Closeboard fencing in Sandwich

Why closeboard is the Sandwich default

Closeboard - sometimes called feather-edge, sometimes called estate fencing - is a stick-built fence, not a panel system. Two or three arris rails are morticed into the posts and the vertical feather-edge boards are nailed on one by one, each overlapping the last by around 25mm. There is no panel-clip that can loosen and no thin lap slat that can catch wind and split at the fixing.

Every closeboard fence we install on the Sandwich marsh side gets concrete posts and a 300mm concrete gravel board at the base. That combination is why closeboard lasts here where lap panels don't. The gravel board keeps the timber face off the wet ground, the concrete post has no rot cycle to worry about, and the arris rails and boards can be swapped one at a time when they eventually need attention decades later.

The build we quote

• Concrete slotted posts, 600-750mm below ground depending on wind exposure and ground
• Fast-set post mix with gravel drain at the base of the hole to handle the water table
• 300mm concrete gravel board slotted into the post grooves
• Three treated softwood arris rails morticed into the posts
• Vertical feather-edge boards, treated, 25mm overlap, galvanised ring-shank nails
• Treated capping rail on top to shed rainwater off the board ends

Height and boundary rules

Standard build is 1.8m high behind and 1.0m at the front on a highway boundary. Above 2m needs planning permission from Dover District Council, and anything on a listed-property boundary or inside the Sandwich town conservation area might need conservation consent. We check that at the quote stage before you commit.

Kent 2026 price band

Closeboard on concrete posts with gravel boards typically lands £85 to £110 per linear metre supply-and-fit for a standard 1.8m run in easy access. Long runs on Ash-village-scale plots get keener per-metre pricing. Awkward ground, gated returns, sloping-post transitions push it up. Ballpark from photos, fixed after a site walk.

What we don't tell you it lasts

The honest number is 20-25 years for the timber face, indefinite for the concrete posts and gravel boards. When the face reaches end of life it is a straight refit onto the same posts - half the cost and none of the ground works. That is why the up-front price is worth it here.