Wrought Iron Fence vs. Aluminum Fence

Which is better? 5 reasons why you should choose a Wrought Iron Fence!

  1. Wrought Iron fencing is much heavier! Did you know a typical 4’ high aluminum fence panel only weighs 12 lbs.? That’s only 12 lbs. protecting your children or pets from danger. That’s only 12 lbs. keeping strangers off your property In comparison our 4’ high residential grade Wrought Iron fence panel weighs over 50 lbs. Our 6’ high commercial grade fence panel weighs over 125 lbs.!
  2. Wrought Iron fences are much stronger! Steel is just a stronger material than aluminum. Cars are made of steel, pop cans are made of aluminum. No matter what any salesman says, an aluminum fence will not hold up to standard use, let alone a commercial application. Look at the pictures below (click to make them larger) and you decide for yourself if you want to spend thousands of dollars on a product that looks like this after a few years. These were taken right down the road from our shop and are a 5’ high residential grade aluminum fence around a standard back yard.
    • aluminum-fence-is-weak
    • aluminum-fence-bent-picket
    • aluminum-fence-can-not-hold-weight
    • aluminum-fence-bends-easily

    The last picture is me squeezing the pickets together, you can see how far apart they normally are (almost 4”) and I could make them touch if I wanted. It wasn’t my fence so I didn’t want to permanently damage it.
  3. Wrought Iron Fence is welded together! We weld every single picket to each horizontal rail which results in strength that cannot be matched by aluminum fencing. The added benefit is security. Did you know that any stranger, thief or passer-by can remove the pickets of an aluminum fence with just a screwdriver? Imagine coming home one day to see that every single aluminum fence picket has been removed and sold for scrap by a neighboring thief! We get calls like this quite often here at the shop and unfortunately there is not much the victim can do other than purchase replacement pickets, usually costing as much as the original aluminum fence.
  4. Wrought Iron Fencing comes STANDARD with beautiful welded finials! That’s right, we do not charge you extra for the finials; like they do for aluminum fencing. Aluminum fence comes standard with a pressed spear and no matter what anyone says it does not look as nice as a welded finial. Here are some pictures(click to enlarge) showing the difference.
    • wrought-iron-welded-finials
    • wrought-iron-welded-finials
    • Vs.
    • aluminum-pressed-pinched-spear
    • aluminum-pressed-pinched-spear
  5. Wrought Iron fences are much easier to install! With Wrought Iron fence you can set all your posts first, wait for them to dry and then go back and hang your fence panels; it’s so simple. With aluminum fence you have to install the fence panels as you are setting the posts. This is extremely difficult if you are not experienced and if you don’t have 3 or 4 people helping. Imagine putting your first post in concrete, attaching the fence panel, setting your second post in concrete, now how are you going to keep the posts from moving as you move down the line? This is one of the worst and most frustrating aspects of an aluminum fence, especially for a do it yourselfer!