Wooden slats for screening? What stuff and where to buy?
Discussion
We’re currently having a tidy up of our garden and my wife wants to add a slatted screen to a pergola.
I’ve seen suggestions of using roof battens but they seem to twist and would really prefer something a bit deep in profile - I.e 50mm ish
This is the sort of look she wants, but looking at hardwood cladding the prices are immense! Any recommendations for suggestions to alternatives?
I’ve seen suggestions of using roof battens but they seem to twist and would really prefer something a bit deep in profile - I.e 50mm ish
This is the sort of look she wants, but looking at hardwood cladding the prices are immense! Any recommendations for suggestions to alternatives?
Erm...roof battens!
I got mine in 25 x 50mm. The picture below is one I just did so it's a bit orange but they weather down to grey within a year. All wood weathers down to grey unless you get something like red cedar and paint it with a UV protective paint once or twice a year.
Roof battens have more than doubled in price since I did a long fence run in 2020. My fence posts were about 2m apart and I put an extra vertical batten between each set of posts and it hasn't moved or twisted in that time.
I got mine in 25 x 50mm. The picture below is one I just did so it's a bit orange but they weather down to grey within a year. All wood weathers down to grey unless you get something like red cedar and paint it with a UV protective paint once or twice a year.
Roof battens have more than doubled in price since I did a long fence run in 2020. My fence posts were about 2m apart and I put an extra vertical batten between each set of posts and it hasn't moved or twisted in that time.
I would get a piece of roofing batten and run it past your wife before getting stuck in as frankly 50% of blokes and 100% of wives would reject it for being the cheapest roughest wood going. I'd be fairly confident that your wife is anticipating a smooth architectural appearance rather than having the job done on the cheap.
It all depends on how proximal you will be to the item. We’ll never be within 2m of the fence in my picture above, and eventually it’ll be part screened by plants.
The issue is:
Roof batten: £1.19/m
UC4 planed & treated redwood batten: £2.10/m
Red Cedar batten: £8.32/m
All for similar 25x50mm sizes (actually the landscape battens are normalised so smaller).
And unless you spend £100 and a couple of days a year on Osmo oiling then they all end up looking pretty much the same.
The issue is:
Roof batten: £1.19/m
UC4 planed & treated redwood batten: £2.10/m
Red Cedar batten: £8.32/m
All for similar 25x50mm sizes (actually the landscape battens are normalised so smaller).
And unless you spend £100 and a couple of days a year on Osmo oiling then they all end up looking pretty much the same.
We initially tried roof battens, but the quality was crap and they looked awful. So we used western red cedar and it’s been up for two years with no probs. Look better and much more durable. Unfortunately it’ll be much more expensive now I suspect, though they’ve got WRC reduced at present (Duffield Timber near Ripon)
paulrockliffe said:
Where are you getting your prices?
My local timber merchant. Surrey prices though!paulrockliffe said:
The first link I clicked on Google was half your price
First link on Google for "roof battens" for me was Jewson @ £2.80/m for same size! Where are you getting them for 60p/m?paulrockliffe said:
and still more expensive than buying wider boards and having them milled to order by a proper timber yard.
Those wouldn't be treated though, so possible longevity issues.PhilboSE said:
paulrockliffe said:
Where are you getting your prices?
My local timber merchant. Surrey prices though!paulrockliffe said:
The first link I clicked on Google was half your price
First link on Google for "roof battens" for me was Jewson @ £2.80/m for same size! Where are you getting them for 60p/m?paulrockliffe said:
and still more expensive than buying wider boards and having them milled to order by a proper timber yard.
Those wouldn't be treated though, so possible longevity issues.I was referring to your cedar price, your roofing batten prices aren't a million miles out, so your comparison is misleading.
Untreated Cedar will outlast treated roofing battens anyway, they're not treated to resist UV and are much more prone to soaking up water because the wood is terrible. Two coats of something decent before the wood is fitted and cedar will last a decade longer without being repainted at all, let alone every 6 months.
paulrockliffe said:
I was referring to your cedar price, your roofing batten prices aren't a million miles out, so your comparison is misleading.
Well, you didn't make it obvious you were referring to cedar, so your statement was misleading 
paulrockliffe said:
Untreated Cedar will outlast treated roofing battens anyway, they're not treated to resist UV and are much more prone to soaking up water because the wood is terrible. Two coats of something decent before the wood is fitted and cedar will last a decade longer without being repainted at all, let alone every 6 months.
My comment about the UV oiling was to protect the attractive colour of red cedar, if you're going to let it weather down to grey then there's not much point paying the extra for it.Look, I'm not saying roof battens are the answer to everything. Planed red cedar is the gold standard for attractiveness and longevity. However the OP was understandably put off by the insane prices for it at the moment, and was specifically asking about cheaper alternatives and thought roof battens wouldn't work; but they are about as cheap as it comes and can be made to work, in the right situation.
I have recently clad a fence I built to hide the bin store.
I looked at roofing batten but found that the cheaper option was to go with redwood rounded top fence pickets. For my application 3.6m of redwood roof batten would only give me 3 slats, where as 2 x fence pickets split down the middle would give me 4. The pickets also worked out a little cheaper.
Obviously though, I needed to run the pickets through the table saw to split them down. But the end result worked well. The slats are shorter than most batten style fences but it was the look I wanted. Small amount of movement but to be expected, but it hasn't turned to spaghetti.
I looked at roofing batten but found that the cheaper option was to go with redwood rounded top fence pickets. For my application 3.6m of redwood roof batten would only give me 3 slats, where as 2 x fence pickets split down the middle would give me 4. The pickets also worked out a little cheaper.
Obviously though, I needed to run the pickets through the table saw to split them down. But the end result worked well. The slats are shorter than most batten style fences but it was the look I wanted. Small amount of movement but to be expected, but it hasn't turned to spaghetti.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
I purchased a few of these panels today as they are going to be used as screening rather than a fence, so didn't need to be as robust as some solutions shown.
Plus they are ready made so i just need to screw them up - for once an easy job and cheaper than buying the materials myself.
Will see what the quality is like and report back
https://www.buyfencingdirect.co.uk/6-x-1-4-forest-...
I purchased a few of these panels today as they are going to be used as screening rather than a fence, so didn't need to be as robust as some solutions shown.
Plus they are ready made so i just need to screw them up - for once an easy job and cheaper than buying the materials myself.
Will see what the quality is like and report back
https://www.buyfencingdirect.co.uk/6-x-1-4-forest-...
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