Choosing the right fence for your garden or yard can add a great deal to the appearance and attractiveness of your home. When part of your concern is privacy and security, a fence made of lap fencing panels can be an excellent choice.
The basic lap fencing panel is made of strips of sawn wood that is woven and lapped over each other, and attached to a solid timber frame. The interwoven panel is one of the most popular styles, with the wood strips alternating position before and behind the wood posts to which they are nailed. This creates a lap fencing panel with a basket weave appearance that can be further enhanced with paint or stain.
Vertical and horizontal lap fencing panels are made with slight openings between the strips and the laps. While solid panels may be stronger as is, lap fencing panels are less prone to wind damage, allowing the wind to pass through easily.
The most common woods used for lap fencing panels are softwoods - specifically larch and pine. Larch, being naturally resistant to mold and insects, is the most durable, but pine is less expensive and more easily available. If it's properly treated with chemical preservatives, it equals the durability of larch lap fencing panels. Craftsman who work with more complex designs sometimes work with chestnut or oak or other locally grown woods.
While the basket weave lap fencing panels are popular, Waney lap fencing panels are generally regarded as being the sturdier of the two main horizontal styles of lap fencing panels. Waney lap fencing panels are made of wavy edged slats of wood fit into a wooden frame so that they overlap the one below. Like the basket weave lap panels, they allow the wind to pass through without offering much resistance, making them less prone to wind damage.
The various styles of lap panel fencing make attractive and secure windbreaks, privacy screens and security fences. The panels can be bought in heights ranging from 1 foot to 7 feet, for uses in many different types of fences. They're ideal for fencing that's meant to stand above a stone or brick wall, for instance, or as a privacy screen between two houses.
If you're looking for an alternative to solid wood fencing or feather edge vertical fencing, lap fencing panels offer a wide variety of styles to choose from that will suit your yard and garden. Explore a bit, and choose a style that you like.