When the hurricane hit our city in September of ‘08 I was dragged into the family business to help handle the over 2,500 phone calls we received in the first month. I soon became the poster child of “fences for dummies”. My goal with this blog is to share with you what I’m learning everyday. My background is in finance, so I tend to look all things in the terms of money. One recurring question that consistently came up in those first few weeks was why we wouldn’t use pine pickets on our fences. As things began to settle down and we had time to breath, I asked this of our general manager. His response really surprised me.
He explained that pine is a dense moist wood and though it initially looks fine, as it ages it will begin to shrink, warp and split. The cedar pickets maintain their appearance much longer. Since the hurricane, I have had pine fences pointed out to me that aren’t even a year old and it is truly amazing how warped they look today.
My conclusion: You may pay more up front for a fence made with cedar pickets, but amortized over the life of the fence a well made cedar fence will look better, stand longer and improve your landscaping for far more years and less money.
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Fences for Dummies
When the hurricane hit our city in September of ‘08 I was dragged into the family business to help handle the over 2,500 phone calls we received in the first month. I soon became the poster child of “fences for dummies”. My goal with this blog is to share with you what I’m learning everyday. My background is in finance, so I tend to look all things in the terms of money. One recurring question that consistently came up in those first few weeks was why we wouldn’t use pine pickets on our fences. As things began to settle down and we had time to breath, I asked this of our general manager. His response really surprised me.
He explained that pine is a dense moist wood and though it initially looks fine, as it ages it will begin to shrink, warp and split. The cedar pickets maintain their appearance much longer. Since the hurricane, I have had pine fences pointed out to me that aren’t even a year old and it is truly amazing how warped they look today.
My conclusion: You may pay more up front for a fence made with cedar pickets, but amortized over the life of the fence a well made cedar fence will look better, stand longer and improve your landscaping for far more years and less money.