Yutka Fence has taken steps to ensure our business practices and material selections for fences are as environmentally responsible as possible. Below you’ll find ways in which Yutka Fence and our suppliers are making beneficial decisions to help protect our environment:
Wood scraps and old wood fences we remove are dropped off at a local recycler that grinds up the wood and uses it for animal bedding.
Pallets that we receive material shipments on are returned to our supplier to be reused or ground up for pet bedding.
Leftover chain link, steel, and aluminum material is recycled.
Our steel supplier produces their fences from 100% domestic steel that contains up to 97% recycled content. One of the biggest advantages of recycling metal is that it can be recycled repeatedly without losing any of its properties.
Our aluminum fence supplier uses recycled aluminum in their products, and their fence coating process is environmentally friendly and virtually pollution-free.
You can research the many cases of uninsured contractors or people installing fences for a side job who have gotten injured or have had an uninsured helper get injured while doing projects on homes like yours. If they get hurt, they may sue you. Before you agree to someone working on your property, ask for proof of general liability and workers’ compensation insurance. If you don’t verify someone’s insurance coverage, you’re leaving yourself at risk of liability for damages to your property and injuries that occur during the job. You’re also liable for damage to public utilities if the person you hire doesn’t have the proper insurance. Each time someone drills a hole in your yard, there is a possibility of hitting a gas line, fiber optic cable, water line, cable line, or phone line, which start at $1,200 to repair.
People who install fences as a favor to a friend or to earn extra money on the side won’t provide a warranty for their work after you pay them. We’ve removed many fences for customers who trusted a friend or handyman to install a fence that didn’t look or perform as expected, and there’s no warranty to cover the cost to repair their work or replace the fence they installed incorrectly. We urge people to avoid casual agreements for their fence installation by thinking through the worst-case scenarios.
If the installer does not have general liability insurance AND workers’ compensation insurance, then you may be held liable for any injuries or accidents that occur during the installation of your fence. Yutka Fence has general liability and workers’ compensation insurance. We recommend you ask any contractor working on your home to provide you with a copy of both policies.
We install our posts a minimum of 36” in the ground and only choose products with posts long enough to go that deep. Most of the strength of a fence comes from the posts. Many fence companies sacrifice strength in order to offer a lower price, and a common way to do that is by using a shorter post to save on material and labor prices.
Home improvement centers sell fence materials designed for the do-it-yourselfer who doesn’t have the required tools and experience to install a professional grade fence system.
Home improvement center vinyl fences use brackets that are made of plastic or thin metal to attach pre-assembled sections to the posts. These brackets will not withstand movement of the posts or natural expansion and contraction from temperature changes and frost and thaw cycles, and often break within a few years. Pre-assembled vinyl sections also have many quality issues such as glued assembly that is prone to failure, low wind resistance, and thin material that doesn’t contain the proper amount of titanium dioxide. The stores only offer 6’ wide sections, which require more posts and more labor to dig the holes. The sections will not rack to follow the slope of your property, so they must be stepped to compensate, leaving unattractive gaps underneath the fence and a distracting appearance to the top of the fence.
Home improvement center composite fences use the same bracketed system as vinyl fences and are prone to failure for the same reason. Often, these materials are identical to deck material and not designed as a fence system. Many aren’t textured, and none are textured on all sides of the post, rails, and pickets, leaving you with a look that doesn’t resemble the characteristics of real wood.
Home improvement center wood materials are usually chemically treated and very thin. Many panels are assembled with staples instead of nails. If they are assembled with nails, they use low quality nails that will rust and stain your fence. Horizontal fence rails can be as small as 3/4” thick and are 2” x 3” at best. Pickets can be as thin as 7/16” and not usually thicker than 5/8”. Posts measure 3 ½” x 3 ½”, though they are referred to as 4” x 4”.
Our experienced sales staff will help identify your needs and can recommend products that will fulfill them. The more you tell us about what you hope to achieve with your fence and the ideal way in which you hope to use your yard once your fence is installed, the better we can do at making your vision for your yard a reality.
Yutka Fence’s superior materials and installation techniques give us confidence in offering the best guarantees in the industry. Your salesperson will discuss the guarantee options available at Yutka Fence so you can select the fence and guarantee package that best meets your needs. Please read our Guide to Comparing Fence Warranties (hyperlink) to understand the differences between our guarantees and others you’ll find in the industry.
No. A warranty is only as good as the company that stands behind it. The fence industry has seen manufacturers and fence contractors enter the market and later go out of business, leaving homeowners with a worthless piece of paper as a product warranty. It’s important to check the reputation of the company installing your fence and the reputation of the manufacturer from whom the contractor is buying their materials. If you aren’t impressed and confident in what you find, it’s likely a warranty from that company will not provide you with the peace of mind and protection its meant to provide.
There are many factors to consider when choosing a fence company. We believe our dedication to professional excellence sets us apart from other companies. We feature an outdoor display to show many styles, colors, and materials to help you envision your project. We staff a full-time office that you can visit or call for questions regarding your project. We are a family owned and operated business for over 50 years. Our A+ Better Business Bureau Rating and customer testimonials show what type of experience you can expect when working with us. We are committed to continuing education and have two American Fence Association Field Training School graduates and a Certified Fence Professional on our team.
We don’t offer labor only installation packages. We don’t recommend purchasing home improvement store materials to construct your fence unless you are aware of the differences in quality and appearance and are satisfied with them for your home. Lower grade products with enticing prices could end up costing you much more than a professionally installed fence built with more durable materials would have cost you. Because home improvement store materials are designed for the do-it-yourselfer, they incorporate installation methods that sacrifice quality for ease of installation.
We mix the cement with water prior to pouring it in the fence post holes. However, many people, including other fence companies, do not. They often pour a dry cement mix in the holes, which will absorb moisture from the surrounding ground and cure unevenly. The problem with using the mix without water is that the concrete closest to the post may not ever get wet from the ground moisture. Those dry spots and air pockets inside the mix may not cure properly, causing premature footer failure. Another method other contractors use for concreting posts is to pour water in the hole before and after the dry mix, which still has its issues because the water will not be evenly distributed throughout the concrete mix. The only way to guarantee the concrete is mixed thoroughly is to mix it with water before pouring it into the hole.
We ask you to handle this prior to the fence installation. Although our crews are experts in fence installation, our knowledge of proper trimming and pruning practices is limited. Excessive trimming performed by Yutka Fence will be subject to an additional charge. We would appreciate you clearing shrubs near or along the fence line before our crew arrives, as we do not want to damage your manicured yard. Oftentimes, a portion of a tree or bush extends into your neighbor’s yard and must be trimmed in order to install the fence. Please complete that trimming prior to our arrival, as decisions about how to handle those situations are best made between you and your neighbor.
Communicating with your neighbors can prevent any issues from becoming time and money consuming problems on and after the day of install. Your neighbors may need to make arrangements concerning their pets, plants, or children. They may also want to secure their backyard or remove items from their side of the fence before our crew arrives. A simple courtesy can go a long way, even in the most strained of situations.
We recommend that you set your fence approximately 3-6 inches in from your property line so all of the post footings are on your property.
Yes, normally the framework of the fence must be on the inside, or in other words, on your side of the fenced area. In most building codes and homeowner associations, this is not optional. You must face the finished side of a fence towards the road and your neighbor.
Your fence was installed by a company or person who did not use the right nails for your fence. The stains you see are from corroding or rusting nails and fasteners. Yutka Fence uses stainless steel nails that are designed for wood fences and resist rusting. Cedar mills recommend the use of aluminum, stainless steel, aluminum-coated, or polymer-coated fasteners. When lower quality galvanized nails or fasteners are used in cedar, the acids in the wood react with the zinc and cause the corrosion streaks you see on your fence. At first, the only sign of fastener deterioration may be the streaks, but eventually the fastener will decay enough to lose its friction hold in the wood. There is no method to remove these stains, and the fence will begin to fall apart.