What Is Aluminium Slat Fencing?
Posts, rails and spaced slats in powder-coated aluminium — built either as repeating panels or made to measure for a run that will not repeat.
How it goes together
An aluminium slat fence is a series of posts with panels between them. Each panel is a frame containing evenly spaced slats. The posts carry the load into the ground or into whatever they are fixed to; the panels are infill.
Because the panels are separate from the posts, the fence can adapt to the site. Bay widths can vary, panels can step down a slope, and a run can turn a corner or meet an existing wall without the whole system having to be uniform.
That is the main practical difference from a sheet product like Colorbond, where the fence is essentially a continuous sheet run between posts.
Panels or made to measure
There are two ways to buy it, and they suit different runs.
A panel run divides your boundary into equal bays and repeats one panel. It suits a straight, reasonably level run: less set-out, consistent appearance, and generally the more economical option. The bay size is still set from your run length so the panels divide evenly rather than leaving an odd infill at the end.
A made-to-measure run is set out to the site instead of divided into equal parts. It is what you need when the ground slopes, when the run steps, when the boundary turns at an odd angle, or when existing piers create bays that are all different widths.
Most real boundaries are somewhere in between, and a lot of runs end up mostly repeating with a couple of made-to-measure bays where something gets in the way.
- Straight and level: a panel run is efficient and consistent
- Sloping, stepped or interrupted: made to measure
- Existing piers: almost always made to measure, because bays are unequal
- Most runs are a mix of both
What it is good at
Boundary and front fencing where you want a defined, contemporary line. Privacy screening, where the slat spacing is closed down. Screening service areas — bins, pool pumps, air-conditioning units — where a small run does a specific job.
It is also very good on top of something else. Panels above a retaining or block wall are a common arrangement, and it lets you add height and privacy above a wall without rebuilding the wall.
What it is not
It is not automatically a pool barrier. Pool fencing is subject to specific legal requirements covering gap sizes, heights, climbable zones and gate hardware, and a decorative slat fence should not be assumed to satisfy them.
It is not a security fence in the sense of being unclimbable — closely spaced horizontal slats are, if anything, easier to climb than an open vertical fence.
And it is not a soundproof barrier. A fence with gaps in it passes sound. If noise reduction is your goal, that is a different product entirely and we would rather say so than let you find out afterwards.
