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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

What do most Hoddesdon customers ask you for on this?

1930s and 1950s semis, with Victorian cottages toward the Old Town shape most of it, so the common brief here is a run measured to an existing boundary rather than an off the shelf size. Older fence runs in the Old Town often hide rotted posts under cement skirts — full removal is usually required, and that shows up in the post work more than in the steel above it.

Vertical bar fencing in Hoddesdon

Hoddesdon Vertical Bar Fencing, Specified Not Guessed

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.

How we build it

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.

How it is specified

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.

What is different about Hoddesdon

Vehicle movement decides gate sizing on most Hoddesdon sites. We check the swept path against the access off A10 / A1170 and the turning available inside the gate line before quoting a leaf width, because a gate that cannot be opened fully in practice is a gate that gets left open.

We work across Broxbourne Borough Council and can phase a perimeter so a live site is never left open. Where deliveries have to route via M25 J25 (15 minutes south) we book them around your access hours rather than ours.

Older fence runs in the Old Town often hide rotted posts under cement skirts — full removal is usually required, which is why post holes on taller runs here get sized to the exposure rather than to a standard depth. On a 2400mm line the foundation is the fence.

Vertical Bar Fencing fitted in Hoddesdon, EN11 (1)

Vertical Bar Fencing fitted in Hoddesdon, EN11 (2)

Vertical Bar Fencing fitted in Hoddesdon, EN11 (3)

Where this is the right answer

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.

Common questions

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
What do most Hoddesdon customers ask you for on this?: 1930s and 1950s semis, with Victorian cottages toward the Old Town shape most of it, so the common brief here is a run measured to an existing boundary rather than an off the shelf size. Older fence runs in the Old Town often hide rotted posts under cement skirts — full removal is usually required, and that shows up in the post work more than in the steel above it.

Perimeter and frontage vertical bar in Hoddesdon

Send a plan or a boundary length and tell us what the line has to resist. You get section sizes, bar centres, post depths and gate details written down, not just a rate per metre. Fully insured for commercial work.

Nearby: Vertical bar fencing in Ware, Vertical bar fencing in Cheshunt, Vertical bar fencing in Hertford.

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