Slatted Fencing in Teignmouth
Slatted fencing in Teignmouth
Teignmouth gardens come in two very different shapes. Down in the older streets near the Den and the back beach you’ll find small walled yards and courtyards behind town houses, often with a flat or two looking down into them. Further up the hill, the newer estates have open plan fronts and square back gardens with a low fence that was put in by the builder and never meant to last. Horizontal slats work well in both, but they get built quite differently, and that’s what we plan around when we come out.
Courtyards and small yards in town
In a courtyard, every centimetre counts. A slatted screen takes up far less room than a planted hedge and can be fixed against an existing wall or set on slim posts just in front of it. We often use a closer gap low down, where you sit, and a slightly wider one higher up so the yard doesn’t feel like a box. Shelves, hooks for hanging pots or a fold down bench can be built into the same frame, which is handy where there’s no room for anything freestanding.
Newer homes up the hill
On the estates above the town centre, the usual job is replacing a worn builder’s fence with something that suits a modern house. Slats in a smooth planed timber, finished in a grey or natural oil, give a crisp boundary that looks at home next to new brick and uPVC. Where gardens slope towards the estuary we can keep the top line level and take up the drop with a deeper base board, so the run reads as one straight line from the patio doors.
Hiding the practical bits
Terraced streets in Teignmouth don’t leave much space for bins, recycling boxes and bikes, and they usually end up on show by the back door or the front step. A short run of slats with a hinged section or lift up lid tidies the lot away. The same idea works around oil tanks, air source units and garden taps, as long as we leave enough airflow and a way in for servicing.
Timber and fixings for a seaside town
Teignmouth sits right on the mouth of the estuary, so damp sea air is part of daily life. We use pressure treated or naturally durable timber, seal any cut ends, and fit stainless screws so there are no brown streaks running down the boards after a winter. Slats are fixed with a small spacer so each board can move a little with the weather instead of splitting at the screw.
What is the screen really for?
- Somewhere to sit unseen: keep the boards tight together, but only along the stretch beside your table or bench. There’s no need to pay for that all the way round a yard.
- A smarter boundary: if privacy hardly matters, wider spaces use less wood and look lighter against a pale rendered wall.
- Taking the edge off the breeze: an open pattern slows moving air, whereas a solid barrier sends it over the top and down on your head.
- Covering something ugly: a soil pipe, a neighbour’s extension or a tired block wall can all sit behind a screen, provided anything that needs servicing can still be reached.
Getting long boards into a terraced house
Slats look best in unbroken lengths, and that’s awkward when your only way to the back is along a hallway and through the kitchen. Plenty of the terraces around the Den and up towards Bitton Park Road have no side path at all, so we’d want to measure the turns inside the house as well as the yard itself. Where a full length won’t make the corner, boards can be joined on a post so the break looks intentional, or the run can be divided into matching bays.
A rear lane changes things, as materials may come straight in that way. Parking can be just as tricky as the carrying, so tell us what the street is like on a weekday morning and whether there’s a loading bay nearby. Those small details decide how a job gets planned far more than the length of the fence does.
Keeping slats looking right beside the estuary
Sea air coats timber in a fine grey haze, and on a sheltered board the rain may never rinse it away. A couple of times each year, go over the screen with a bucket of clean water and a gentle brush, working along the grain. Check the bottom slat, as it catches the splash from the ground and tends to go first. A fresh coat of oil is due when water stops beading on the surface. Sand back any rough patches beforehand, and do the job on a dry, mild day when the wood has had time to dry out.
Old walls in the lower town
Many of the yards behind the older town houses are enclosed by stone or soft brick that’s stood for a very long time, and those walls need a bit of respect. A wall like that is often damp, and it dries by letting moisture out through its face. Fix timber hard against it and you trap the wet, which is bad news for both the wall and the battens. A small air gap behind the frame lets everything breathe. Soft lime mortar doesn’t hold a fixing the way a modern block does, so plenty of those screens are better on their own slim posts, standing clear of the wall.
Flats, leases and shared yards
A lot of Teignmouth’s taller houses have been split into flats, and that changes who gets a say. The yard may belong to one flat, be shared by all of them, or be the freeholder’s on paper, whatever’s been the habit for years. Your lease or title plan should say which. A quick note to the managing agent or the people upstairs before anything is ordered can save a difficult conversation later. Some parts of the older town also sit in a conservation area, where the rules on what faces a road can be tighter, so ask Teignbridge’s planners if your screen would be seen from the street.
Choosing a colour for a painted terrace
Plenty of Teignmouth’s terraces are painted in soft creams, blues and pinks, and a very dark screen can look heavy beside them in a small space. Dark tones also make a yard feel smaller, while a natural oil or pale grey tends to sit quietly next to painted render. Colours change once they’re on the wood, so try a sample on an offcut, stand it against the wall and look at it in morning and evening light. In a yard that’s mostly in shade, you may be surprised how different a shade looks from the way it did on the tin.
How much can you hang on it?
- Herb pots and small baskets: usually fine, as long as the hooks go into the frame or a post and not just one slat.
- Planter boxes: wet compost is much heavier than you’d think, so anything sizeable wants its own support underneath.
- Fold down tables and benches: tell us early, because the frame behind has to be built for that load from the start.
- Bike hooks: treat these with caution. Leaning and swinging weight works screws loose, and a proper wall bracket usually works out better.
Slatted fencing in Teignmouth: questions
Can a slatted screen stop the flat upstairs looking into my yard?
Partly. A screen hides you from neighbours at ground level and from side windows. For a window directly above, a slatted pergola style top or a section of angled slats over the seating area works better than simply making the fence taller.
Will the slats warp or twist?
Some movement is normal with real timber. Choosing straight, well seasoned boards, keeping the span between posts short and fixing each slat at both ends with two screws keeps them flat. If one does twist badly in the first year, we’ll come back and swap it.
Can you make a matching gate?
Yes. A slatted gate built on a steel or braced timber frame can line up with the boards either side, so it almost disappears into the fence when it’s shut.
How is the top finished?
Most of our slatted runs get a timber cap. It ties the slats together, sheds rain off the end grain and gives a neat edge you can rest a cup on. A flush top with no cap is possible if you prefer a plainer look.
Can I fix a screen to next door’s wall?
Not without their say so. If the wall belongs to them, or is shared, ask first and get the answer in writing if you can. A freestanding frame on its own posts, set just inside your side, avoids the question altogether.
Will it make a small yard feel darker?
It can if the screen faces south and stands tall. A paler finish throws some light back, and wider spacing near the top lets more through. Stand in the yard around midday and tell us where the sun falls, as that’s what we’d plan the height around.
Can climbers grow up it?
They can, but be choosy. Heavy growers such as wisteria will force boards apart over time. Light climbers on wires held slightly off the face leave air behind the plant, so the wood can dry after rain and you can still recoat it.
Will a slatted fence stop gulls landing in the yard?
Not really, and anyone in Teignmouth will know how determined they are. A flat capping rail can even give them somewhere to stand. Keeping food and bin bags out of reach does far more than any fence. If gulls are a big problem, mention it and we’ll look at how the top is finished.
Can slats turn a corner?
Yes. Most corners are built around a single post, with the boards from each side meeting there. Lining up the gaps all the way round is the fiddly bit, and it’s what makes a corner look intentional. A bend that isn’t a neat right angle takes more care, so that one needs measuring in person.
Can I get behind it to paint the wall?
Only if that’s been allowed for. A screen fixed close to a wall leaves little room for a brush, so paint or repair the wall first if it’s due. Where a wall needs regular attention, panels that unscrew in sections leave you a way back in later.
Got a Teignmouth yard, terrace or boundary that could do with slats? Drop us a message with the rough length and height and a couple of photos taken from where you sit, and we’ll arrange a visit to measure up and go through gap and timber options. There’s more background in our slatted fencing guide, and for comparison you can read about hit and miss in Teignmouth, fence panels in Teignmouth or everything we do in Teignmouth.
Want full privacy instead of gaps? Close board fencing in Teignmouth is the sturdiest boundary we build.
Other fencing work in Teignmouth
Not quite what you need? In Teignmouth we also do close board fencing, fence panels, hit and miss fencing, composite fencing, chain link fencing, trellis, post and rail fencing, picket fencing, garden gates, driveway gates and fence repairs. Everything we do in the town is on our fencing in Teignmouth page, and if the job is over in Dawlish, see slatted fencing in Dawlish.