Why choose Colorbond fencing and Gates?
Colorbond fencing has become a favourite choice of fencing in Western Australia. Colorbond fencing is a superior choice of fencing over the Hardie, or super 6, fencing that you still see around the suburbs today. Many people in Western Australia aren't aware that Hardie fencing is not something you will see in the Australian eastern states.
What is Hardie fencing?
Hardie fencing was designed to match and replace the old Super 6 asbestos fencing, when the dangers of asbestos products became known. Hardie fencing is made from cement fibre and contains no asbestos, but is installed in much the same way the asbestos fencing was, in that a trench is dug along the fence line, and the sheets of Hardie fencing are then placed in the trench and the trench is evenly backfilled on either side and compacted down with a good stomping, although its a little bit more involved than that. (Think string lines, getting the panels the right way around for the profiles to fit together, clips, capping, and dealing with slopes, tree roots, reticulation and pipes. Never mind the sheets are heavy and awkward to manoeuvre.)
The problem with this installation method is that what you create is a large wind sail in a very windy city. The vast majority of fence damage during strong winds is Hardie or asbestos fencing. Insurance companies encourage their policy holders to replace Hardie fencing, where possible, with Colorbond fencing.
Colorbond fencing has a very different method of installation. Colorbond fencing panels are made up of three infill sheets, a top and a bottom rail, and two posts. The posts, running up and down either side of the panel, extend beyond the bottom rail so they can be concreted into post holes dug in the ground. This means the bottom rail sits above the surface, and the only part of the fence panel buried are the posts on either end. As the post holes are filled with concrete, Colorbond fencing makes for a fence far less likely to be taken down by strong winds.
There are added options for Colorbond fencing, too. As well as choosing colours, you can install fence toppers, such as Colorbond lattice on top, as pictured above, or with modern looking slats, which can either extend the height of your fence, or simply replace the top section to break it up or to let the breeze blow through.Where the soil on either side of the fence is uneven, but not enough to warrant installing a retaining wall, plinths can be installed to retain up to around 600mm of earth. Pictured above, timber plinths have been added between the bottom rail and the ground as plinths. Alternatively, there are matching steel Colorbond plinths available for installation.
A standard Colorbond fence should cost around the same as installing a Hardie fence, if not cheaper! Although the materials are dearer for a Colorbond fence, the installation process is far less labour intensive, meaning having a Colorbond fence installed by a professional may well be cheaper or the same cost as installing a Hardie fence.
No comments:
Post a Comment