Summer and winter, enjoy your garden in complete peace, without anyone being able to spy on you, well protected by your wooden panel. Stylish and timeless, it complements all garden decor. We give you our advice and tips for choosing, installing, and maintaining your wooden panels!
What is a wooden panel for?
Wooden fence panels have two main uses. They serve as a fence or a privacy screen, to enclose the perimeter of your property, but also to protect you from prying eyes! And ideally, they do both at once. Define your space with these panels, true Swiss Army knives of the garden. They can:
- Protect from prying eyes. Their height and opacity allow you to block the view of passersby or nosy neighbors, but also to choose your own view. And that is far more pleasant than a parking lot or a busy street. Protect your haven of peace!
- Define your property. Does your dog tend to follow every scent trail? Wooden panels as a fence will prevent it from leaving your property without you. The same applies to young children. As for thieves, they stay outside! Bonus: wooden panels can also be used to partition and distinguish different areas of your garden (the pool, the dining area, the play area, the garage entrance…) with an attractive separation, like a movable partition.
- Shelter from the sun. Some plants prefer partial shade, and wooden panels, depending on your garden’s orientation and where you place them, provide the necessary protection for their growth.
- Reduce wind nuisance. Since it is tall and not very open, the wooden panel is an excellent windbreak. Practical for your lovely plants, but especially for you so you can dine outdoors without seeing your entire beautiful table setting blow away.
- Add personal decor. Different designs, different types of wood, different colors… adapt your outdoor wooden panel to your tastes! Want to hang lanterns, flower pots, a climbing plant, works of art? These panels can be the blank canvas to let your creativity run free. Good to know: wooden panels can also be used to hide a weathered wall!
Styles for all tastes
A wooden panel of the right size
To choose the height of your privacy panel, several criteria must be considered: do you have overlooking neighbors? Is it only to hide from the road or are there neighboring windows overlooking your garden? If local regulations allow, your wooden panel can vary from less than 50 centimeters to 2.40 meters. On average, if you wish to protect yourself from view at human or vehicle height, 1.80 meters is more than sufficient.
What thickness?
Here again, your need will define the final choice. Do you live in a region subject to winds? Opt for a wooden panel fence with a thickness greater than 35 mm. For privacy, to protect yourself from the sun and prying eyes, 20 to 35 mm will suffice. If the panel is thinner, it is generally used temporarily, while awaiting installation of the permanent fence.
The design
In addition to choosing the wood species (to be determined for its strength, lifespan, price, and maintenance, but also to match your exterior joinery), there are two main styles of outdoor wooden panels:
- Woven panels. Thin branches are woven between wooden slats for a bohemian and natural finish.
- Slatted screens. Wooden slats that fit together and cross. You are free to choose a fully opaque panel, in which the slats touch and do not let light through from top to bottom, or an open one, more like a wooden screen in the form of louvers or lattice to define boundaries without completely blocking the view, allowing climbing plants to grow on it.
Standard panel or customized to your preferences
You can choose a ready-to-install model or select one to perfectly match your preferences. For example, you can vary the panels, with sometimes an opaque one, sometimes an open one in a low-traffic area. You can also install a double mesh between two posts, into which you pour gabions. What’s that? But yes! These are those stone cages you sometimes see that form a simple yet very solid barrier. See?
What are the alternatives to wooden panels?
Does wood seem too complicated to maintain? Or would you like to vary the styles? There are alternatives to opaque wooden panels to serve as a privacy screen.
- Resin panel. Imitates wood while being very easy to maintain.
- Aluminum panel. Durable and allows you to create a stylish and original decor. A nice complement if you have opted for an aluminum fence!
- PVC panel. Inexpensive, it offers many color choices and is particularly easy to maintain.
- Composite panel. Mixture of wood and plastic resin. Modern and easy to maintain.
- Glass panel. Modern, it lets light through while protecting from overlooking (depending on the degree of opacity chosen).
- Gabions. To stay natural with stones and rock without the maintenance of wood.
Note: you can also choose the perfect compromise with a mesh base into which wooden slats or slats in another material are inserted.
How to install your wooden panels?
Properly secure the posts
If you want a fence or boundary that stands the test of time, you must not skimp on the installation of the posts. They are the foundation of your fence! These posts are inserted into a solid anchoring support, made of galvanized steel, which screws onto a hard surface or is driven into soil. Depending on your tastes, you can also add a metal cap to top the upper part of the posts.
Note: if your wooden panels serve as a movable partition, opt for a solution that is easy to move!
Interlocking slats or screw-on frame?
Depending on the desired design, you can choose two types of assembly for your enclosed space:
- Wooden panels with interlocking slats. They are easy to assemble and particularly durable. The posts have grooves that allow you to slide the slats in one by one, one above the other. Child’s play!
- Wooden panels on screw-on frame. These allow you to play with the shape and pattern of the panel, as it is possible to choose a ready-made frame, with louvers, lattice, interwoven slats, diagonally fitted slats, install the famous gabions, an artificial hedge… The panel arrives ready-made; all that remains is to attach it to the posts.
Note: if the panel is thin, it is possible to staple it directly to the post. This technique lasts less over time, but it is quick on installation day. This is more than adequate for temporary panels!
Watch out for the terrain
Wooden panels are rectangular in shape. It is therefore impossible to install them on sloping ground without appropriate adjustments! There would be too large a gap in the slope.
How to maintain opaque wooden panels?
Wood requires some maintenance. Rest assured, nothing too difficult! Each wood species requires a different and appropriate treatment. Where you live and the local climate will have an impact on the work to be done: rain or sea salt will tend to damage the wood more quickly, for example. Unless you have opted for a class 4 treated wood, which is water-resistant and therefore perfectly suited to the most humid regions. For the rest, a class 3 treated wood will suffice to withstand more moderate weather.
Note, however, that despite the best possible maintenance, wood evolves over time. It will tend to turn gray or green, but nothing permanent if the slats are treated in time!
Rules to know
As with any fence, privacy screen, or other outdoor element installation, the simplest approach is to inquire with your local town hall. Depending on the Local Urban Plan, certain formalities will need to be completed, authorizations and building permits to be requested, or simply heights not to be exceeded.
Opaque wooden panels or fence panels adapt to the configuration of your outdoor space. Now it is up to you to choose the type of wooden panel that will please you most!
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