Questions to ask your Vinyl Fence supplier.
We’ve put together a list of questions to ask your Vinyl Fence supplier. This will help you in the long run years down the line when your fence may need some parts or repairs.
- What wind speed was the panel wind load tested to? Ask them to show you the testing. If it is not at least 100MPH then proceed with caution.
- Are horizontal rails pre notched? If not you will have to do this to secure the rail into the post.
- Does the bottom rail have aluminum or metal insert? (Don’t be fooled by the big rails. They will sag without one.)
- Can your supplier make custom adjustments to your posts such as a Tee post, wall mount post or offset holes for different heights of panels or to work around retaining walls. Changing from one style of fence to another style such as from privacy to picket or ranch rail design.
- Does your supplier offer instructions on how to mount to the top of concrete or brick columns? Do they off the proper accessories to do so?
- Can your supplier build custom width / height gates for those special applications? Can they offer you decades of installation and fabrication experience to help with those unforeseen issues that always seem to arise when you least expect it.
3 more pitfalls to avoid
1 – Large Horizontal Rails. Large rails are actually the weakest vinyl fence. Why? Large rails require a larger hole to be cut into the post thus weakening the strength and degrading the wind load capacity of the fence.
2 – “Your fence doesn’t require a metal insert”. When you are told the rail is bigger and it does not require a metal insert. All vinyl privacy fences will sag no matter how big the horizontal rail is if it does not have a metal or aluminum insert in the bottom rail. The weight of the pickets through time will cause it to sag. Do don’t fall into that trap.
3 – Stay away from proprietary designs of rails, pickets, etc… Stay away from proprietary designs of rails, pickets, etc.. Only made by a single manufacturer. Stay with the industry standard rails, pickets and sizes so if damage ever happens, replacement parts can be easily found. Your customer will appreciate this over time. Make sure the supplier has replacement parts in stock and keeps them for future damage that may happen.