Prepare Your Fence For Winter!

Despite the welcomingly warm November that Mother Nature has blessed our area with this year, winter is on the way! Snow is inevitable during a mid-western winter. Snow also has to be cleared from drive ways, parking lots, side walks and other areas that border fence lines. Clearing these areas requires you to bring in equipment to remove the snow and pile it up somewhere.
Has clearing snow ever caused your fence harm? It likely has, especially if your fence is around a driveway or parking lot. These areas usually require the use of a snow plow that can damage fence in a few ways. The plow can physically hit your fence pushing it over, breaking some of it's parts or posts. Or the pile of snow itself being pushed by plows into the fence can cause damage as well.
Every spring the majority of repair calls that we recieve involve damage from snow removal of some sort. Of course Custom Fence Company will quickly come out and supply you with a free quote to repair your fence, but we would also like to offer some advice to help you prevent this damage from occurring, saving you money and stress.  

Here are a few simple things that you can consider to prevent snow related damage from ocurring to your fence:

1. Speak with your snow removal supplier regarding your concerns of damage ocurring to your fence
2. Set up a particluar "catch area" for snow to be piled that is away from fence lines
3. Ensure that snow piles start at least 15' from any fence line, this will allow room for snow to be pushed through the year without pushing against fence
4. Have snow piles removed if they are becoming too large for your fenced in area and you are concerned that it may damage your fence
5. Do not have plowed snow piled inside fenced area. Most fenced areas have room outside of them where snow can be pushed and piled away from a fence line.
6. If using a snow blower, try to blow snow to the opposite side of any fence lines. This will prevent snow from piling up on the fence and causing damage from it's weight.
7. Install barrier posts in front of your fence if it is along a driveway, street curve or street intersection. This will slow vehicles down before they hit your fence or completely prevent them from hitting it at all.
8. Only allow your snow removal company to remove snow from your property when it is necessary. Some contracts will allow them to remove snow when it is only a few inches deep. The less time they spend on your property, the less likely they are to damage your fence!

Please consider these tips over the next few months. We hope it helps! Happy Holidays from the Custom Fence Family.

Choosing the Fence That's Right for You: Chain Link Fence

The following article on chain link fence styles focuses on installations performed in a residential setting.

Property owners have many reasons for why they want to fence in their properties; privacy, security, pets, or children. Each reason warrants a unique style of fencing. Custom Fence Company professionally installs vinyl, wood, ornamental aluminum and steel, farm fence and chain link fence. The most versatile style in the aforementioned list has to be chain link fence. This article will explain the various chain link styles that are available to you.

Here is a description of chain link fence from Wikipedia.com to familiarize you with the style:

Picture of Chain Link Fence from Wikipedia.com

A chain-link fence (also referred to as wire netting, chain-wire fence, cyclone fence or hurricane fence) is a type of woven fence usually made from galvanized or LLDPE-coated steel wire. The wires run vertically and are bent into a zig-zag pattern so that each "zig" hooks with the wire immediately on one side and each "zag" with the wire immediately on the other. This forms the characteristic diamond pattern seen in this type of fence.

Available in heights from 42" up to over 10', chain link fence is a steel product that is coated with different materials that each give it a different appearance. The most common is galvanized coating. This gives the fence a silverish or sometimes grayish appearance. Aluminized coating gives the wire a dull silver appearance. A benefit of choosing an aluminized coating is that it does not have buildups of metal particles like galvanized coating sometimes will. The buildup is sharp and can cut the fingers of your children or pets when they come into contact. Both of those coatings are very high quality and are available in a variety of gauges for all types of installations.



Black Vinyl Chain Link

 If you want to dress up the appearance of your chain link fence you can choose a vinyl coated fence. Custom Fence Company offers vinyl coated chain link fence in green, black and brown. Vinyl coated chain link gives the fence a dressed up appearance and blends in well with backgrounds. This type of fence is also commonly installed using a wood frame; a style called San Lido. The vinyl coating is also very smooth making vinyl coated chain link fence desirable to have around swimming pools and playgrounds where children may come into contact with the fence.

Not all chain link fence is created equally! What I mean by that is that there are different gauges of the wire in the fence and of the wall thicknesses and diameters of the line posts and top rails. Always check on these factors. The gauge of wire for a typical 4' or 5' residential fence installation is 11.5, posts should have a wall thickness of .065 and top rail should be at least .055 with a diameter of 1 3/8". Post diameters are also important for the strength of the fence. Line posts should be 1 5/8" and terminal and corner posts should be 2.5".



Bundles of Top Rail

 Those numbers are a good guideline. Some circumstances require heavier duty material. If you have a dog that is large enough to jump up to the top rail or are near a park or school you may need a heavier duty top rail. Children and pets jumping on top rail can cause the rail to sag or even bend over time. The cost difference will be trivial to the extended life time that you will get if you decide to use a heavier material.

Follow the guidelines on materials above when having a chain link fence installed and your fence will last you a long time! Chain link is made of steel and coated to help reduce the rate of rusting and improve the durability of the metal. If the steel is erected with steel materials you also do not have to worry about rotting like you do with wood fence. It also serves many purposes. It will secure your property, keep your pets and children in the yard or create a barrier.

So chain link fence is great for multiple purposes, will last a lifetime and is available in different styles/colors; it must cost a fortune! Acutally chain link is typically the most inexpensive fence that we quote in residential settings. It is about half the cost of wood privacy fence and 1/4th the cost of vinyl picket or ornamental aluminum. It is also great for hilly landscapes as it follows the contour more fashionalby than it's competitors.

So basically chain link is great for a budget. You can have an effective, durable and stylish fence installed at a cost that fits your needs. Custom Fence Company custom builds chain link gates for each job as well. It is almost May and our schedule is filling up rapidly. Call us today for a free estimate for chain link fence or any of the other styles that we offer.

Look our for the upcoming "Choosing the Fence That's Right for You" article on Wood Fence

Fence Jumping Causes Damage!

Man jumping a 4'chain link fence

I can still hear my grandfather today, "Stop jumping over my fence," he would tell my cousins and I as we would continually jump over his 4' chain link fence in search of a loose baseball or Frisbee. It never made sense to me as to why he would get so upset over something that an 8 year old boy found so unimportant! Today I understand just why old grand-dad would get so upset...

We get multiple calls each year to repair fence that has been damaged from people (usually younger people!) jumping over it in lieu of using the more sensible alternative - the gate! Damage can occur to any type of fence simply from someone jumping over it. The damage increases in severity the more this activity is repeated. It can break or rip-off boards on wood fence, it can crack vinyl fence and make it sag in the middle (that type of damage will not be covered in the lifetime warranty that comes with all of our vinyl fence products), jumping a fence can severely bend and damage ornamental steel and aluminum fences and most of all it can devastate the top rail of chain link fence.

We have noticed calls for fence jumping damage increasing over the years. Many home or business owners with property near schools or playgrounds install fencing to keep folks from cutting through their lawns. While this measure will typically deter most folks from taking the short cut through the lawn, sometimes it does not deter everyone! At Custom Fence Company, we understand this. That is why we offer our residential chain link fence with a heavier duty top rail than our competitors install. We do this because we care about quality and the longevity of your investment, many other fence companies simply want to "get the job." In order to do that they sacrifice the quality of the materials they use.

Here are some steps that you can take if you are concerned that the neighborhood kids may try to jump over your fence some day:

• Always ask the gauge of the top rail, posts and wire when getting a chain link fence installed. They cheapest guy in the race may be using cheap material. You want to be certain that you are comparing apples for apples (top rail should be at least .055 gauge rather than .047)
• Use vinyl coated chain link fence. Vinyl coating is offered in black, green or brown. The vinyl coating adds to the beauty of the fence and you can select a color that allows the fence to blend in with it's surroundings. Vinyl fence material is not only coated with vinyl, but it is also a heavier gauge. This will deter the product from bending and sagging from illicit use and age. Vinyl coated chain link also comes with a great warranty.
• Increase the height of your fence. This is important for home or business owners that live near parks and schools. If your 4' fence is ruined from jumpers, replace it with a 5' or 6' tall fence. That extra 1 or 2 feet can be what calms the braveness of the jumpers!
• If you are having a wood fence installed, ask that the panels be built on site. If the installer builds the fence on site they should be using material that is stronger and higher quality than the pre-manufactured panels that can be purchased at home improvement stores. Pickets should be 1" thick and stringers should be 2"x4" - This will ensure that your fence is more durable and the increase in cost is trivial to the increase in quality that this step provides.
• Like Vinyl Fencing? Vinyl fence is great and at Custom Fence Co., it comes with a lifetime warranty! A few things to increase the durability of your vinyl fence are:
• It should have an aluminum reinforcement bar across the bottom stringer of the fence. Do not consider a vinyl fence that does not offer this. It will sag in the middle within a few years.
• Make sure that the panels snap into the posts as opposed to using screws to attach them. This will help the life of your fence out in 2 huge ways. First, screws rust and most vinyl fence is white. Over the years when the screws begin to rust the rust will leave orange lines running down the fence everywhere that a screw is installed ruining the appearance of your once beautiful fence. Second, fence that fits together by engineered slots and notches is more durable. As the screws rust, they also become weaker and are more likely to loosen over time leading to your fence possibly falling over.
• Aluminum and Steel Ornamental fencing are great quality and come with a lifetime warranty. You should not have much of a problem with this style. You can always choose to go with a commercial grade fencing to beef up the strength and I always suggest making sure that the panels are 6' wide to help reduce sagging.

I hope these tips were helpful for you. Custom Fence Co. is always here to answer any of your fencing questions. Call us today for a free estimate -

269.683.2892

info@CustomFenceMichiana.com



Call Custom Fence Co. Anytime!

Custom Fence Co. has proudly served property and business owners of the greater Michiana area for over 35 years now. We have learned a lot about what our customers need and how we can take care of their fencing needs in the most effective, cost efficient manner. We offer free estimates and maintain a business model that allows us to offer the highest quality installations in the area at extrememly competitive pricing.

It is no secret that it gets really cold and snowy in the South Bend, IN area. As much as we would like to build fence 12 months a year, we usually just can't. Mother Nature tries to not allow it! With that being said, you can imagine that our phones don't ring as often during the snowy, winter months. Property owners are not thinking about installing a fence when the snow is 3' deep. However, you can call us any time of the day, month or year for a free estimate. We also do repairs 12 months a year, so always give us a call.

Lucky for all of us, winter is over. Thermometers hit 70 degrees a few days ago! We are all getting out in our yards, doing some landscaping and taking care of fence projects that we have had on our minds. A few days before that 70 degree day it was bitterly cold though.

We notice a trend throughout every fence building season. Our phones ring off the hook on beautiful days, but calls slow on colder and/or rainier days. It makes sense. No one is out in the yard on a rainy day, and they aren't thinking about yard work. Remember that we work rain or shine!

I have a suggestion to all of the future Custom Fence Co. customers. CALL US ON RAINY AND/OR COLD DAYS!!! These are the days where you will be able to contact us the easiest. Many property owners aren't aware of this simple principle. We are always available to assist you with any of your fencing needs and guarantee you the best customer service in the Michiana area 365 days/year. But, you know, every industry has slower days and ours happens to be those filled with rain and cold weather.

Call us today for a Free Estimate!! (refundable deposit for insurance quotes)