Barnet Council is the local authority for Barnet (EN5, N20); the housing stock leans toward victorian terraces, post-war semis and a band of larger edwardian villas around hadley green, and gardens tend to be narrow rear gardens with mature trees and london clay underfoot. What tends to drive the spec on a Barnet job is shared-boundary disputes are common on the older terraced streets, so neat post lines and clear ownership marks matter. Green belt and stock-proof boundaries: Plots backing onto green belt land, paddocks or working farmland often need a genuinely stock-proof boundary rather than a decorative garden fence, particularly where livestock graze the adjoining field. Post-and-rail with stock netting, or a taller close-boarded run where privacy also matters, both do the job, but a standard panel fence with gaps at the base is routinely pushed through or under by sheep and larger dogs. Wire supports for climbing plants on a fence: Climbers like clematis or trained fruit need their own tensioned wire or trellis support rather than relying on the fence panel itself, since the twisting and clinging growth habit can distort thin battens over time.
Property: Victorian terraces, post-war semis and a band of larger Edwardian villas around Hadley Green
Gardens: narrow rear gardens with mature trees and London clay underfoot
shared-boundary disputes are common on the older terraced streets, so neat post lines and clear ownership marks matter
Under Barnet Council, covering EN5, N20. Nearest arterial: A1000 Great North Road, M25 J23 (South Mimms). Served from High Barnet (Northern line). Local commercial anchors: Barnet High Street, Stirling Way industrial estate.
Streets we regularly work on: Kings Road, Salisbury Road, Gladsmuir Road, Wood Street. Local anchors: High Barnet station, The Spires, Chipping Barnet churchyard.
Hadley Green Conservation Area constrains front-boundary heights and materials, with painted picket or low brick-and-rail typical of the streetscape. The Victorian terraces off Wood Street back onto mature street trees protected by the council. Chipping Barnet's medieval plot lines mean the town's boundaries are rarely square, a legacy of the original burgage plots. Kings Road drops steeply toward the East Coast Main Line, and the gradient there is a well-known feature of the local topography.
Practical points for boundary work in Barnet
Green belt and stock-proof boundaries
Plots backing onto green belt land, paddocks or working farmland often need a genuinely stock-proof boundary rather than a decorative garden fence, particularly where livestock graze the adjoining field.
Post-and-rail with stock netting, or a taller close-boarded run where privacy also matters, both do the job, but a standard panel fence with gaps at the base is routinely pushed through or under by sheep and larger dogs.
Any new boundary on green belt land should also be checked against local planning policy, since green belt designation adds another layer of restriction on top of the usual permitted development rules.
Wire supports for climbing plants on a fence
Climbers like clematis or trained fruit need their own tensioned wire or trellis support rather than relying on the fence panel itself, since the twisting and clinging growth habit can distort thin battens over time.
Vine eyes and straining wire fixed into posts, not into panel infill, spreads the load onto the structural timber rather than the part of the fence most likely to need replacing first.
Planning wire runs at the time a fence is built, rather than drilling into finished posts later, avoids weakening a post at exactly the point that already carries the most load.
Made ground and buried rubble
Plots built on old industrial land, demolished outbuildings or infilled yards often have a layer of brick, concrete or hardcore sitting a foot or two down rather than natural subsoil.
An auger that hits rubble at 300-400mm usually means hand-digging or breaking out that layer rather than fighting it, because a post set on top of loose fill will rock within a year regardless of how much concrete goes round it.
It's worth budgeting extra time for this on any plot with a known history of redevelopment, rather than assuming a standard dig will go to plan.
Hardwood versus composite decking movement
Hardwood decking boards, like any solid timber, shrink and swell across their width with moisture changes, which is why they're laid with a consistent gap between boards rather than tight-butted, and why that gap can look different in a dry summer compared with a wet winter.
Composite boards move less with moisture but expand and contract more with temperature than timber, so the gapping and fixing method used has to account for a different kind of movement rather than assuming timber spacing rules apply directly.
Both need their end cuts sealed or capped where boards are cut to length on site, since a cut end is the point most likely to take on water and start to degrade first.
Hardstanding and uneven levels
Where a fence line crosses from a garden onto a patio, driveway or other hardstanding, post bases usually need core-drilling into the existing slab rather than a dug hole, which is a different technique and a different price than fencing over soil.
A change in level along a run — a step up to a raised patio, or a drop to a lower side passage — needs the fence height measured consistently from the ground it's actually protecting, not from an average across the whole run.
Getting this detail wrong is one of the more common reasons a finished fence ends up looking uneven even though every panel was fitted correctly on its own section.
Movement joints in timber cladding
Timber cladding boards fixed edge to edge without any allowance for seasonal expansion can buckle or split as the boards swell in wet weather and have nowhere to expand into.
A small gap left between board ends, or a slightly loose fixing pattern that allows a board to expand slightly within its fixing slots, accommodates this movement without transferring stress into the board itself.
The required gap varies by species and board width, since wider boards and more moisture-reactive species move more in absolute terms than narrow boards of a stable species for the same change in humidity.
Hardwood versus composite decking movement — what does that mean for a job in Barnet?
Both need their end cuts sealed or capped where boards are cut to length on site, since a cut end is the point most likely to take on water and start to degrade first. Hardwood decking boards, like any solid timber, shrink and swell across their width with moisture changes, which is why they're laid with a consistent gap between boards rather than tight-butted, and why that gap can look different in a dry summer compared with a wet winter. Composite boards move less with moisture but expand and contract more with temperature than timber, so the gapping and fixing method used has to account for a different kind of movement rather than assuming timber spacing rules apply directly.
Does made ground and buried rubble come up much on jobs around Barnet?
It's worth budgeting extra time for this on any plot with a known history of redevelopment, rather than assuming a standard dig will go to plan. Plots built on old industrial land, demolished outbuildings or infilled yards often have a layer of brick, concrete or hardcore sitting a foot or two down rather than natural subsoil. An auger that hits rubble at 300-400mm usually means hand-digging or breaking out that layer rather than fighting it, because a post set on top of loose fill will rock within a year regardless of how much concrete goes round it.
How does "movement joints in timber cladding" affect fencing or decking work in Barnet?
The required gap varies by species and board width, since wider boards and more moisture-reactive species move more in absolute terms than narrow boards of a stable species for the same change in humidity. Timber cladding boards fixed edge to edge without any allowance for seasonal expansion can buckle or split as the boards swell in wet weather and have nowhere to expand into. A small gap left between board ends, or a slightly loose fixing pattern that allows a board to expand slightly within its fixing slots, accommodates this movement without transferring stress into the board itself.
What's the typical garden like in Barnet?
Narrow rear gardens with mature trees and London clay underfoot is typical, alongside victorian terraces, post-war semis and a band of larger edwardian villas around hadley green.
Is Barnet within your standard travel area?
Yes — Barnet is served from High Barnet (Northern line), off A1000 Great North Road, and is inside our regular working patch.
Does hardstanding and uneven levels come up much on jobs around Barnet?
A change in level along a run — a step up to a raised patio, or a drop to a lower side passage — needs the fence height measured consistently from the ground it's actually protecting, not from an average across the whole run. Getting this detail wrong is one of the more common reasons a finished fence ends up looking uneven even though every panel was fitted correctly on its own section. Where a fence line crosses from a garden onto a patio, driveway or other hardstanding, post bases usually need core-drilling into the existing slab rather than a dug hole, which is a different technique and a different price than fencing over soil.
Some of our projects
We work this patch off A1000 Great North Road, close to M25 J23 (South Mimms), via High Barnet (Northern line). Made ground and buried rubble: Plots built on old industrial land, demolished outbuildings or infilled yards often have a layer of brick, concrete or hardcore sitting a foot or two down rather than natural subsoil. An auger that hits rubble at 300-400mm usually means hand-digging or breaking out that layer rather than fighting it, because a post set on top of loose fill will rock within a year regardless of how much concrete goes round it. Hardwood versus composite decking movement: Hardwood decking boards, like any solid timber, shrink and swell across their width with moisture changes, which is why they're laid with a consistent gap between boards rather than tight-butted, and why that gap can look different in a dry summer compared with a wet winter.
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