the posts are timber or concrete.
What it costs supplied and fitted in London
A standard 6ft closeboard run with pressure-treated timber posts, one gravel board and three arris rails starts at about £175 per metre supplied and fitted. Concrete posts and concrete gravel boards push that toward £210–£230 per metre.
On an 18m back garden — the most common size we price — that lands most homeowners between £2,700 and £3,600 depending on posts, ground and access. A narrow side return or a through-the-house carry adds to the labour, because every board and every bag of postcrete goes through your hallway.
Our minimum job is £1,200, so a short 6m run costs more per metre than a long one. That is a mobilisation reality, not a mark-up: the van, the crew and the waste run cost the same for 6m as they do for 16m.
Timber posts or concrete posts
Timber posts look better and cost less. They also rot at ground level, usually between year eight and year fifteen, and when one leans the boards above it twist with it.
Concrete posts are the honest long-term answer for a boundary you do not want to think about again. They do not rot, they hold a straight line, and the gravel board slots in below the timber so nothing organic touches the soil. On a closeboard run the concrete post is doing structural work the timber cannot match.
The trade-off nobody mentions
Closeboard is built as one continuous structure. That makes it strong, and it also makes it a single object. There are no lift-out panels, so a future change to one section means unpicking boards rather than sliding a panel out.
If you want a boundary that is easy to change in five years, an overlap or slatted panel system on concrete posts is the better call. If you want a boundary that just stands there for two decades, closeboard is what to buy.
- Boundaries where total privacy matters
- Long, exposed runs that catch wind
- Sloping ground — boards can be stepped or raked
- Anywhere a neighbour's fence has already failed
- Gardens where you want to swap the look in a few years
- Very short runs where the minimum job dominates the price
- Anyone who wants a modern horizontal look — see slatted or hit-and-miss
Questions we get asked
Compare it with
Overlap
from £145/mThe sensible workhorse. Cheapest per metre, and genuinely fine when it's built on the right posts.
Hit-and-miss
from £195/mLooks the same from both sides, and lets the wind through instead of falling over in it.
Concrete posts
The cheapest decision on the job with the biggest effect on how long it stands.
Closeboard across London & the South East
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