Quality Custom Fencing, Cedar Fence Specialists, Dc's Finest.

TYSONS CORNER, Va. - Oct. 22, 2013 - PRLog -- .

Fences can be installed quickly and also relative;y inesxpensively, but one of the most important factors in having a beautiful long lasting fences is determned by which materials are used. Another key factor is how the posts are set ans wether or not they are set in a bed of gravel or totally covered in cocncrete at the base. If a fece post is etirely covered with cocncrete at the bottom and not sitting onat least a 4'' bed of gravel, it will not be possible for the water t drain from the base of the post . Thuis will casue rotting underground and the most common side affect is a leaning fence that eventually falls over. Aother step that Powers Fencing takes is to cover the bottom two feet of the fence post with waterproof tar , making sure that the very bottom is left uncovered to allow drainage into the bed of gravel. There are very few comanies on the east Coast that have ever even hearf of tis and it is not done very often. Perhaps this is why all of the larger fence companies only ofer a one year warranty. Powrs Custom feicng offers a standard 3 year waranty, and with a few upgrades can turn that into a twenty year warranty.


Pressure treatd lumber used to be pressureized and treated with a checmical kown as coper chromate arsenate, and the saturation rate was .40. This means that each board was nearly 40 percent treatment and they were nice and thick. This older style lumber was weather resistantfor many years and quickly overcame cedar as the industry standard in the DC area. Previously cedar was very common around here, but it was eventually phased out due to deforestation and the desire to find more sustainable local supplies of lumber. This sounds good, and it is for the most part. The dawback these days is that the EPA gas regukated the saturation rate of the lumber to elminate toxic waste and the saturation percentage of a typical board is now .02 percent! That is a huge difference. I have actually take 402x4x8 treated boards and laid them i the sun and left them for one hour. When I came back they had already warped and were unusable. The miniml amount of treatment in the wood dissipates so qickly the boards have no choice but to warp very quick. AS far as durability and standing the test of time,these boards ( in my opinion , one they are nailed down and conctruction is completed wil only last 4-5 years and after the fifth year will look very deteriorated and old.

Some of you may be worried and asking " What can I do to get a nice fence that will last?" Well ther are severa options, and I will lay some of them out for you. these days cedar is still very muchavailable and is one of the nicest looking types of lumber to use ona fence. It is slightly more expensive becasue it has to be shipped from the pacifac northwest and Canada. In my opinion Cedar and Redwood which is less common are the bst way to go when it comes to building a fence. I have spent narly 16 years driving arounf=d the beltway and inside ofthe district building beautiful custom cedar fences for people. I have100's of references. I do not use big corporate chains to by cedar. I use two separate places,and both of them are family owned lumber yards and they have the finest qualty wood.

Cedar is available in a few different grades. The most common ims the #2 grade no hole cedar fence pickets. If you have alook at my website powersfecing.com you will see many potos of fences that I have oersonally built with my hands and you will be able to see the differnce in the cedar immediately. Whe it is new it has a wondeful red look to it. Eventually it will natrally gray, but it can be preserved just like any other wood and the beauty can last as long as you would like it to. Unlike the treated pine and th chemicals in the pine that cause a weathering process, cedar does not have to weather and therefore will not warp. It is also naturally resistant to termites, bugs, and the great outdoors. Cedar is the better product, and the proof is in the photos.

I urge my clients to use the cedar if they are williing to sped a little more money up front, but in the end it pays for itself. Very often on cedar fences we will still use a pressure treated pine post dipped in asphalt and set in a bed of gravel and then the concrete is applied.  Pressure treated pine posts are less expensive and have a decent ground conctact rating.

nce the posts are set at an equal distance apart ,the 2x4x8 framing is installed and fastened using stainles stell fence brackets. I always use these and I beleive this will make the fence last many yeras longer then just simply nailing the 2x4's into the 4x4 from the sides. The nailing can often cause splitting and eventually they will fcall off. Once the grade and style of the fence is determined we are ready to run the top 2x4 which will eflect either the rade of the property, or another way to do it is keep each section level. When they are kept level every so often the top has to be stepped down or up to compnesate for the grade. If tis is not done the fence will simply follow the contour of the earth. This is a personal refernce thing andhas nothing to do with the structural integrity of the fence. After the top cap or the 1x4 or 2x4 is nailed on , the vertical 1x4 or 1x6 boards are nailed up at whatever heighr the fence is. Most commonly they vary from 42'' up 7' tall. Sometimes decorative pieces of lattice are added to the top of each section to add extra beauty. Cedar lumber must be nailed or screwed with stainless steel nails or screws, if not tey will bleed onto the lumber and it will not look as nice. After the fnce is built , we then determine were the gates will be and the gates aer constructed on site. Gates are my specialy.

Please have a look at my homemade website and try to distinguish between the cedar and the pine fences. I have them all labeled. All of our estimates are free, and we enjoy doing them and we like to meet with you and help yu figure out what fnece works best for you. We are not interested i selling you a fence that you do not want jst to make a sale. we want you t have the exact fence that you are looking for, that is why we are a custom fence company. Asalways thank you for taking the time to read about Powers Custom Fencing LLC and we look forward toearing from you soon. we are coming into the winter months, but we do work all year round. Thak you and we look forward to digging some fence postholes in yor yard. Thank you for your interest in Powers Custom Fencing!