Vertical Bar Fencing
The workhorse steel boundary: vertical bars through horizontal rails, sized from a light frontage run up to a genuine perimeter.
Vertical bar is the specification that scales. The same basic idea, bars passing through top and bottom rails, covers a 900mm run across a communal frontage and a 2400mm perimeter around a substation, and the difference between them is section size, bar centres and head detail rather than a different product.
That is why it is the most specified metal fence in the country and the one most often bought wrongly. A light domestic section put on a perimeter looks the part and bends the first time a wheelie bin is dragged into it.
We price the section rather than the picture. Tell us what the boundary has to resist and how often it gets hit, and the bar diameter, the rail size and the post centres follow from that.
Specification at a glance
- Typical height
- 900mm frontage runs up to 2400mm perimeter lines
- Head detail
- Blunt top, pointed top or extended bar above the top rail
- Bar centres
- Set to the brief, closed up where climbing or through reach is the concern
- Rails
- Two rails as standard, three where height or impact loading calls for it
- Finish
- Hot dip galvanised then powder coated for the full section, welds included
On tall runs the galvanising is not optional. A powder coat alone over bare steel will fail at every drilled hole and weld within a couple of winters, and once it starts you are repainting the whole line.
Who buys this and why
- Site perimeters, yards, substations, pumping stations and utility compounds
- Communal frontages where a mesh line would look institutional
- Boundaries beside parking where vehicles will occasionally make contact
- Anywhere the boundary has to be seen through for surveillance
If the brief is privacy, vertical bar fails it completely. It is a see through boundary and it always will be. It is also more expensive per metre than weld mesh at the same height, so where appearance genuinely does not matter, mesh is the better value answer.
From visit to handover
1. Survey the line
Levels, existing kerbs, drainage runs and vehicle swept paths are checked before section sizing, because a gate that fouls a kerb is a redesign not a snag.
2. Foundations
Post holes sized to the height and the exposure, concreted, with deeper settings where the run is tall or the ground is soft.
3. Install and hand over
Bays fitted, welds and cut ends made good, and a written record of the specification handed over with the invoice.
Before you buy, the usual questions
- What height should a perimeter vertical bar fence be?
- It depends on what you are protecting, but 2000mm to 2400mm is the usual range for a site perimeter, and below about 1800mm it stops being a deterrent. We will tell you honestly if the height you have asked for will not do the job you have described.
- Should the tops be pointed or blunt?
- Pointed heads deter climbing and are common on perimeters. Blunt heads are used where the public, and particularly children, are close to the line. The right answer depends on who is on each side of the fence.
- How is vertical bar different from palisade?
- Palisade uses wide profiled pales bolted to rails and reads as an industrial barrier. Vertical bar uses round or square bars through rails and reads as architectural. Palisade is usually cheaper at height; vertical bar is usually specified where the boundary is visible to the public.
- Can vertical bar take a matching gate?
- Yes, and it should. A gate leaf in the same pattern with a heavier frame and commercial hinges keeps the line continuous, which is what stops the gate becoming the weak point.
- Does it need maintenance?
- A wash and an occasional check on the hinges and fixings. There is no annual repainting on a galvanised and powder coated line, which is where the cost comes back compared with timber.
- Can it be fitted onto an existing wall or kerb?
- Yes, on base plates bolted down where the substrate is sound. We check what is actually under the surface first, because bolting a two metre fence to a thin slab moves the failure from the fence to the concrete.
Ask us to size it before you buy it
Most under specified fences we replace were bought on price per metre alone. Call 07885907880 for a free site visit and a written specification you can compare like for like.
Related metal work: Driveway gates, Galvanising and powder coating, Palisade fencing. Main hub: metal fencing and gates.
By town: Barnet, Enfield, Hertford, Watford, St Albans, Hatfield, Welwyn Garden City, Stevenage.
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Recent vertical bar fencing work
A black ball-top pedestrian gate made to the opening, hung on square posts set in concrete, with the matching railing line taken along the front boundary.
