Picket Fencing

Garden Picket Fencing can be bought in 1.8m fence panels, or as individual picket pales and fence rails to put together yourself.

Deciding how many

If using ready-made panels, divide the distance to be covered by 1.8m. If using individual picket pales, decide how much gap to leave between each picket pale. Typical wooden pales are 75mm (7.5cm) in width and the most common choice is to leave a 75mm (7.5cm) gap between each one. Therefore, if you take the total distance to be covered in cm and divide by 15 (because 7.5cm + 7.5cm = 15cm), that will give you the number of panels you require. Timber fence rails are usually supplied in 1.8m lengths and you will require 2 rails per panel for a 3ft high fence. Panels can also be cut to size if required.

The fence posts

For 900mm high picket fencing it’s recommended to erect the fence on 75x75mm treated fence posts using a 2.4m long post cut into two. For 1200mm high fencing, use 1.8m long fence posts. After cutting the timber post, keep the cut end uppermost and treat the post tops with end coat to prolong their life. 

When building the picket fence, the posts are set behind the panels and the panels are nailed or screwed to the front face of the post. Use 8 screws per panel.

Cut or uncut panels

If uncut picket fence panels are used and are butted together it leaves just the right amount of room for one individual pale to be fixed over the top of the joint in front of the post. Remember to include some additional loose fence pales to cover this when you order the fencing.

However, the fencing works just as well when the ends of the picket fence panel rails are trimmed back by approximately 35mm – this ensures that the spacing between the panels is just right.

Fence post length above the ground

Allow 50mm between the ground and the underside of the wooden picket fence panel and stop the fence post well short of the top of the panel – in fact, just above the top rail. This will mean that for a 900mm high picket fencing panel, the posts are approximately 800mm above the ground.

Erecting a timber picket fence

Decide if you will be using full length or trimmed back picket fencing panels then lay the panels on the ground, adjacent to the fence line, to establish the position of the posts. Setting up a string line helps get the fencing straight.

Dig the fence post holes then concrete the first post into the ground. Fix the picket fencing panel to that first post and support the panel with a block of timber underneath to get the panel level then concrete the next post in the right position for the panel. Proceed along the fence line fixing one panel at a time.

Picket fencing gates

For wooden picket fence gates, it’s recommended that you use a 100mm (10cm) timber posts. For a 900mm high picket fence use a 1.5m long 100×100 timber post. The adjacent picket fencing panels will fix to the front face of the gate post and the gate will fix to the rear face of the gate post. Remember to fit the gate-stop timber batten to prevent damage to the gate latch.