Most Hertfordshire enquiries arrive with the same fork in the path: closeboard fencing or composite fencing. One is overlapping featheredge timber, built on the line. The other is wood-grain boards on aluminium posts that do not ask for a decorating weekend every spring. Both can be excellent. Neither is a default.
This guide is for people specifying a garden boundary in St Albans, Watford, or further into the county. It is not a substitute for a site survey. It is a map of the trade-offs that tend to matter first.
Closeboard is a privacy fence, built rather than hung
Closeboard — also called featheredge — uses overlapping vertical boards on arris rails. Done properly it is assembled on your line: posts set for Hertfordshire clay, a gravel board that keeps the timber out of standing water, and a neighbour-facing side that still looks considered.
That last point is easy to skip. A cheap closeboard can look finished from the garden and unfinished from next door. In a St Albans terrace that courtesy is part of the architecture.
Closeboard weathers. It can be stained. It can be repaired board by board. It also needs looking after. If the idea of oiling a long run every couple of years feels unrealistic, say so on survey — we would rather specify composite than sell you a timber fence you will resent.
Composite is a maintenance argument as much as an aesthetic
Composite boards mix wood fibre and polymer. The better products hold a matte, wood-grain face so the run still sits with brick and planting. Cheap boards can look plastic, especially in hard sun on a Watford south boundary.
The honest advantage is upkeep. No annual stain cycle. Posts in aluminium stay true when timber would twist. The honest cost is first price: composite is usually more than closeboard for the same height and length. Warranties are long when you buy a proper system; they are not a reason to skip the survey.
Shady north boundaries still grow algae. Composite is low-maintenance, not zero. A hose and a soft brush are still part of living with it.
Ground and height matter more than the brochure
Hertfordshire clay, a falling rear garden in Harpenden, or a wet line in Ware will punish the wrong posts regardless of board type. Gravel boards — usually concrete — keep both closeboard and composite out of the water table.
Height is a planning question as well as a privacy one. Rear gardens commonly sit at 1.8m or 2.0m. Frontages and corners follow different rules. See our note on fence height and planning permission in Hertfordshire.
If the brief is noise rather than privacy, neither closeboard nor standard composite is an acoustic fence. That is a denser, gap-free product — read acoustic fencing beside busy roads and our acoustic fencing service.
Which belongs on this plot?
Choose closeboard when you want a timber face that can be repaired, stained, and read as a traditional Hertfordshire garden boundary. It is still the most requested privacy fence in the county.
Choose composite when the household will not maintain timber, when a contemporary horizontal grain suits the house, or when a long Watford or Hemel run would otherwise become a yearly chore.
Choose neither as a default. A garden panel replacement can be the right first step if the posts are the real failure and the budget is a panel rebuild. Period frontages in Hertford often want metal railings, not boards at all.
Investment is discussed in person
We quote after we have walked the line. Published price lists flatten too much: access, disposal of the old run, gravel boards, and stepping on a fall all move the figure. If you want a calm conversation about that, book a site survey.
What to bring to a first conversation
You do not need a full brief. It helps to have:
- Photographs of the existing fence and the neighbour’s face
- A sense of whether privacy, appearance, or upkeep is the priority
- Any known planning or conservation constraint
We will measure if we can, talk through closeboard and composite on this ground, and leave you with a clearer sense of what belongs.
Closeboard and composite are both good fences. The wrong one is the one specified from a brochure instead of the garden.
When you are ready, request a site survey. We work across Hertfordshire and would be glad to start on your boundary. For finished work, visit our installations.
