Horizontal Composite Fences: Privacy, Relaxation, and Great Design

The horizontal composite fence is a modern spin on traditional fence design. By placing the slats or panes horizontally, it breaks the fence away from the geometry of the landscape, creating a more contemporary and geometric aesthetic that can be adapted to suit a variety of architectural styles and preferences.

Despite looking more open, these fences are built to last. Recently, composite materials have become increasingly popular due to their ability to keep looking good with very little maintenance. Unlike traditional timber, composite wood can resist rot, decay, and insect damage, and unlike concrete fencing, composite wood is able to provide a much warmer and natural appearance. 

For example, take Oakio’s wood plastic composite fencing. It’s made from recycled wood fibres and plastic polymers, but it’s able to last decades of use without warping, moisture damage, or discoloration from sunlight.

Key Benefits of Horizontal Composite Fencing

Let’s take a deeper dive into how horizontal composite fences can give you privacy for better peace of mind and security, flexibility in design to suit your home’s style and personal tastes, long-lasting performance, straightforward installation, and how it can add a touch of aesthetic elegance to your outdoor areas.

1. Privacy and Security

A fence can be an indisputable border between your property and busy public areas. In some areas, privacy can also be a matter of security. Positioning your fence as a barrier can be especially helpful if you have pets or young children to better ensure their safety.

Horizontal composite fencing also offers you the flexibility to decide your privacy level at the moment of installation. Want a softer boundary? You can opt for a slatted panel where the horizontal boards are spaced evenly apart, letting air and sunlight pass through. Need extra privacy and security? Go for solid panels where the boards fit tightly together with minimal gaps, completely blocking any outside views.

2. Relaxation and Ambience

A well-enclosed outdoor space can transform it into a private retreat that still feels like an extension of your home. The outside world can easily fade away and let you immerse yourself more deeply into your space.

Oakio’s composite wood boards can imitate and capture the natural look and warmth of wood, letting it blend into any outdoor greenery. Composite horizontal slat fencing can become part of the landscape, and with a wide selection of colors, you can match your fence to complement the environment around it.

3. Design Freedom and Aesthetic Appeal

Horizontal fences do something clever with visual space: the horizontal lines can create an optical illusion that makes your garden feel much wider. It’s a simple modern design trick that can make your outdoor areas seem more expansive than they actually are.

Its installation doesn’t have to be complicated either. The tongue-and-groove system means boards fit together smoothly, making it easy to create the look that you want. 

Oakio also offers two distinctive styles for its boards. The deluxe dual-sided profile gives you a symmetrical look that works from inside and outside the fence. Meanwhile, the slatted shadow gap style is more dramatic, with recessed spaces between the boards that play with shadows in order to create a floating effect with the material.

4. Durability and Low Maintenance

These boards are made of eco-friendly wood plastic composite that was built to last. Unlike traditional timber that needs constant care, these boards stay beautiful without the need for staining, painting, or annual checkups for rotting or warping. The material is naturally resistant to moisture and insect damage, which means you have fencing that can last 25-30 years without the need to repair or replace it.

5. Installation and Practical Advantages

Installing a composite fence from Oakio is straightforward and simple. After setting your posts in concrete and ensuring they’re perfectly vertical, the boards can slot into place easily without the need to attach each one individually.

This approach saves you both time and money while still leaving room for flexibility. Have any pre-existing timber, concrete, or aluminum posts? These boards can be retrofitted, so you don’t have to deal with the hassle of taking those posts down. Need to adjust the height? You can do that too, without panel size constraints, making it simple to adjust it to the design of your outdoor space.

6. Design Inspirations and Use Cases

You can use the optical illusion mentioned earlier to create a visual funnel using the horizontal lines of the fences to move the eyes further inward towards a garden centerpiece. Playing with the space can let you make narrow gardens feel wider and more open. It can also be used to reframe the house so that it looks grander by highlighting its length.

In addition, the variety of colors provides additional possibilities for design. Whether you want warm walnut tones or a contemporary grey look, you can play around with color pairings and finishes to match the architectural style of your home and integrate it with the surrounding furniture and landscaping elements to create the outdoor space you want. 

7. Sustainability and Environmental Considerations

Reputable manufacturers like Oakio pride themselves on using recycled materials. Their composite wood products are made with recycled plastic and wood fibers, reducing their overall environmental impact.

But its story of sustainability doesn’t end in manufacturing. These boards were designed to last decades. When compared to the frequency of wood and timber replacement cycles, they require fewer replacements and produce less manufacturing waste. 

Choosing the Right Horizontal Composite Fence for Your Home

When it comes to picking the right fence for you, it comes down to your budget, how much privacy you want, the aesthetic you’re looking for, and how you plan to install it.

Oakio has a range of options for your fencing. There’s the dual-sided profile, where both sides are symmetrical, or the slatted shadow gap style, which has a recessed gap that runs between each slat that creates dramatic shadows. They come in a variety of colors and finishes: antique, teak, charcoal, chocolate, and gray.

Not sure what might fit? Then order a free sample from Oakio. You get to see it up close, feel the product first-hand, and decide if it’s the right match. Who knows, maybe the right material is just a sample away!

Conclusion

Horizontal composite fencing represents a movement towards incorporating more architectural elements to elevate the outdoor space. It’s an eco-friendly fencing solution that’s able to offer excellent privacy and peace of mind while still being easy to maintain, simple to install, and versatile in its design and how it can match your home’s aesthetic.

Curious about whether it could work for your place? A great place to start would be by exploring Oakio’s catalogue of horizontal composite fencing. Take a look, see what catches your eye, and we can go from there. You might even find the perfect fit for your garden vision!