-1

I went with a full concrete footer on a vinyl fence job and people thought I was nuts

Honestly, I had a client in Grand Rapids who wanted a 6-foot vinyl privacy fence on a slope. Everyone around here says to just use driven posts with a spike, especially for vinyl, because it's faster and cheaper. The other option was digging and setting in gravel, which is the normal way. I pushed for a third option: a 12-inch wide, 36-inch deep concrete footer for every single post. The client agreed, but my crew thought I was wasting a whole extra day and like $400 in extra concrete. Tbh, we finished it last fall, and that fence hasn't moved a millimeter with all the freeze-thaw cycles we get. The posts are rock solid, no wiggle at all. Has anyone else ever gone that overboard on a vinyl install and been glad they did later?

2 comments

2 Comments

reese_perry626d agoMost Upvoted

How much extra did that footing add to the total job cost for the client? I've thought about doing something similar for high-wind areas, but I worry about pricing myself out of the work. Your point about the freeze-thaw makes a lot of sense though.

sagea8826d ago

My neighbor used railroad ties for a retaining wall and it looked great for about six months. Now it's all bowed out and leaning.