Three tips to make cleft chestnut paling fencing look good
11th March 2015
1. Buy quality.
If you want nice looking fencing, the pales need to be solid and stout. So check it out- is the chestnut fencing you are about to buy cheaper than other chestnut fencing? If so the pales might be thin and spindly, in which case your paling fencing won’t last as long ( and won’t look as good) as fencing which has used stout pales. We have seen some very strange looking paling fencing where the pales were not only very thin , they weren’t even all made of chestnut. And also, was the chestnut cut in the winter or the summer? To keep costs down, some people cut chestnut all year round but the winter-cut chestnut will last longer.
2. Install correctly.
The pales should be perpendicular to the ground- not slanting. Make sure the fencing is pulled as tight as possible when you put it up- we use strainers and a lot of muscle!
3. Maintenance.
If the fencing starts leaning over , there are solutions. If it is leaning after a year or two then it sounds like it hasn’t been put up correctly- find someone who knows how to install chestnut fencing properly. If the fencing has been up say 15 years, maybe the posts have started to rot. Nothing lasts forever. However the good news is that you can just replace the posts – the actual fencing will probably still be quite good . If there are a couple of pales which need replacing , they can be purchased individually .
Quite straightforward really. No need to apply regular coats of preservative , no need to worry about storms – a well erected chestnut paling fence will NOT come down in a strong wind! You could plant something pretty to grow through the pales. Or you could just sit back and enjoy.
