Board on Board Fence Installation in Anderson, SC

Board on board fence installation exists for one reason: wood shrinks. Each vertical board is set so it overlaps its neighbor by an inch or more, which builds spare width into the fence. When the lumber gives up its moisture over the first two summers, the overlap narrows rather than turning into a gap, and the fence looks the same in year five as it did on install day.

That is the whole argument and the whole cost. This style burns through substantially more lumber than a butted privacy fence at the same height, and we would rather show you the arithmetic than call it a premium option. We build it in cedar and treated pine across Anderson County and Greenville County, plus Easley and Clemson, quoted free on site with no deposit.

What our board on board fence installation includes

This is a heavier fence than it looks on a sample board, and the quote is written for that.

• On site measure, plus a straight conversation about whether the upgrade earns its money on your particular line
• Locates requested, with sprinkler heads and low voltage runs flagged by hand before the auger starts
• Ground contact rated posts set in concrete, spaced tighter than a lighter fence needs because this wall weighs more
• 6x6 posts at gates, at corners and anywhere the run carries real load
• Three rails on a six foot fence as standard, since board weight per foot runs higher here
• Overlap set to a stated number and held with a marked layout from one end to the other
• Boards sorted crown up, with poor stock rejected rather than turned around and buried in the second layer
• Hot dipped galvanized or stainless fasteners, placed so the two layers can still move as the wood dries
• Cap rail and trim detail where you want the top line finished
• Existing fence pulled, old footings dug out rather than buried, and the spoil raked back flat

That fastening note is worth stopping on, because almost nobody mentions it. The outer board must not be pinned through both layers at the overlap. Pin both and the two boards fight each other as they shrink, and one of them splits along the grain. Fasten each board on its own and the overlap slides quietly for twenty years.

When board on board is worth the upgrade

The value case is real, and it is narrower than the people selling it usually admit:

• The fence is being built from wet treated stock, which is going to shrink whatever anybody promises
• There is a specific thing you do not want to see: a neighbor's window, a parking area, a road, a pool pad
• The run is short enough that a third more lumber is a manageable number rather than a shock
• You are already buying cedar and want the fence to read as deliberate instead of economical
• You have lived with a butted privacy fence that gapped in year two and you are not repeating it
• The run is highly visible, since the deep shadow line on this style reads as substantial from the street

What you should know before you commit is that this is a solid fence in the fullest sense, which means it catches wind like one while weighing more than one. On an exposed lot that takes weather we will raise shadowbox before we raise this.

1/4 to 1/2 inchThat is how much width a wet treated 1x6 typically gives up during its first Anderson County summer, and on a butted fence every bit of it becomes a gap.

Board on board against a butted privacy fence

Same posts, same rails, same height. The difference is entirely in how many boards go on and where they sit.

Why a butted fence gaps and this one does not

Wood shrinks across the grain as it loses water and barely shrinks at all along its length. A nominal 1x6 measures about 5 1/2 inches wide. Across the fences we have built in this county, a wet treated board of that size typically surrenders somewhere between a quarter and a half inch of width in its first summer. On a butted fence every one of those fractions turns into a visible gap, and a hundred foot run has better than two hundred joints in it.

Board on board absorbs the identical movement. Set the overlap at an inch and a half, let a board shrink three eighths, and it is still lapping by more than an inch. Nothing opens. That is the only claim on this page you can verify by walking past a five year old one and looking at it.

How we build a board on board fence

Two layers, two layouts, one fastening rule that has to be followed rather than improvised.

1. Measure, then settle overlap and board count together, because on this fence they are one decision rather than two
2. Walk the line, agree corners and gate positions, get locates back and hand flag the private lines
3. Dig holes wide and set posts closer together than a standard privacy fence needs, since the finished wall is heavier
4. Set ground contact rated posts in concrete, slope the top so water leaves, and let it cure fully before any load goes on
5. Set three rails on a six foot run, with every rail joint breaking over a post instead of in mid span
6. Set the first layer with a deliberate gap narrower than a board width, marked from a fixed end so the layout cannot drift
7. Set the second layer over those gaps, checking the overlap board by board instead of at the end of the run
8. Fasten every board on its own, never through both layers at the lap, so the two layers move independently
9. Frame the gates with the overlap carried across, hang them heavy enough for the weight, and swing them through the full arc

This is the slowest wood fence we build per linear foot. There are more boards to pick up, two layouts to hold, and a hundred feet that would go up in two days as a butted privacy fence takes three here.

Where board on board fits in Anderson County

Two local conditions make this style more useful here than it would be somewhere drier. The first is what most Upstate wood fences are built from. Wet treated southern yellow pine is what sits on the shelf, what the budget usually supports, and what the great majority of fence quotes in this county are written against. That lumber is going to shrink. A butted fence built from it has gaps on its schedule from the day it goes up, and board on board is the design that plans for them.

The second is how close the houses sit. Much of what has been built across Anderson and Greenville counties over the past two decades puts one home within thirty or forty feet of the next, with windows facing each other over a shared line. On that kind of lot a quarter inch gap at every joint is not a cosmetic issue. It is a clear sight line into a kitchen. A board on board fence on the same line stays closed permanently, and that is the exact situation where the extra lumber pays for itself.

The cost of all that coverage is weight and wind. This is the heaviest wood fence we put up and it shows a solid face to every storm. Frost is not the concern here, because Upstate frost depth is shallow. The concern is a heavy sail standing in Cecil clay that drains slowly and loses grip once it is saturated, and it is worse on exposed ground. Lake Hartwell covers about 56,000 acres with 962 miles of shoreline along the county's western edge, and lots facing open water take wind an interior subdivision lot never sees. We answer that with tighter post spacing, wider holes and 6x6 posts where the run takes load.

300 boards per 100 feetThat is what a six foot board on board run consumes at a 1 1/2 inch overlap, against roughly 218 for the same length of butted privacy fence.

What drives the price of a board on board fence

More than on any other wood style, this one is a materials decision. The drivers, in order of weight:

• Linear feet, which multiplies faster here than on any other fence we build
• Overlap, since it is the single biggest lever on board count and it is your choice to make
• Board width, because wider stock covers more ground per board and you need fewer of them
• Height, with six foot standard and eight foot possible where local rules allow it
• Material, cedar or treated pine, applied to roughly a third more board footage than usual
• Post size and post spacing, both of which tighten under the additional weight
• Rail count, three at six foot as standard on this style
• Cap rail, trim board and how the top line is finished
• Gates, which get heavy fast here and need posts and hardware sized for the leaf
• Slope, rock, tree roots, buried footings and tear out of the existing fence

Labor rises some. Lumber rises by roughly the percentage in the table above, and it applies to every single foot of the run. Across forty feet behind a patio that is a number most people accept without blinking. Across four hundred feet of property line it is a genuinely different conversation, and we would rather have it out loud than quietly quote the upgrade and let you find out at the total.

When board on board is not worth it

We talk people out of this fence regularly. These are the situations where a standard build is the better spend:

• Long rural boundary runs, where a third more lumber buys privacy from a tree line you never stand next to
• Open, exposed lots that take steady wind, where shadowbox is simply the smarter structure
• Fences built from cedar or from kiln dried after treatment stock, both of which move far less, so a well built butted fence may hold its line anyway
• Budgets where the money does more good as ground contact posts, three rails and proper hardware across the whole fence than as overlap across half of it
• Shared lines where the neighbor looks at the back, since board on board is a one sided fence unless you pay to overlap both faces

That last point surprises people. Board on board has a handsome, deeply shadowed face and plain rails behind it. If the fence sits on a line both households look at, shadowbox does the neighbor job properly and this style does not.

The version we endorse without hesitation is the short, high value run. Across the back of a patio, along a pool equipment pad, between two close windows, or over the one stretch of yard that genuinely has to be private. Fence the rest of the line to a standard spec and put the difference where you will actually see it every day.