Charcoal Grey composite fence panels
The darkest of our three greys. Reads close to black from the street, holds its tone under evergreens, and hides pollen and road dust better than the lighter boards.
Dark fences are chosen for two opposite reasons: to disappear behind planting, or to become the strongest line in the yard. Charcoal Grey does both, and which one you get depends almost entirely on what is in front of it.
How this dark grey behaves outdoors
Charcoal Grey is the darkest of the three greys we stock and the second-darkest board in the range after Leather Black. The matte face is doing most of the work: a dark board with any sheen shows every water mark and every uneven patch of light along a long run. Matte keeps the surface reading as one continuous plane instead of a series of bright and dull sections.
Under trees
Its best condition. Dark boards sit behind cedar, fir and laurel without competing with them, and the fence line stops registering as a fence at all.
Direct sun
Dark surfaces absorb more heat than light ones. On a south or west face in July the board gets warm to the touch, the same as any dark exterior material. It does not affect the panel, but worth knowing if it borders a seating area.
Dust and pollen
Charcoal hides both far better than Arctic or Shadow Grey. On lane frontages and near gravel drives this is the practical reason people go dark.
Water
Rain darkens it less visibly than the lighter boards, so it looks consistent through the wet months rather than changing tone every time the weather does.
Already know you want a dark fence?
If the decision is still "dark or light" rather than "which dark", start with our black composite fence overview — it covers the dark boards as a group, including Leather Black and the posts and gate hardware that go with them.
Come back here once you have narrowed it to charcoal. This page is about one board: what MSCF0002 looks like against real materials, and how it differs from the two lighter greys.
What charcoal sits well against
Charcoal Grey works hardest where there is already something dark on the house to answer it. Black window frames, dark metal trim, standing-seam roofing, board-formed concrete and slate hardscape all pick it up and make the fence read as part of the build rather than a boundary added afterwards.
It is also the right grey for a treed lot. Behind cedar, fir or laurel a dark fence becomes a shadow and stops registering as a fence at all, which is usually the point when the trees are the feature. Against a lot of red brick it can read cold — that is the one pairing worth seeing in person before committing.
Post method changes with the site, not with the colour. Runs on soil use in-ground posts; runs on top of concrete or an existing retaining wall use anchor-base posts, and on a slope the bays are stepped so each panel stays level. If a retaining wall is involved, confirm your permitted height first — it changes what the municipality measures. Our Metro Vancouver fence height rules page covers how each city handles it.
Which of the three greys
Almost everyone choosing a grey is deciding between these three. Same board profile, same posts, same hardware — the difference is tone and surface finish.
Arctic Grey
Lightest, sanded face. Pick it when the fence should recede and let the house or the planting lead.
Charcoal Grey
Darkest of the three, matte. Reads almost black from the street. Best at hiding dust and pollen, best under trees.
Shadow Grey
Between the two, matte, with more brown in it. Softer against cedar soffits and wood siding than charcoal.
If charcoal feels close but not quite dark enough, look at Leather Black — it uses a brushed rather than embossed face, which changes the texture as much as the colour. Or compare all six side by side on the composite fence colours page.
Board specification
| SKU | MSCF0002 |
|---|---|
| Board size | 1,783 × 148 × 20 mm |
| Weight | 2.3 kg per metre — roughly 4.1 kg per board |
| Material | WPC: wood fibre blended with performance polymer |
| Texture | 3D deep embossing |
| Surface | Matte — what keeps a dark board from showing every water mark |
| Internal profile | Six-chamber |
| Service range | −40 °C to 60 °C |
| Posts and rails | Aluminum, 80 × 80 mm posts with top and bottom channels |
| Maintenance | Rinse when it needs it. No stain, no seal, no repaint. |
| Also written as | Charcoal Gray — same board, US spelling |
See the boards on site
Dark boards are the hardest to judge from a photograph. A camera meters for the sky, the fence goes to black, and the embossing that makes it look like timber disappears entirely.
Charcoal Grey installed
All photographs below are completed MapleStar installations, not renders.
Ordering
Charcoal Grey is available supply-only for contractors and experienced DIY builders, or supplied and installed by our crew across Metro Vancouver. Supply-only orders are bundled by bay so the count on site matches the count on the invoice.
We supply and install Charcoal Grey across Metro Vancouver. Send your fence length, the height you need, how many gates, your city, and a few photos of the line. Photos of the corners, any slope, and the access route are worth more than precise measurements at this stage — a sketch is fine.
See it before you decide
Send your measurements for a material list and a quote in Charcoal Grey, or come and put the board next to Arctic and Shadow Grey at our Coquitlam warehouse. Ten minutes with the real boards settles it faster than any photograph — and dark boards are the ones photographs get most wrong.
