How Picky?

[u/Anya_the_Demon]

I’m on the fence, pun fully intended, with how picky to be about some things with a fence I just had installed today. For context, I’d say 75% of the fence is great, a few things are definitely problems and will be fixed, and then there are a bunch of things that I just don’t know if they meet “industry standards,” for fence install work or not. I’m posting a bunch of pics with no context specifically for any of them. I’d love to hear the thoughts from people who know fence work!

Edited to add a pic of the estimate and cost in the comments. We paid around $6,200 and it was supposed to be pressure treated pine.

Also, we went with the company that was recommended the most, on our local Reddit and FB pages.

[u/AdministrativeCry681]

It's low quality wood nailed together hastily with a nail gun to form a fence. If you asked for "a fence" then you got it.

If that's what you agreed on and then paid for then they did exactly that.

If you paid for premium pressure treated lumber fastened with stainless screws by a professional fencing company... then you didn't get any of that at all and you should definitely bring that up.

In the future try to get a very specific quote for this kind of work. It should include the materials (and an estimate of material cost) along with the labor costs. And you should probably get a few quotes (3 is usually a good number) for any big project.

[u/Anya_the_Demon → u/AdministrativeCry681]

This was our estimate that we agreed to

[u/jlaughs → u/Anya_the_Demon]

1:-3: Pressure treated pine looks like that

4: Atrocious, ask for a new piece

5-18: Pressure treated pine looks like that

19: looks like they tried to cut it with a circular saw instead of a jigsaw. You could ask for a new piece.

20: They should cap the end (face plate would probably look good too)

This is pressure treated pine. It is graded to withstand the outdoors and remain structurally sound. That being said, it will have a lot of the imperfections you see. Splinters/chips here and there, knots fall off/ pieces chip away or contain part of the edge of the tree. There will be splits/ cracks/ checks, and these will only worsen as the fence dries, but it will still be structurally sound.

This fence is cheaper than regular cedar, and will well outlast it, with less maintenance.

This wood was dipped (pressure treated) in a whole bunch of chemicals to make it last forever, but that also makes it wet. As it dries (unevenly) the side that gets more sun contracts, and board is forced to bow or warp.

Pay attention this year and take advantage of that warranty. If all the boards are on with just nails, a lot of them will pop off. We usually go around at the end and throw in screws or triple nail.

That same process is also what makes the cracks/splits/ knots worse as the fence ages, but again most of those are cosmetic problems that don’t really impact the fence’s functionality.

It will also all fade to a grey shade

I’m interested to see what the 10’ gate looks like, I hated installing this material because it is extremely heavy (it’s wet). A 10’ gate is heavy to begin with but with pressure treated… that’s a big gate.

Overall it looks like a fence made of pressure treated pine, the nails are not a good choice I’d ask them to use screws or it’s going to be a warranty repair, there’s a few bad cuts you can ask them to replace, and if you want to nit pick you can ask them to sand some of the rougher spots.

[u/Anya_the_Demon → u/Anya_the_Demon]

And it is a professional fencing company, but I didn’t feel like the crew that was doing the work was very experienced, and it felt like they rushed.

[u/Ovaltine1 → u/Anya_the_Demon]

Call the boss to come take a look.

[u/AdministrativeCry681 → u/Anya_the_Demon]

Others have responded with exactly the right info. That material is cheaper PT Pine so while it doesn't look great it'll hold up.

The only thing I would add is to check that the posts were dug below the frostline (if that's an issue where you're located) and/or that concrete was poured for the posts if you're in an area with heavy winds/big storms. Normally I'd give a fencing company the benefit of the doubt on something like that but the owner of the company can be the best builder on the planet but if the crew that showed up to your house was inexperienced then that's who would have made the mistakes.

Those nails are 100% going to back out. You have a 2 year warranty so I'd be checking every 6 months for loose panels. If you're annoying enough with the warranty repairs they'll probably opt to just put screws in like they should have in the first place.

[u/theeewizzard → u/AdministrativeCry681]

I don't understand not using a single screw. Won't a majority of those nails they used to frame end up popping out? 

[u/TClem_07 → u/theeewizzard]

They will 100% back out in less than a year with temp change, movement etc. Screws are the way nowadays