If you’ve settled on a warm, welcoming wooden fence to augment your home, you have just one more decision to make. There are several types of wooden fences to choose from. Here, we’ll delve into each, describing the style, uses, and benefits of each type of wooden fence.

Stockade. A stockade fence is made up of tall side-by-side pickets of wood. As the name implies, the fence’s main purpose is to separate out one part of land from another, making this style ideally suited to people who want privacy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Board-on-board. Another style of privacy fence is called board-on-board or board-to-board. This type of fence features tall, overlapping vertical pickets. The overlapping pickets help to ensure that even if the boards shrink with age and dry weather, people on the other side of the fence will never be able to see through the cracks.

 

 

 

 

 

Wood_shadow_box_4991847_largeShadowbox. A shadowbox fence is very similar to a board-on board fence. So similar, in face, that some people think they’re the same thing. Both types of fences feature staggered pickets. With a board-on-board fence, someone on the outside of the fence would be unable to see inside the fence, no matter what angle she’s looking from. With a shadowbox fence, however, someone looking at an angle from the outside would be able to see a little on the inside of the fence. Faced directly, a shadowbox fence is private like a board-on-board. Faced from an angle, a shadowbox is semi-private.

 

 

Wood ranch rail

Ranch rail. Ranch rail fences are shorter and feature spaced horizontal or X’ed rails. These fences can come with 2, 3, or 4 horizontal rails, making them ideal for decoration around a more rustic or country-themed home or an actual ranch with livestock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

wood gothic picketPicket. Finally, the beloved picket fence. Picket fences are typically shorter and are primarily for decorative purposes and to contain an area for small children or pets. A picket fence on the right home can add a lot of charm and visual allure (not to mention resale value). Fence Central offers to styles of wooden picket fence, French gothic picket (shown to the left) and dog ear spaced picket.