The Fence Post

Fair Treatment

We live in a world where everyone wants equality and to be treated the same as everyone else. Sounds fair and reasonable. Too bad the same standard doesn’t apply to vinyl-coated wire. It’s sad but true!

A Revealing Test

Take for example much of the vinyl coated wire being imported from China. It is not bonded to the wire-like the higher quality coated wire made in the USA or Italy. On the surface, it looks similar but functionally, it’s miles apart. On much of this wire, you can actually remove the vinyl coating by simply scratching it with your fingernail. Just imagine what’s going to happen to it in the “real world!" It would be like applying paint to a greasy surface. It just won’t adhere properly and will peel off easily. You can see the results in the pictures below of this 14 gauge, 2" x 4" coated wire requested from another company selling vinyl-coated wire fencing materials.

Exposed

When you consider that when people buy the higher-priced vinyl-coated wire over non-coated wire it is because they desire durability, long life, and improved aesthetics. What a disappointment it is when you see the vinyl coating peeling off. When this occurs, the wire underneath the coating is exposed and subject to rust and corrosion. There go the durability, long life, and aesthetics--not to mention the cost of the wire and the cost and work to install it!

The Unfortunate Result

How can you avoid this problem? Choose a high-quality bonded vinyl coated wire product. Why is bonded better? The vinyl coating is “bonded” to the heated, thoroughly cleaned wire mesh through a special, exacting process. This special process provides a strong, smooth, durable coating without pinholes or thin spots. This is where the wire becomes one with the vinyl coating. For PVC coated wire, this is bliss!

The moral of the story, choose vinyl-coated wire carefully. You will pay a little more for a quality, bonded vinyl-coated product, but the benefits and peace of mind are worth it. The quality is remembered long after the price! We can have pity on the inferior vinyl-coated wire, but we don’t have to buy it!

You might think that as we were living in a small city, in an area with traffic and in a house surrounded by other houses, without any woods around, with a sturdy picket fence surrounding our property, and with a very humble garden, that we would be safe from furry whatsits eating away all our amateur agricultural aspirations. You might also know better, as we now do.

Planting Was Swift

Last summer my wife and I planted our first backyard vegetable garden. She has dabbled with flowers and herbs in containers, but we never had space for a vegetable garden until last year. We moved into a place with a quarter of an acre yard behind the house. The layout was designed and I tilled a small 6 x 12 space. I also lugged the bags of gardening soil and some supposedly composted manure I picked up from a local farm (by “composted” they only meant that there may have been some incidental material mixed in with the bags of raw cow manure. My car smelled for a month and we couldn’t use it on the garden this year. Don’t ask why I brought it home with me.)  And then we planted several different vegetables and had them all in the ground by the second week in June.

Green Beans, Gone

Two months later, our modest effort was rewarded. We had too many tomatoes, not enough peppers, and just enough fresh basil (it’s painful to think about fresh basil in the midst of a New England winter.)  We also had some tasty snow peas. The only total failure was the green beans. It seems that a critter crawled unimpeded into our garden and ate the whole plant except for a small stump. Hmm. Fresh green beans are beloved and we want to be sure that next year they're on our plates. We already have a picket fence that I installed to keep our young son in our backyard. Now I have to consider what to use to keep some unidentified, but presumably small animal out of our garden. There are some logical, but not necessarily obvious questions I have to answer.

• What type of critters am I trying to keep out? Rabbits probably, skunk maybe?
• How long do we need this fence to last?  Maybe 2, maybe 10 years. Not sure really.

Black Vinyl-Coated Wire to the Rescue

So after answering a couple of questions, I decided that this would be the fence for our garden. I am going to use a 36-inch hexagonal chicken wire fence with black vinyl coating. It will be tall enough to keep out small animals and leave me room to bury the bottom thus preventing an attack from below. The black vinyl coating is aesthetically neutral, blending with its background and allowing us to appreciate the beauty of our garden. The UV-treated PVC coating gives extra protection from rust and corrosion. I’ll staple it to some pressure-treated posts which I may or may not set in concrete. That should work. I feel good about it.

C’mon spring!

Informed Decisions

When researching the type of wire fence you want to purchase, there are many things you will want to consider before making a decision. Have you thought about the following?

• Aesthetic considerations - how important is appearance?
• Function is a significant factor - what do you want to keep in or out?
• Cost is important - should you buy the least expensive product or invest in fencing material that will last a long time and save on future expenses as well as the labor of early replacement?
• Country of origin may be something you want to take into account - is there any connection between the quality of a fence and where it is made?
• The topography of the site should be considered - are there irregularities in the ground's surface where the fence will be located?
• The manufacturing method is important - is a welded product a better choice than a woven fence mesh?

When making a decision about which wire fencing material to use, one of the most important aspects to take into account is the type of "finish" the wire has. There are four basic types:

1. GBW - Galvanized Before Weld and Galvanized Before Weave  Check these out so you understand the differences.  
2. GAW - Galvanized After Weld and Galvanized After Weave  "After" is the crucial word here. More below.       
3. VC - Vinyl Coated welded and woven                                                                                          
4. SS - Stainless Steel and other alloys.

GBW

Galvanized before wire fences can be either welded or woven. Galvanized wire is used to manufacture the mesh.

Welded products - the zinc coating is burnt off during the welding process. The welded points where the horizontal and vertical wires intersect are left unprotected and exposed to rust and corrosion. In wet weather, moisture tends to collect at the joint, hastening the process. While it is true that zinc can "flow" from the areas adjacent to the burnt intersection, the weld spot never regains its full protection. These are the types you see in your local building supply store and garden center. Differences in gauge, mesh opening size and height are considerable. You can find a product that will meet your needs. It is important to keep in mind the fact that these items have a limited lifetime. Welded GBW fencing materials are relatively inexpensive and utilitarian.

Woven products - these do not have any welded areas and therefore do not have the same vulnerability. These range from lightweight hex netting up to field fence and heavy gauge woven high tensile deer and wildlife fence. The heavier fences have an extended lifetime, especially those with Class 3 galvanizing.

GAW

Galvanized after fencing materials are galvanized after the welding or weaving process. The mesh is drawn through a bath of molten zinc which thoroughly seals the wire, including the welded and woven areas. These products are heavily protected from rust and corrosion and have an extended lifetime that far exceeds the lifetime of the same products with GBW finish. You can tell if a product is galvanized after by looking at the welded and woven areas. You can actually see how the zinc seals the areas. GAW items are initially more expensive. However, when you consider the extra material and labor cost of replacement, the higher initial cost of GAW meshes can be justified.

GAW fencing is more specialized and therefore is not as easy to find at retail stores. The welded meshes are often used in making animal cages. They are ideal to use in areas where there is constant moisture or exposure to corrosion. There is an even wider range of choices in wire gauge, mesh size, and widths due to the more specialized end uses of these items. The GAW hex netting meshes are often used in saltwater applications and in building game bird pens - areas where long life is sought and appreciated.

VC

Vinyl-coated fencing materials are coated with either polyester or PVC after the welding or weaving process. The most common colors are black and green. The black in color is the most unobtrusive. It blends with the background, becoming virtually invisible. As with GAW products, the vinyl coating thoroughly coats the entire mesh, sealing it against rust and corrosion. The additional cost is offset by longer life expectancy and a more attractive appearance. Many different specifications are widely available in retail stores. Visually, vinyl makes them aesthetically pleasing.

As with any product, there are different quality grades available. The least expensive products do not bond the vinyl securely to the wire. The vinyl is easily cut and can then be peeled off the wire with your fingers. The higher quality grades have vinyl coating that is tightly bonded to the wire and resists scraping, even with a knife. And there are products available that have the double protection of GAW wire under the coating. These offer the longest-lasting meshes available. As always, higher quality means higher cost. You get what you pay for. The higher initial cost can save you money over the life of the mesh.

In addition to the regular generic retail items, there is a wide range of gauge and mesh opening size specialty items not available in stores. There are welded meshes used in lobster traps, safety mesh in railings, animal cages, and other unique applications. Woven hex meshes are used in such things as bird pens and deer fence.

Stainless Steel

Stainless steel fencing materials are perhaps the most specialized type available. They have the advantage of being resistant to rust, corrosion, and other environmental stressors. Stainless steel welded wire meshes have often been used as fences in coastal areas. They are quite expensive and can be difficult to impossible to obtain at retail stores. Their appearance is more utilitarian than attractive. These items have an extended lifetime. Other alloys such as copper are also available in a variety of gauges, mesh sizes, and weaving styles.

Which of these four types of mesh would you like to use in your fencing project?

Are you having difficulty finding the product you need at your local retail store? 

 Apocalypse--when?

According to Wikipedia, the Mayan calendar predicted that cataclysmic or transformative events were to occur on December 21, 2012. This date was regarded as the end date of a 5,125 year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar. Various astronomical alignments and numerological formulae have been proposed as pertaining to this date, though none has been accepted by mainstream scholarship.

A New Age interpretation of this transition is that the date marked the start of time in which Earth and its inhabitants may undergo a positive physical or spiritual transformation. December 21st was to mark the beginning of a new era. Others suggest that the date marked the end of the world or a similar catastrophe.

Some scenarios suggested for the end of the world:

• the arrival of the next solar maximum
• an interaction between Earth and the black hole at the center of the galaxy
• Earth's collision with a planet called Nibiru.

Wait a minute!

Since you're reading this blog you have obviously disregarded the dire warnings and predictions about the world's demise and continue making plans for the days, weeks, months, and years to come. And you have survived whatever may have happened on December 21st, realizing yet again that another predicted catastrophic ending of the world never materialized.

In either case, you are free to think about what type of fencing materials you will need.

Okay, so what's your fence for?

• Define your property or boundary line?
• Keep deer and other wildlife away from your trees?
• Keep pets from running all over the neighborhood?
• Protect children as they play securely in your yard?
• Prevent gophers from destroying your lawn and plantings?
• Prevent "critters" from entering your garden to eat your plants?
• Protect your home and property from nuisance wildlife damage?

And the particulars for this fence?

• What height is required?
• Do you need a large or a smaller mesh?
• Is your land flat or does the terrain vary?
• Are you trying to keep something in or out?
• How many feet will you need to do the job right?
• Do you want to install the fencing materials yourself?
• Would it be better to have it installed by a reputable fence company?

Varieties, Styles...

Make sure you are looking for the right kind of fencing to do the job correctly. Many varieties and styles of fence are available for your consideration and needs.

Finish - galvanized before, galvanized after, vinyl coated, stainless steel

Construction - woven, welded mesh

Mesh sizes - fencing materials are available in a variety of mesh opening sizes:

   Welded: 3" x 3", 2" x 4", 2" x 3", 2" x 2" 1½" x 4", 1" x 2 " and 1" x 1"

   Woven: ½", 1", 1½" hex, 2" x 2", 2" x 4" and the varying openings of field fence

Wire gauges - from lightweight 20 gauge up to heavyweight 10.5 gauge

So, cataclysms aside, feel free to check out our helpful Fence and Mesh Guide to help you decide:

Be Wary of Weld Points

You want to put up a wire mesh fence. Which one should you choose? There are so many different types of fencing materials available. The fence's function, the task you want it to perform, will be a large determining factor in the selection process. Factors that will impact the functioning of your fence:

• Wire gauge
• Mesh opening size
• Height

With few exceptions, wire fences have either a galvanized or a vinyl-coated finish. Usually, the vinyl is applied to the previously galvanized wire. The important question is whether the wire mesh under the vinyl coating is galvanized before it's welded, or if the mesh is galvanized after it is welded. Why is this important?

When galvanized wire is welded into a mesh, the protective zinc is burned off at the weld points where the wires intersect. This leaves the wires unprotected, exposed to both the air and any corrosive elements that may come in contact with them. Moisture tends to concentrate in these areas. One way to protect the wires from this threat is to vinyl coat them.

Hot-dipped

To get the highest quality protection from rust and corrosion a thick coating of PVC is applied to a wire mesh that has been galvanized after it has been welded. The wire fence material is hot-dipped--passed through a bath of molten zinc. The zinc flows over the entire surface of the mesh, thoroughly sealing the wires and the areas where the wires intersect. The PVC is applied last, giving the fence an extended life due to its double protection.

Double Protection

What factors make PVC coated galvanized after welded wire mesh the best vinyl coated wire mesh and fence?

• This attractive finish is pleasing to the eye
• Longest life--extended protection against rust and corrosion
• Reduced expense and labor of replacement
• Double protection--tightly bonded PVC coating on top of galvanized after weld

The next time you want to be sure that the wire you buy will last the longest, get vinyl coated wire mesh and fence that is galvanized after weld. Make sure the coating of PVC is both thick and tightly bonded to the underlying wire. This is so tough it's the same type of mesh used for lobster traps.

Don't settle for less expensive inferior wire mesh products--this is false economizing. Get the products that will stand the test of time!

You do have a choice!