How to redo the wood on a brick and wood fence?

[tally]

I want to redo the wood on this fence.  I am thinking of using Merbau 90mm decking boards between the bricks columns and have been debating whether to do the mounting posts with normal timber (like 66mm x 42mm) or using Whites Screen up mounting posts instead - appreciate thoughts on this 

The longest span is 4.2 m - is that going to be too long?

Interested in hearing any thoughts / suggestions on the feasibility of this idea.

would also be keen on thoughts about a different timber option instead of the Merbau decking if we wanted to paint it white instead of the Merbau wood look - but still needs to be strong and durable (perhaps something like 92mm x 18mm H3 exterior grade timber for slats instead).  Not sure if the Merbau is stronger/ more durable/ less likely to warp than this?

thanks for your help and suggestions

Tally

[Dave-1 · Accepted solution]

Afternoon @tally 

Welcome to the community There are loads of answers for this type of fencing, you just may get lost wandering through them  

If you use merabau I am not sure how well it will come up trying to remove the stain that comes with it. There is a 86 x 19mm Spotted Gum KD Standard Decking - Linear Metre that may be suitable. I am thinking you need some support posts probarly max-ish avery 1.5m as the timber will twist if given half a chance. You could use floating timber posts or even thin strips of steel to give the seperation between the boards you want.

What seperation between the boards are you thinking of? I also hve been thinking of these Jack Matrix 1800 x 900 x 6mm Charcoal Ferns Screen Panel with some rails mounted behind to give support as they are resonably flexible. For the longer spans you would need a middle post at least to support the 4.2m of rails.

The boards you have shown dont look too bad, you could redo them ? Tho the flaoting support posts or strips every 1.5m ish would stop that sag.

Dave

[tally]

thanks for the response Dave

The boards are actually worse than they look here - some are really bent and warped, all of them are rotting around the screw holes.

Your suggestion of the spotted gum decking is a good one - I assume you are suggesting this as they would be better to paint as they don't have the stain?

Yeah, I was thinking of some kind of support post at about 1.3-1.5 m intervals.  The current fence has that - they are floating posts (exactly the same as the boards of the fence), not embedded in the ground or anything.

I wasn't going to have any separation between the boards

[Dave-1]

Afternoon @tally 

Yeah the reason I suggested the spotted gum as the colouriong may be easier to paint over. With the no seperation between the boards you may run into issues such as, warping (timber naturally expands and shrinks due to weatehr/time of year. Its why you generally see that line between the boards outside. If you are going to go for a solid wall of timber then maybe the support posts either end need to be larger to carry that weight (it will be a fair weight overall)

Dave

[EricL]

Hello @tally 

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us, and thanks for sharing your question about your fence.

It's great that you've received excellent advice from @Dave-1. Just to add to the suggestions made, have you considered installing standard paling vertically in an overlapping pattern with a timber cap on top? 

However, if you are still keen on horizontal layout then a floating support would definitely be necessary. I also suggest having a look at this featured project - D.I.Y. Merbau front fence by @Rodney. It's a good example of a horizontal fence installation.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[tally]

thanks Eric

I am not precious as to whether the boards run vertically or horizontally - but as its the main street facing view - I wanted to do something better than standard paling fencing.  Do you think putting decking boards vertically instead of horizontally be a better option?

Assuming I do go with horizontal, what are your thoughts about using "Whites Screen-up" mounting posts instead of normal timber (like 66mm x 42mm).

[MitchellMc]

Hi @tally,

You could certainly use the White Screen-Up mounting posts, which would be a neat way to connect your boards.

Going back to the supports, I'd recommend at least two vertical mid supports over the four-metre length, and I'd have the bottom of them sitting on the wall so all the boards don't sag.

I believe @EricL's suggestion of running the boards vertically was just an option, not necessarily a better one than running horizontally.

Mitchell