The panels are joined, as in wood joinery. Their actual assembly is free of nails, screws, and errant hardware. They are designed to breath freely from season to season for decades, as well as self-draining. They are mounted to the posts, however, with 4″ exterior grabbers. Six screws per panels, within their pre-bored holes located on the property side of the panels. This also provides the small, almost insignificant advantage of being able to quickly remove any given panel by removing the 6 screws from within the property to accommodate passage of whatever you’ve bought that is wider than the gate itself. Such as a ready-made spa.