You love your yard; it’s a place for barbecues and pool parties in the summer, games of catch in the fall, and gardening projects in the spring. But if you don’t love the lack of privacy of your chain link fence or the costly and time-consuming maintenance of your wood fence, then maybe it’s time to upgrade to a PVC fence.
PVC is the preferred fencing choice for a growing number of people, and it’s easy to see why. If you share any of the following goals, a PVC fence may be the choice for you.
A PVC Fence is More Durable
One of the main concerns over the lifetime of a fence is its durability. Wood fences, in particular, can fall victim to a huge list of common maladies that can compromise their durability. Rot, termites, water damage, fungus, and even the sun can undermine the strength of a wood fence. If a careless child runs into your wood fence on a bike, can you say for certain that one of these issues hasn’t weakened it enough to lead to a break? You could be looking at an unsightly hole and a bill for repairs. Or worse, the child could be injured.
The strength of PVC lies in its flexibility. Architects have known for decades that buildings and bridges need to bend and shift rather than resist the natural forces that act upon them. Skyscrapers are designed to sway up to several feet because resistance risks failure and catastrophe in events like windstorms and earthquakes.
A PVC fence uses similar principles to prevent damage or breakage. If you hit it with your lawn mower, the most likely outcome is it bends to take the blow and then snaps back into place. No need to worry. It will even retain its strength and shape afterward. In fact, PVC will not break unless it’s hit with an extreme impact.
A PVC Fence Reduces Your Maintenance
Most people know that upkeep is an unavoidable chore that comes with owning a home. The major issue with fence maintenance is that it falls outside of most of our expertise. What kind of stain will protect your wood fence from water damage and sun damage? How can you prevent your chain link fence from rusting out? Did you use the right type of primer before you painted your wrought iron fence?
You can search the internet or consult with the salesperson at the hardware store and find dozens of different products or techniques, all saying they’re the best. Even if you do your research right, shell out top dollar for the premium products and spend all that time coating your fence in chemicals, in five years you’ll have to do it over again. And you’re still not guaranteed your wood won’t rot anyway.
There’s no uncertainty about maintaining a PVC fence. You won’t have to buy those expensive chemicals or waste a weekend repainting. The maintenance is essentially zero. Most of the time, hitting it with a garden hose is enough. If there’s mold, you can clean it with a bucket of water with liquid cleanser in it. It’s highly likely that all the products you need to maintain a PVC fence are already sitting under your kitchen sink.
The cost difference for maintenance is extreme. A 5-gallon bucket of Ready Seal stain for a wood fence will run you about $150. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers cost $2.50 for a pack of two, and they’re very likely all you need to maintain PVC. That’s why, over the lifetime of a fence, PVC is cheaper than a wood privacy fence, even though it’s a bit more expensive at installation. As we all know, homeownership is a marathon, not a sprint. The mortgage lasts 30 years, shouldn’t the fence?
A PVC Fence Protects Your Privacy
Your block likely has a nosy neighbor, someone who’s always peeking out their blinds to spy when other families are enjoying pool time or to judge when a lawn is perhaps a few days past due for a mowing. Maybe the guy next door likes to fix up his junk cars shirtless on the weekend. Maybe new growth has turned the once-quiet street you live on into a busy thoroughfare at all hours.
Owners with chain link fences can purchase privacy slats, but there’s little to be done to solve these problems for someone stuck with a wrought iron or aluminum fence.
At Fencing Direct, we have fences that can give you complete privacy from the outside world. They offer full coverage without the worry that they’ll develop knot holes or splits like a wood fence. Alleviating that worry really opens up the design possibilities of your yard and home. You’re no longer forced into growing shrubs or hedges to cover up gaps. If you prefer your home have a clean look, you can take down those blinds or curtains because the fence has you covered. The freedom of knowing you can enjoy your yard however you like, completely separated from the world outside, is invaluable.
Contain Children & Pets
You want your young kids or grandkids to have every opportunity to learn to enjoy the outdoors, to get away from constantly staring at the computer or television and run, jump and play in a safe environment. However, most fencing options don’t offer peace of mind. Kids love to test boundaries and see what they can get away with. Everyone knows getting over a chain link fence is a breeze with the links offering easy footholds. And a precocious youngster could easily shimmy up the exposed posts of a wrought iron or aluminum fence.
Our solid PVC fences don’t give kids a chance. They probably won’t even consider trying it when faced with a flat plane of fence running close to the posts. You can rest easy knowing your young children or grandchildren are playing safely within the confines of the yard.
However, pets (particularly dogs) pose a different problem. Dogs love to chew, and unfortunately wood fences provide pups with perfect prey. Many a wooden fence has fallen victim to a bored K-9 left to its own devices. This behavior can leave you with holes in your fences that the dog can escape through and that you’ll have to pony up to fix. You don’t want to have to chain your dog in its own yard, but you also don’t want to have to continually reapply repellents to your fence.
PVC fences are difficult and unappealing to chew, not that a dog would even be inclined to try. With PVC, your beloved hound gets to freely frolic, and you don’t have to worry about repairs or calls from annoyed neighbors when he or she turns up in their yards.
A PVC Fence Makes a Statement
No matter what you want your fence to say, there’s a PVC fence for you. Other types of fences offer more limited aesthetic options. Chain link fences can only tell the world you’re a pragmatist who aims for value and is willing to sacrifice style to get it. Wrought iron or aluminum offer elegant options, but generally the only design option is thin pickets, widely spaced, which may clash with a more modern-style home.
With PVC, the options are far more varied and exciting.
If you want to tell the world your home is your castle, there’s the blunt curtain of a PVC panel fence.
If you want to let your neighbors know you value your privacy, but they’re still invited over to watch the game on Sunday, you can install a privacy fence with a playful spindle top.
If you want people to know you’re a traditionalist who never gave up on the classic American Dream, Fencing Direct has a classic white picket fence ready to install.
If you want to project an open, inviting atmosphere while still maintaining the integrity of your property’s boundaries, try out a more modern take on an old standard.
A PVC Fence Lessens Environmental Impact
You may not know it, but your wood fence may be have been treated with chemicals like arsenic. According to the National Center for Healthy Housing, “90 percent of children repeatedly exposed to arsenic-treated wood face a greater than one-in-one million risk of cancer. (One-in-one million is the EPA’s historic threshold of concern about the carcinogenic effects of toxic chemicals.)”
Even if the wood wasn’t treated in these chemicals, stains and sealants can be dangerous to keep around the house, especially for those with children, as they contain chemicals such as sodium hydroxide, glycol ether andcycloalkaness, which can be harmful if ingested.
A PVC fence, on the other hand, is completely non-toxic and does not require continual treatment or maintenance with potentially harmful chemicals. Additionally, if you don’t like to keep the typical cleaners required to clean a PVC fence in your household, you can clean PVC with any of a number of all-natural cleansers. When it’s time to replace the PVC fence, the materials are all recyclable.
If you share any of the above goals, try out our FenceBuilder to see how you can achieve them.
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