Palisade and Picket Fencing Materials & Information for D I Y

This page provides information and advice about Palisade or Picket fencing.

Palisade, or Picket fence as it is sometimes called, is a popular front or back garden boundary fence, particularly where a solid fence is not needed or desired. Palisade/Picket fencing is also suitable for partitioning off separate parts of the garden, such as the veggie patch, from areas used by children and pets.

Palisade gates in various styles to match your fencing are also available, together with all the required gate fittings to make hanging your gates easy.

All our Palisade fencing materials are pressure-treated with preservatives for longevity. Please read our page on looking after pressure-treated fencing to keep your fence looking good throughout its life.

To produce the traditional cottage-style fence, once the timber has dried, you can stain it or treat it with a good-quality coloured fence treatment. The treatment should preferably be microporous and of external quality. We recommend avoiding dark colours, as they attract heat and may cause additional movement in the timber. Treating with regular paint is not recommended; in most cases, this will shorten the life of your fence.

Palisade can be supplied as a kit or as pre-assembled panels.

Palisade supplied as a kit of parts to be assembled on site.

There are three standard bay sizes. A bay is measured from one post’s centre to the next post’s centre. The bays range from 1.8m (6′) to 3m (10′). We do not recommend exceeding 3m bays, although 3.6 m rails are available for unusual circumstances where there is no other choice.

Generally, 1.2m high Palisades and below require two rails. However, 1.35m to 1.8m high Palisades need at least three rails.

Rails between the posts would generally be triangular-shaped Arris rails. You can substitute sawn square rails, as used in post-and-rail fencing, but bay sizes are usually reduced to 1.8m for this option. Both rail types fit into mortices cut into the posts by our workshop at preset dimensions for the required fence height. Supporting the rails with mortised posts will work well on most types of ground, allowing you the flexibility to cope with slopes and sweeping curves easily.

For a reasonably flat and straight fence-line, square rails can be screwed onto the face of the posts. The Palisades are then attached to the rails so that they run continuously for the complete length of the fence, including in front of the posts. As mentioned above, bay sizes are often reduced when using square rails.

Palisade spacing

Palisade spacing is usually “hit & miss”, using a palisade as a spacer, although the spacing can easily be adjusted to suit individual requirements. As with decking balustrading, to stop a child's head from getting stuck between two palisades, the gap between them should not be more than 100mm.

To work out the number of Palisades or pickets required for a classic hit & miss spacing, when using our palisades, multiply the length of the fence line in feet by 2 OR the distance in metres by 6.5.

• For a 13mm (1/2″)  spacing, multiply the number of feet in the fence line by 3.5 OR the length in metres by 11.5
• For a 38mm (1 1/2″)  spacing, multiply the number of feet in the fence line by 2.66 OR the length in metres by 8.7
• For a 50mm (2″)  spacing, multiply the number of feet in the fence line by 2.4 OR  the length in metres by 7.9

For small children, we would advise using round or flat-topped palisades with a maximum gap of 10cm. Closer spacing reduces the risk of small children climbing the fence and, as mentioned previously, getting their head stuck. For Palisade fencing with an overall height of less than 900mm, round-top or flat-top Palisades are the safest options.

Palisade panels.

Our standard Palisade Panels are 1.8m (6′) wide and can be made up to 1.8m high. The Palisades we use for our palisade panels are the same as those we supply for palisade fencing in kit form, with round, pointed, and flat tops.

Palisade panels are attached to the back of posts set into the ground at 1.8m centres. The panel rails meet in the centre of the back of each post and are attached using external woodscrews.

Questions? Need more Palisade fencing information? Contact the Crestala team, and they can answer any questions you have.