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Timber fence boards or bamboo screening

Updated: October 2026

The two prices on the screen are almost the same, and the photographs both look like a garden boundary. Timber fence boards or bamboo screening is the fork underneath that trick. Five rough-sawn pine boards at about £25.99 and a bamboo roll at about £24.99 are not substitutes. One is a face you nail to a frame. The other is a cover you tie to a fence that already stands. The [fence slats comparison](/hub/fencing-and-wire/fence-slats) lists both, with the stored amazon.co.uk prices. Peter F. used those listings and the UK review notes. There is no lab test, and there is no year-count for how long the bamboo lasts.

The two prices on the screen are almost the same, and the photographs both look like a garden boundary. Timber fence boards or bamboo screening is the fork underneath that trick.

Our top picks

WoodworxPro WoodworxPro rough sawn pine boards, 60 cm

Best overall

WoodworxPro WoodworxPro rough sawn pine boards, 60 cm
6.5/10about £25.99
View offer
Wadan Wadan bamboo slat screening roll, 1.5 m × 4 m

Best value

Wadan Wadan bamboo slat screening roll, 1.5 m × 4 m
6.7/10about £24.99
View offer
Abaseen Abaseen bamboo slat screening roll, 1.5 m × 4 m

Rank 3

Abaseen Abaseen bamboo slat screening roll, 1.5 m × 4 m
8.2/10about £29.99
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.What each one is
  2. 2.When timber
  3. 3.When bamboo
  4. 4.The recommendation

What each one is

Same shelf, different object. The timber in this set is WoodworxPro pine, 19 mm by 100 mm, five boards, at 60 cm, 90 cm or 120 cm. You cut it and fix it to rails. The listing says you can paint or treat it. It does not say the boards arrive pressure treated, and it does not give a use class. The bamboo is a roll of split cane on galvanised wire, titled 1.5 m by 4 m. Abaseen prints 6 m² and 150 cm by 400 cm. Wadan also prints 100 × 100 × 300 cm. Sellers call both heat-treated. Reviewers talk about gaps. Suregreen says this kind of screen cannot stand on its own. BBC Gardeners’ World describes a roll as something you attach to a fence or a pergola, not as the boundary.

When timber

Choose boards when you are building the face, or when one broken board is the repair. Close boarding lets you replace a single piece later. A roll does not. The pine packs only help at 60 cm, 90 cm or 120 cm. Merchant feather edge is often 1.5 m to 1.8 m, tapered, around 22 mm by 125 mm, with a UC3 mark. These boards are shorter, square, and the use class is blank. Five boards at 100 mm, even butted, are half a metre of width. They will not dress a 1.8 m bay. You still supply Use Class 4 posts, rails, a gravel board and nails. Overlap figures sit on the fence slats buying guide.
WoodworxPro WoodworxPro rough sawn pine boards, 60 cm

Testsieger

WoodworxPro WoodworxPro rough sawn pine boards, 60 cm
6.5/10about £25.99
View offer

When bamboo

Choose a roll when a firm fence is already there and a natural, gappy cover is enough. Reviewers staple the wire to timber or cable-tie the roll to mesh, then hide an old panel, a slatted fence or a log store. That is a Saturday job if the posts do not move. Reviewers report a bow that stays after wind. Fixings are not in either box. The 22 Wadan texts and the first 50 Abaseen texts both say you can see through. Doubling the roll loads the same posts. Do not read several seasons as a tested life. A 1.5 m roll softens a 1.8 m panel. It does not raise the boundary.

The recommendation

If there is no sound fence, buy boards and the posts the pack does not include, or buy a panel system. Do not buy the roll and hope the wire will stand in for arris rails. If a firm fence is there and you want a natural cover, use a roll, budget for gaps, measure it flat, and keep it off the soil. Abaseen is the roll whose stated size agrees with 150 cm by 400 cm. Wadan is cheaper and prints a conflicting 300 cm line. Buy the pine length you measured, and treat it. A new boundary is timber or a panel. A cover-up is bamboo, and only on something you trust. A qualifying purchase through the amazon.co.uk links can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.

Common questions

Which one gives privacy?
Lapped timber can close the face if you keep an overlap around the 18 mm to 25 mm range suppliers publish. One bamboo layer, in the Wadan and Abaseen reviews, usually does not. People see through and then double the roll. Doubling is a second purchase and more wind. If the view has to stop, boards on a real frame are the direct route.
Which one is a fence by itself?
The boards can be the face of a fence once you have posts and rails. They are not a fence in the box. The roll is not a fence at all. Suregreen and the wider screening notes say it cannot stand independently. A roll at about £24.99 tied to fresh canes pushed into the lawn is not the same object as a close-boarded bay. If you still need to dig holes, you have left the bamboo job.
Which is easier if a panel is already up?
The roll is the shorter job, provided the panel is firm. You fix the binding wire with staples or ties, about every 10 cm along the roll in the screening guides, and you do not have to build rails. Replacing boards means matching the length, the lap and the treatment, which is more work and a better repair if the board itself is the failure. Do not staple bamboo to a panel that already leans.
Can I use the roll as the boundary on a slope?
A roll wants a straight line to hang from. A slope is where close-board fencing is used so each board can step with the ground. Hanging one 4 m mat across a fall leaves a wedge of daylight or a buried bottom edge, and a buried cane is the part that rots. If the boundary itself is the job on a slope, use boards or a panel system, and get someone who sets posts if you have not done the holes before.
What if the fence is the neighbour’s?
Ask before you fix anything to it. Suregreen says that in plain words for this kind of screen. A staple in someone else’s arris rail is not a small courtesy. If they refuse, the roll has to go on your own frame, on your side of the line, which means you are building again. Boards nailed to their fence are the same problem with more nails.

Related pages

How to fit fence slats

Fence privacy screening slats

Fence slats

Best fence slats: one listing for the job you measured

Fence slats buying guide: length, lap and treatment

Sources

Public UK sources listed in the research digest. Listing prices, stars and review counts are from the amazon.co.uk files kept for these five ASINs. Retrieved October 2026.

  1. GPDO 2015, Schedule 2, Part 2, Class A — England (retrieved October 2026)
  2. Welsh Government — planning permission for fences, gates and garden walls (retrieved October 2026)
  3. Scotland Class 3E — gates, fences, walls and other means of enclosure (retrieved October 2026)
  4. Scottish Government Circular 1/2024 — householder permitted development (retrieved October 2026)
  5. Northern Ireland GPDO 2015, Schedule, Part 3 (retrieved October 2026)
  6. BS 1722-5 — close-boarded fences and wooden palisade fences (retrieved October 2026)
  7. Wood Protection Association — buyer guide to preservative-treated wood, September 2025 (retrieved October 2026)
  8. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 11 — goods to match the description (retrieved October 2026)