SHADOWBOX FENCES
Shadowbox fences that look finished from both sides
Alternating boards on both faces of the rail, so the fence looks finished from your side and your neighbor's.
Chapter 01
Why people call it the good neighbor fence
A shadowbox fence alternates its boards on the two faces of the rail. One board sits on your side, the next sits on the far side, and each one overlaps the gap beside it. Look straight at the fence and you see solid wood. Walk along it and you catch thin slits of light between the boards.
The point of the pattern is that there is no wrong side. The rails sit in the middle, hidden between the boards, so you and the people next door both get a finished face. Nobody ends up staring at a row of rails and screw heads, and nobody has to have the awkward conversation about which side gets the good side.
Cedar shadowbox fence and gate meeting a stacked-stone pillar beside a brick house
What the gaps do in a wind
A solid privacy fence behaves like a sail in a storm. Every gust pushes on the whole surface, and that load goes straight into the posts and the ground around them. A shadowbox run lets air pass between the boards, so the push on the posts is smaller and the fence is less likely to lean over a few years of weather.
That airflow is also kind to the wood. Moisture does not sit trapped against a solid face, and both sides of every board can dry out after rain. Ask Sean about it if you have an exposed yard; an open lot with nothing to break the wind is exactly where a shadowbox earns its keep.
Chapter 03
How we build it, and what it takes to keep it
Building a shadowbox fence is slower than hanging a single layer of boards. The rails are positioned so boards can fasten to both faces, the boards are spaced so each overlaps its neighbor, and the top line has to stay even across the alternating layers. Posts are set deep and in concrete where the ground calls for it. The reward is the finished look from both sides, shown on this page where a cedar shadowbox fence and gate meet a stacked-stone pillar beside a brick house.
Stain is an option, and it is worth thinking about early because both faces show. One of our shadowbox jobs is stained dark, and it reads very differently from the warm cedar run above. Whatever finish you choose, plan to stain or seal both faces, and check with your city or HOA about fence height and style before you order, since those rules differ from one town and neighborhood to the next.
Fence Pros NWA builds shadowbox fences from Tontitown and Springdale across Northwest Arkansas. Sean McLaren owns the company, which is licensed and insured under Arkansas contractor licence 0466650427. Call Sean at (479) 871-3942.
Shadowbox next to the other wood fences we build
A shadowbox is not the only way to get privacy from wood. If you want a fence that closes the view completely, a wood privacy fence in dog-ear or board-on-board is the tighter choice. If your shadowbox run needs a way through, our steel-framed gates can be built to match the boards around them. Not sure which one fits your yard? Send Sean the details and he will talk it through.
From our customers
“Sean over at Fence Pros is the best! Thoughtful, kind, hardworking, and genuinely cares about doing things the right way first.”
