NZ TIMBER EDITORIAL GUIDE
How Many Palings per Metre?
Paling quantity comes from effective cover: the horizontal distance one installed board adds to the fence. Board width alone is enough only for a perfectly close-butted layout; gaps, overlaps and shiplap profiles change the answer.
Start with effective cover, not the name on the rack
A product described as 150 mm wide may be rough sawn, dressed, tapered, profiled or supplied with normal manufacturing tolerances. Measure or confirm the actual face width and decide how it will be installed. For a gapped fence, effective cover is board width plus the gap. For a lapped fence, it is board width minus the overlap. A proprietary shiplap or tongue profile has its own cover dimension, which should come from the product information.
| Layout | Effective-cover formula | Example using a 150 mm face |
|---|---|---|
| Close butted | board width | 150 mm |
| 20 mm gap | board width + gap | 170 mm |
| 20 mm overlap | board width − overlap | 130 mm |
| Shiplap/profiled | manufacturer’s stated cover | do not infer from overall width |
Coverage table for common planning values
| Effective cover | Raw calculation: 1000 ÷ cover | Planning palings per metre |
|---|---|---|
| 100 mm | 10.00 | 10 |
| 110 mm | 9.09 | 10 |
| 120 mm | 8.33 | 9 |
| 125 mm | 8.00 | 8 |
| 130 mm | 7.69 | 8 |
| 140 mm | 7.14 | 8 |
| 150 mm | 6.67 | 7 |
| 160 mm | 6.25 | 7 |
| 170 mm | 5.88 | 6 |
Do not multiply a rounded per-metre figure when a long-run calculation is available. A 24 m fence at 130 mm effective cover is 24,000 ÷ 130 = 184.62, so the net result is 185 palings. Multiplying 8 palings per metre by 24 gives 192—safe, but unnecessarily coarse before waste is considered.
Full-run formula and three examples
| Fence run | Installed layout | Net quantity | With 7% allowance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 m | 150 mm board + 10 mm gap = 160 mm cover | 75 | 81 |
| 18 m | 150 mm board, 20 mm overlap = 130 mm cover | 139 | 149 |
| 24 m | 150 mm close-butted planning value | 160 | 172 |
The allowance is not a universal 7%. Increase it when there are many height changes, raking cuts, damaged boards, appearance selection or future-repair spares. Reduce it only when the supplier accepts easy returns and the cut pattern is predictable. Always round to whole boards and check whether packs impose another purchasing increment.
Corners, two-sided fences and mixed widths
- At an external corner, one face usually needs an extra board, cover strip or adjusted overlap. Detail the corner before finalising quantity.
- A double-sided or ‘good neighbour’ fence is not one layer multiplied casually. Work out each face or alternating pattern from its own repeat distance.
- For alternating wide and narrow boards, calculate a full repeating module rather than averaging the widths.
- Gate leaves and fixed side panels should be measured separately; do not subtract a gate opening until its cladding detail is known.
- If the first and last boards are trimmed, keep enough width for sound fixing and a balanced appearance.
The practical installation method is to dry-lay or mark several repeats, then use a consistent spacer and check level every few boards. Bunnings New Zealand’s paling guide demonstrates spacer-controlled layouts, including overlapping boards of different widths. That is useful installation context, but the product’s actual dimensions still control the quantity.
From coverage to the correct catalogue family
Timber Dealers lists rough-sawn 150 × 19, heavy 150 × 25, dog-ear and shiplap H3.2 paling families separately. They should not share one assumed cover. Select the profile first, use the effective cover for the chosen layout, then check height, treatment, pack or each pricing and the supplier’s current dimension.
Openings, corners and stepping change the simple count
Calculate each straight bay separately. A gate opening removes field palings but adds gate leaves, latch clearances and often different posts. On sloping ground, stepped panels may need longer palings or more offcut allowance; raking changes top cuts and visual spacing.
| Feature | Count adjustment |
|---|---|
| gate | exclude opening; schedule gate boards separately |
| corner | confirm face/return overlap and post cover |
| stepped bay | measure each step and paling length group |
| board-and-batten | calculate base boards and battens as two sequences |
| repair match | measure actual existing module at several bays |
Sources and technical guidance
- Bunnings New Zealand — installing fence palings (commercial)
- PlaceMakers — building a paling fence guide (commercial)