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just123me

Vinyl fencing. What are your thoughts?

just123me
18 years ago

I was unclear where to post this, so stuck it here. Sorry if wrong forum.

I am having someone come out and measure for a fence this weekend. I was thinking about a vinyl fence...but really not too many privacy fence options as far as style...but I like that they are easily maintained.

Is anyone familiar with some type coating to coat wood fence with that is comparable to vinyl and you would not need to maintain for maybe 15 years?

I just wondered cost wise, which is the best?

Any experience with either? Thanks!

Comments (28)

  • cat_ky
    18 years ago

    The vinyl is beautiful to look at. It still has to be maintained though, since it gets a mildewy look after a while. I am not sure how well, it really holds up. The doctor down the road from us has it around many acres of his property, and he has someone there replacing broken sections many times a year and we dont have a lot of really cold days here. I think I would go for the wood.

  • just123me
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Wow, that's interesting you say go with the wood. Wouldn't you just have to take a hose and clean mildew?

    I was thinking you'd have to stain wood every few years and when you replace a slat, it's not the same color as rest of fence that has aged.

    Thanks for your thoughts. ..very interesting. You are giving me something to think on.

  • kudzu9
    18 years ago

    I try to move with the times, but there is something about a plastic fence that makes me grit my teeth. I like a more natural, variegated look, and cedar is a great material that will last a long time. You don't even have to stain cedar as it weathers to a nice grey. I had two cedar fences at the house I just sold. One was a number of years old when I bought the house in 1974; it wasn't stained and it held up just fine...it's still going strong, even though I live in the rainy Pacific NW. It had a little mildew buildup after 40+ years, but that would have been easy to spray with a mildewcide if it had bothered me. The second fence I built myself and stained; it had minimal mildew buildup after many years (stains often have mildewcides in them). I think you will get some mildew on any fence in an area with precipitation. It just depends on whther you like a natural, traditional fence, or something that looks (to me at least) stark, shiny, and unnatural.

  • just123me
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Well, I had that concern also. I was telling some friends how I wished the vinyl fences looked more like wood instead of plastic. The styles I have looked at just look so plastic. I was even hoping for a natural color vinyl so it looked more like wood, but it's mostly whites.

    I like the idea of just wiping them off though and no maintenance except spraying a hose on to wipe off.

    I didn't realize that about cedar wood. I'll have to look that up. Maybe they even have more styles than the vinyl.

    I like the maintenace of vinyl, but don't much care for the look as if being in a compound type thing.

  • cat_ky
    18 years ago

    I am sure it requires more than just a garden hose to clean them, would imagine some type of soloution with bleach in it and then rinse with garden hose. That wouldnt bother me so much as the fact that they seem to break easily. A month or so, there were 4 sections on the frontage that we have to pass that were totally broken and hanging down. A couple days later when I went by, they were repairing them. I have the wood (treated) privacy panels around a 12x24 foot area for my dogs, and its been 3 yrs, and so far, have only had to sweep them down. They are stained.

  • diddlydoo
    18 years ago

    Maybe I'll just go the wood route. I'm glad to hear good things about the wood over vinyl...I do like that look better.

  • kudzu9
    18 years ago

    just123-
    The other advantage with wood is that there is no limit to the styles...you can have any design you want. And, if it ever needs repair, it's much easier to find a piece of wood than a vinyl component from a company that may have quit making that fence or be out of business.

  • just123me
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Your are right Kudzu, but what I was thinking is how nice it would be to never have to stain the wood fence. I can't stand to see a fence all brown and weathered looking. I'd have to keep a stain on it. Hopefully I can find one that last at least 4 years on the fence. A guy I work with said he just stained his and it cost him 500.00 to do it himself....the 500.00 was just for supplies. Owie! I do like the wood look more. It's more natural and blends in better with trees, greenery, etc.

  • kudzu9
    18 years ago

    just123-
    I think you're overestimating how frequently you need to re-stain and the cost. I built myself a 9' tall cedar fence that was 110' long. The surface area was about 1000 sq.ft. per side, so I needed to cover about 2000 sq ft, which was about 6-7 gallons of stain at a little more than $20 a gallon...so, maybe $150 total. Because it was new, I gave it two coats...$300 total. I doubt it will need anything more for at least 10 years. For comparison, I'll tell you that I sided my house in a 1979 remodel with tightknot cedar and gave it two coats of stain. Except in a few places where the wind and rain really zapped it, it was remarkably good after 25 years, and I never restained in that time. (Now I know I'm a bad boy for not doing it sooner, but it seemed to be fine.) Here's a picture of the house from 2004 just before I restained it. You can see that a lot of the siding is not protected by any eaves:

    Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

  • lyfia
    18 years ago

    I've been looking into using trex for a small fence I'm doing. I mean if you can build decks out of it is should be able to hold up as a fence. Also think it gives you more options than vinyl. I came to the same conclusion about vinyl as the rest mentioned here, but in my area wood is so much maintanence even if it is cedar. Due to sun and humidity.

    Use the below link and go to fencing.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Trex

  • kudzu9
    18 years ago

    lyfia-
    What area do you live in that cedar requires so much maintenance? I'm in Rain City (Seattle area) and that hasn't been an issue for me.

  • mikie_gw
    18 years ago

    I lived in a home for 10 yrs with horizontal shadow box cedar fence that was probably as old as the home, 25 yrs old.
    Replaced most of the pine fence posts with pressure treated over the time I lived there but the cedar fencing was fine.. Sometimes sections would get downed in some hurricane winds and screwed/nailed back together easy enough. No stain excpt on a gate and it was the only area that actually grew thick green stuff.

  • just123me
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Thanks everyone. To be honest at this point, I really don't know which way to go. One time I think vinyl and then I think wood. Both have pros and cons. I'm just going to Home Depot and Lowes and talk and see what they offer and what they have to say. I'm also in hot SC so will have mildew, etc.

    Thanks for you links. Kudzu, I love your house. It's awesome and quite impressive.

  • anasophia
    17 years ago

    DON'T DO IT! Vinyl fencing, like vinyl siding, will become brittle and damages easily in any sort of weather event. One big hail storm and you'll have lots of fabulous little holes in your fencing. So while you may not have maintenance for 10 years, you'll have to replace the whole darn fence in 10 years.

    And a note about the matching issue for wood fencing: the wood will weather in to be the same color, or you can stain it the same color. Either way, it will hold up much better than vinyl. And at least you'll be able to find a replacement that matches (unlike vinyl, which will have changed styles and colors so you won't be able to match a damaged section.)

  • grittymitts
    17 years ago

    Two years ago we put up new fences all around 4 acres of our property using pressure treated lumber. No close neighbors, so privacy was not an issue, and we chose three rail design & painted all of it white with 2 coats of high quality paint applied with a sprayer while weather was very, very hot, so it dried well between coats.

    Flower beds run along the section near the driveway (approx 100')so it gets wet many times during the summer as plants are watered. Soil spatters caused by watering (if any) are simply rinsed off.

    It has held up beautifully even with high humidity here Northeast Texas, and we've gotten many compliments.

    My nephew's beautiful 2 story home sat on a small hill way back from highway with 900' of vinyl rail fencing around front yard, making it quite a showplace. The fence was soon green with mildew, distracting from the overall beauty of the place. His most dreaded chore was stringing extension cords & hauling power washer that far to do required cleaning every year, but had to be done to keep the place looking nice.

  • amga
    17 years ago

    We're also going to need to replace our fence this spring - I"m confused about the staining comments. Does the stain actually do anything to protect the wood? Or just to color it? Or are you talking a stain/protective coating blend? Love the look of the cedar, btw, I'm going with that. If you don't want the maintainance of wood, I'd go with the trex stuff or some other composite rather than vinyl - siding is fine but for a fence it just doesn't seem strong enough to hold up

  • macbirch
    17 years ago

    Just curious, is powdercoated steel fencing used in the US? Never heard of vinyl fencing before, though vinyl cladding used to be used to make old houses nicer and lower maintenance.

  • mightyanvil
    17 years ago

    I believe Trex is a sawdust/wood fiber and PVC composite. It has little structural capacity. I would research it carefully before using it in a fence and exposing the cut ends to the weather. I suspect it might be more expensive than wood and not last as long.

    Any PVC product is highly dependent on the quality of the plasticizers used to make it and they outgas over time. The PVC fence market, like the PVC siding and window markets, is primarily driven by price rather than features or longevity (which is why there are so few design options) so the quality of most fences is low. Someone probably makes a plastic fence that will tolerate cold weather but I wouldn't waste my time trying to find it or risk my money buying it.

    PVC is truly a terrible material. In my lifetime I believe it will be banned from use in the US like it has been elsewhere in the world.

  • jejvtr
    17 years ago

    So glad to hear the majority here!

    the other thing I despise about the plastic fencing is driving at night in what should be a nice picket fence to be shiny plastic - mildew laden to boot!

  • John_Morris_ky_gov
    14 years ago

    I have a wood picket fence with the 4 x 4 posts every 8 feet. Does anyone know of a way to replace the fence part with vinyl sections and attach to the wood posts if we use the vinyl post covers?

  • pjb999
    14 years ago

    I think vinyl fencing looks cheesy and awful, and, well, plastic. Vinyl lattice is worse.

    On the one hand in theory it's durable, but in practice it doesn't seem to be. Quite brittle. Vinyl siding is popular where I live, but I find it looks faded and chalky after a while, which then looks cheap and nasty.

    My house is metal clad, assume it's aluminium or maybe steel? The colouring has faded and it too is sort of chalky but to me it's almost a patina. I wouldn't go vinyl, anyway. Maybe Hardiplank.

    I think the vinyl fencing is too flimsy and prone to damage. As others pointed out, the manufacture of it is quite toxic so we should limit our use of it. I am all in favour of recycled plastic products though, but I think fencing is best out of wood or steel.

  • bluesbarby
    14 years ago

    We have block wall fences covered in stucco here. No wood holds up near the ocean here. Everyone I know who has a wood fence in this area, well it looks awful. When we had wood decks they had to be pressure washed, bleach cleaned and sealed every spring. Otherwise you got mildew, moss and eventully dry rott. One was redwood and the lower deck was cedar. Our new deck is a trex type product. We have a decorative lattice fence that I would really like to change out to vinyl when this one finally rots out which will probably be sometime this summer. The new vinyls (good quality ones) don't go chalky or get mildewy. I have a set of 6 vinyl chairs that I bought about 8 years ago, are always outside without covers, and they look like new. Still shiny white. Although, the seats needs to be cleaned off of dirt.

  • berry_stewart
    11 years ago

    How should vinyl fencing posts be installed? I have 3 different contractors recommending 3 different ways for the same ActiveYards Dogwood panels (I am in New England):

    1. 3' depth, 6 inches of gravel in the bottom of each hole and 160# of concrete per post
    2. 3' depth, no gravel, 80lbs concrete, Pressure treated wood block insert 5x5x9" for line posts, & 7' block for gate posts
    3. 3' depth, no gravel, 80lbs concrete per post, Aluminum Post Stiffener or galvanized steel insert for gate posts

  • Stigwort
    11 years ago

    See this thread re vinyl fencing posts installed

    Here is a link that might be useful: Vinyl fence posts - cement or not?

  • Pilm
    10 years ago

    Strange to hear someone say Trex has little structural capacity because it's used, after all, for decking which people walk on, put big old heavy grills on, and in the case of my parents, a good size jacuzzi holding a TON OF WATER! So I'd think a bit of wind on a Trex fence would be ok.

  • Willie Labuschagnè
    3 years ago

    In fact, Vinyl Fencing should NOT be sold as a DIY product.


    Here's why:


    I know everyone who had been in Construction or Reno for years believe it will be easy to install and they "Can do it", but this is very far from the truth.


    I had seen this 1st hand tooany times.


    Remember, Suppliers are simply selling to make profit.


    They do not care what happens in 10 to 20 years, nor if your PVC / Vinyl fence was correctly installed...

    They supply crappy and inaccurate installation instructions, making Clients to believe it is easy.


    Yes, it is easy if you know what to actually do.

    It is even easier installing it wrong....


    Installed incorrectly, or as per supplied instruction, or as per YouTube Videos, will most certainly result in sagging rails, failing posts etc.


    We are Value Fencing PVC Franchise Group do it right:


    1: We use Aluminium H- beams inside our rails.

    2: Our panels span MAX 6 foot post to post, opposed to 10 foot. (10 foot is way too wide and will sag over time)

    3: Post should be planted deep.

    We plant 33% of the post deep.

    (6ft fence post to be planted Min 3ft deep.)

    4: Holes and Posts are to be filled with 25MPA concrete mix around 2/3 up.

    5; 4x Y8 Steel ribbed re-enforcing rods should be I settled into all posts prior to filling with concrete.

    6: Rail connectors are to be used, instead of cutting holes in posts for rails to slot in. (Cutting holes will reduce the posts strength significantly)


    Of installed this way, and your Vinyl fence material is of High quality, it will go 20 to 30 years minimum with absolutely no issues.


    Due to our proper installation method, we Guarantee our work for 20 Years.


    DIY and or inferior quality materials usually act up withing a few years with no o reliable to fix the mess.


    I strongly suggest to find a local expert in the field, using good quality grade PVC / Vinyl fence materials to assist in the installation.

    This way you have peace of mind knowing material quality and workmanship will stand the test of time.


    Here in SA, we have a saying:

    "Paying less always turn out expensive"


    We proud ourselves in our :

    "Everything in business is negotiable, except Quality"

  • wisly gray
    2 years ago


    Although it may have the appearance of plastic, it is long-lasting and won’t rot, splinter, warp or blister. It also doesn’t require staining or painting and is available in various styles, textures, and colors. It is however expensive and difficult to install. It is not environmentally friendly as it isn’t recyclable.

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