Is your home’s Fence built the Right way? (Part 1: the Post)
This is a couple tips from a leading fence contractor in the Dallas, TX area (Plano, Frisco, Richardson, etc.)
We specialize in wood privacy fences — repair, replacement and new fence builds. So we are out in our service areas and we see a lot of fences, we have to repair them from wind damage, hail damage, age (time in the sun and rain), and improper installation. So we’ve seem what works, and what does not. What helps your investment in a privacy fence PAY OFF years down the road, and what will just end up costing you more and more through the years.
We are going to focus on a very important aspects of your fence that largely determine if is a success of a money pit! These are the fence posts.
In talking about your home’s fence, let’s start from the ground up — the soil! Texas has a wide variety of soils. But our Dallas and North Dallas areas generally fall within a spectrum of two soils — clay and white rock. Irving and Los Colinas areas have a shifting clay from underground streams, but this will focus on Dallas and the suburbs directly North of Dallas,
Dallas is known for its “White Rock Lake”, well that is because, usually just a couple feet down under the topsoil is literally white shale rocks. Officially called “Austin Chalk”, these may be the kind that break easily, and are semi-broken up already, scattered around, or may be quite solid and deep.
On top of this, varying in depth from an average of 1–5 feet is clay topsoil. This soaks up the rain and expands and contracts depending on how moist it is. This affects the stability of your fence posts (and the foundation on your home).
When it comes to selecting the best fence contractor in Dallas, you want one that knows the soil and will install the fence posts correctly. A cheap or lazy fence contractor will not want to do the effort to break through this which “Austin Chalk” rocks, and the result is that your fence posts are not deep enough. And while your new fence might look good above ground, it is a veritable time bomb so to speak because high winds (which we have in abundance) will cause those posts to lean severely. What we see out and about on fence jobs, is that as quickly as 1–2 years, the fence posts are leaning so much that they need to be replaced. This not only compromises your security and your privacy, but can create issues with your neighbors.
So make sure your fence contractor knows the soil, and is prepared to deal with rocks, so that (a) your fence bid includes fence posts that are TALL ENOUGH to go down deep enough into the soil, not not turn into an expensive problem in 1–2 years, and (b) has the right tools to break through the white rock, if it is encountered 3–4 feet down from the surface! As we like to say, “going cheap is your most expensive option.”
When it comes to fixing, replacing or building your home’s privacy fence, it is only as good as its foundation. So don’t allow any shortcuts on your fence posts, and how they are installed, from the metal posts, to their caps, to their installation depth and strength — a fence you appreciate for many years to come begins with fence posts deep enough and secure enough!
These tips brought by www.DallasFenceService.com — get your bid by calling our ‘local home services’ line, that will be forwarded to us in the field, at 877–772–7581, or simply fill out a bid request form on our website!
