Maximum span for treated pine horizontal slats...

Hi all,

First post so please go easy on me…sorry if this in the wrong part of the forum, please move it if it is!

I wrote a bit of a missive explaining my exact story but bugger it no one really cares lol.

I’m trying build a horizontal slat fence on the cheap – it’s temporary but needs to be well built as I’m not sure how long it will be up for at this stage. I’m very picky so a normal timber vertical style fence (no matter how temporary) at this stage will not do…

I’m a first home owner and am definitely feeling the financial pinch, so instead of forking out for merbau (or whatever it’s called) slats at this stage I’m going to ‘try’ (I’ll experiment first) use treated pine fence palings in their place. I’ll sand them back and cut them so they are slightly narrower. I’ll probably try and stain or paint them as well.

Anyway – my question is what would the recommended maximum span between posts be if I wanted to prevent sagging? :? Obviously the larger the better from a cost/aesthetics point of view because it means less posts and footings, but I don’t want the slats to sag noticeably.

I just don’t have any experience with working with outdoor timber so am totally clueless. Indoor timber is a different story – hopefully those skills will translate well!

Any information you guys could give me would be fantastic even alternate woods or other suggested solutions for doing this cheaper than normal...

Regards,

- Matt

Matt ,
that depends on the dimensions of the slats , and the gap they are spanning .
How far apart are the posts ?

Well the slats by default are 100mmx15mm, but I feel that they are too wide for the look required so I'm going to probably trim about 10mm off them to bring them down to 90mmx15mm. A bit of wasted timber but I can live with that.

As for the posts - the distance between them depends entirely on how far apart I can get them without inducing sagging in the slats! The less posts the better in my opinion. I've lost the piece of paper that I scribbled all my dimensions down on so unfortunately I have to re-measure this evening

I should clarify that I want to know how far apart I can place my posts based on the maximum recommended distance the slats can span un-supported (other than each end of course) without sagging too noticeably over time.

Cheers.

Matt ,
Slicing 10mm off is a good idea . Are you going to put a capping along the top , to keep the post line honest ?

check out this thread
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f82/ho...ence-qs-45884/

Hey thanks for the link - it's given me a few good ideas that I'm defintely going to take on board.

Not sure about capping yet - I'll ahve to see how it goes without it first because my preference is to have none.

If it were me , I'd put the cap on , and then using one of those 100 mm slats sliced in half (50mm) run an inverted V bracing from the base of the bottom slat hard into the post , up to the center top , and down to the other bottom slat .
It would keep the slats true to each other and add a bit of a feature .

Yeha I think some twisting may only occur if I don't get the footing right, but if it does I cna easily fix it like you have suggested. The capping is looking like it may go on anyway at this stage.

Just built a fence from treated pine. Used 90 x 19mm slats anchored every 1500mm
Because it was a fence they are hedl with batten screws.

We have had variable weather hot and windy, rain good days, So far so good.

1500mm is a bit shorter than I was hoping for...I might wing it and go for 2000mm and if they sag i'll put some floating posts in.

And if you do , stick a rock under the float post :aro-u: :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Manuka Jock

And if you do , stick a rock under the float post :aro-u: :D

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:aro-u: Yep!!