The Insiders Guide To Vinyl Fencing Components

Thinking about installing a vinyl fence at your home? If so, you’re making a great choice! Vinyl fencing is incredibly strong, great looking, and super easy to maintain. Because it’s a unique product, vinyl fencing installs a little bit differently than the traditional wooden fence (vinyl is actually quite a bit easier to install than wood). Here’s an insider’s guide to all of the vinyl fencing components you’ll need to get started.

Vinyl Fence Panels

Fence panels usually refer to the sections of vinyl fencing that have already been pre-assembled via a tongue and groove design. Their dimensions will vary, depending on the style and size of fencing being installed. Typically, a pre-assembled vinyl fence panel will cover an 8 foot section of the fence line, but occasionally you’ll come across 6 & 4 foot long sections as well. Panel heights generally correspond with the traditional fence height standards of 4, 5, and 6 feet tall, although 7’ to 8’ heights are also usually available.

Vinyl Fence Posts

Between every vinyl fencing section, a post is required. Most vinyl fence companies will sell posts separately. At Vinyl Fence Central you’ll receive one post for every 8ft section ordered. So at most you may have to buy a few extra posts to complete the job. We sell posts in 5 different varieties:

• Corner Posts - These posts have mounts on two adjacent sides of the post in order to attach two fence panels with a 90 degree angle corner.
• Line Posts - This type of vinyl fence post allows mounting on opposite sides of the post, for connecting between two fence panels one-after-another in a typical straight fence line situation.
• End Posts - Every fence must start and stop somewhere, and this is what the end post is for. Allowing mounting on just one side of the post, end posts are designed to start or terminate the fence at the chosen point.
• 3 Way Posts - T like configuration that allows your fence to connect in multiple areas.
• Blank Posts - Typically used for vinyl gate installation or a free standing post.

Just one more thing about vinyl fence posts – they are about a third longer than the fence sections themselves to enable deep, secure mounting in the ground. Also be sure to include the extra post length when measuring your fence. For example, for fence posts that are 5″ x 5″, add an aditional 2.5″ on each end.

Vinyl Fence Post - Wall Thickness

The thicker the better. Most fence posts at your local home improvement store will be anywhere from .100 - 1.30 in thickness. A durable fence, one that will withstand the test of time, needs to be at least .140 thick or higher.

Vinyl Post Caps

To finish off the attractive look of vinyl fencing, decorative post caps are required to top each fence post along the line. Oftentimes, one decorative vinyl post cap will be included with each preassembled section of fencing purchased. Because they’re available in a great variety of decorative shapes and sizes, choosing unique post caps to match or complement the fence’s architectural setting is a great way to customize the fence’s look. Post caps simply snap and glue into place on top of the posts.

Vinyl Fence Gates

Don’t forget about fence gates! Vinyl fence gates are designed to be super easy to install and use. Most preassembled gates include the necessary extra heavy duty posts and all required hardware too. Fence gates are designed to match and be compatible precisely with their respective lines of vinyl fence styles; so for compatibility purposes, be sure to select the right gate to match your fence.

That pretty much covers the basic major components of vinyl fencing. Some non-assembled vinyl fences are slightly more complicated – having bottom and top rails, along with tongue and groove vinyl fence “boards” that mount in place. While even these vinyl fencing systems are easier than wood to work with, the preassembled variety of vinyl fencing components is about as simple as it gets!