The Popularity of Vinyl Fencing Was a Contributing Factor in Bringing Maintenance Free Aluminum Fencing to the Market Place

The growing popularity of virtually maintenance-free fencing products such as vinyl fencing has forced manufacturers in the fence industry to wonder what’s next for fencing. Vinyl fence has been enormous, but it doesn’t fully take the place of all types of fencing. The niche that vinyl fence has carved out and completely taken over is the solid privacy fence market. Even though vinyl fence is sold for pools and yards, homeowners and businesses seem to still prefer metal or wrought iron type fences for those applications. Those types of fences still offer strength and beauty, but those fences still come with high maintenance. It’s the popularity of vinyl fencing that was a contributing factor in bringing new innovative maintenance free aluminum fencing to the market place.

A yard or business has many obstacles for a fence. The hassles of snow, dirt, rain, wind and harsh lawn chemicals still wreak havoc on wrought iron, steel, and most aluminum fences making maintenance inevitable. Wrought iron and steel eventually rust and that rust takes away the strength, protection, and look of the fence. Aluminum fencing doesn’t rust but eventually the coatings would fade and peel off leaving raw aluminum mixed with the faded coating and in many cases pitting of the surface like a golf ball.

Alan Livingston Jr., 24 year veteran of the fence industry and owner of Saratoga Rail Fence, Inc. says “Everybody wants maintenance free! Vinyl fencing made the appetite for maintenance free fencing products stronger than ever, so ornamental fencing needed to catch up. We wanted to offer an ornamental fence that was maintenance free, but there were still problems. We started to look at aluminum fence because there is no rust. Although aluminum fence didn’t rust like wrought iron we felt that the coatings needed improvement. We then saw that aluminum fence had improved. The quality of materials and the advent of polyester powder coating was a major stride. We still didn’t like that a polyester coated aluminum fence still had a tendency to fade in too short a period of time. We wanted coatings that would last longer. That’s when we discovered Regis Aluminum Fence.”

Regis Aluminum Fence uses a Customer Blended Premium Pigmented Super Durable Polyester TGIC powder coating that meets with AAMA 2604 and a Fluorocarbon powder coating to meet AAMA 2605 specifications. The coatings are designed for superior corrosion resistance outdoors and have very limited fade and weathering as specified and tested by the 3rd party specifications of the American Architectural Manufacturer Association or AAMA. There is a very large difference between the verified AAMA 2604/2605 coatings and regular TGIC powder coating used in the fence industry! Regular TGIC powder coating is made for outdoor weather ability and chemical resistance but like bicycles and lawnmowers they have a tendency to fade over time.

Regis Aluminum Fence comes in residential, commercial, and industrial styles. The fence is available starting at 3’ high to 8’ high. There are styles for the garden, styles safe for pools, styles for the house or business, and styles that will protect the factory. Short picket options can be added to the fence to keep the puppies in the yard and the fences can come flat, concave, or convex. Decorative Scrolls, engravings, ornate finials, and contoured rails are all options that give the homeowner or business owner the possibility to get that wrought iron look they would be looking for without all the eventual issues!

Regis Aluminum Fence offers 12 different colors to choose from and comes with a Lifetime Limited Warranty and will not crack, peel, blister, flake, rust, or will it be subject to any abnormal weathering conditions as per AAMA 2604 specifications. An upgrade to the AAMA 2605 is available at an extra cost. There is also a program that allows you to customize your fence color.

Nobody wants to paint their fence, tie up the rusty pickets, have gates that are falling down, won’t open or worse yet have a child injured as a result of a fence not meeting the requirements of a safe pool fence. The technology to make fencing products that solve most of these problems has come so far in the last 30 short years with vinyl fence. The technology to offer an ornamental aluminum fence that does the same came along in the last 7 years. The days of rusty wrought iron fence are over! The market has opened up to new and advanced products like vinyl and aluminum that will last a lifetime!

About Alan Livingston Jr.

Alan Livingston Jr. is the owner of Saratoga Rail Fence, Inc. He has 24 years of experience with vinyl and aluminum fencing at the manufacturing and fabrication level. He has an extensive background with the use of vinyl fencing for equine fencing. He also served on an advisory council for vinyl fencing development for Westlake Chemical a 2.3 billion-dollar annual sales manufacturer of vinyl products.

Saratoga Rail Fence, Inc. - “Be Careful When Purchasing Vinyl (PVC) Horse Fence for Your Horses!”

First let me say there is nothing wrong with purchasing vinyl (PVC) fence for your horses. In fact, when used correctly it can be the best product for fencing on the market today! The problem is that the popularity of vinyl fence for residential uses such as privacy, picket, yard, and pool fencing has created a glut of inferior products that when used for horse fence can be a catastrophe, so be careful when purchasing vinyl horse fence for your horses!

The development of vinyl residential fencing and its incredible popularity have brought two things to the market that are detrimental to horse fencing, competition and inferior product! The two things go hand and hand! Competition brings the hunger to cut costs and the cost cutting brings inferior product! When vinyl fencing is produced the most expensive ingredients in the finished product are the very important chemicals that keep the fence from fading and more importantly stronger for not only horse impact but weather! Because a manufacturer is worried about cost and because residential fencing takes a much smaller beating they compromise the product by not taking horses into account anymore! It simply isn’t important to them anymore, and yes they do use the same profiles for residential fencing that get sold for horse fencing!

Alan Livingston Jr. owner of Saratoga Rail Fence, Inc. with 24 years of experience with vinyl horse fence says, “Vinyl Horse Fence has been really hurt by what is going on with vinyl fencing for residential uses, but there is still high quality vinyl fencing specifically used for horse fence that when used correctly can save a horse farm so much money! We were one of the first companies in America to offer vinyl fence for horse farms back in the 1980’s and we know what it takes to manufacture a quality product for horse farms! In the 80’s there was no residential, just high quality heavy duty vinyl horse fence. Residential didn’t even exist yet!”

Saratoga Rail Fence, Inc. offers vinyl residential fence which is now the main staple of their business, but they still offer a high quality vinyl fencing product specifically for equine uses. The formulation of the vinyl fencing itself is manufactured with the highest levels of chemicals used for keeping the product from fading and strong from impact. The product is 100% coextruded virgin vinyl with thicker walls and the rails are reinforced. The product contains no fillers or recycled materials which are not good for use with horses.

Saratoga Rail Fence, Inc. suggests that you speak with any of their sales professionals when it comes to horse or equine fencing. It is important to remember that vinyl fencing can cure a lot of the problems that farms have struggled with for thousands of years when it comes to mending fences, but you have to have the right product, the product has to have the right use, and you may still have to add a safe electric fence deterrent to the vinyl fence in some situations! Just remember, be careful when purchasing vinyl horse fence for your horses!