Hurricanes, Dogs with Long Tongues and Angry Husbands Breaking Levels Over the Knee: One Customer’s Story

Weathered Hurricane Sandy and all decorated for the Holidays!

Dawne from Avon, OH wrote this entire post, captions and all, without any prompting or bribery from us. It’s a great story and one of the best fence installs we’ve seen to date (note how the top is absolutely level despite uneven ground- this is the most professional way to get it done, and one few customers tackle!) Keep reading!

Just getting started…

Uncle Fred to the rescue with his transit….all posts were within 1/4 inch of each other! My husband is so proud!

“Ahhhh….where to begin? My husband and I first saw the Wam Bam fencing system on the DIY network on one of those home improvement shows which we love to watch. We always had the intention of installing a fence since we moved into this house a couple of years ago but did not want to pay thousands of dollars to have it installed. This system intrigued us so I did some more research on line. We knew we could save a lot of money doing it ourselves but thought there would be NO way this fence could stand up to the winters we get here in Ohio. We went as far as getting a quote but did not carry it any further at that time. So this October we FINALLY took the plunge. After deciding on what style of fencing and how much we needed I emailed your company. I received a speedy response from Denise with a lot of useful information. I especially liked the fact that she showed us how we could save some money if we changed up our runs a bit.

Taking turns with Springy Suzy…..lol! The boys even worked in the rain.

Ahhh…progress is being made!

My husband taking is frustrations out on his level…..only kidding, I stepped on it and broke it so we thought we would have some fun!

We ordered our 200 feet of fence and off we went. Now we did have some issues getting the fencing delivered by NO fault of Wam Bam as they are at the mercy of the delivery company. The communication could not have been better as Linda stayed on top of things throughout the entire process. Her sense of humor was such a breath of fresh air! The fence arrived and we got to work that weekend. Only one post was damaged and was replaced promptly by Wam Bam. The hardest part was getting those posts into our hard, clay ground. But with a little muscle and help from Uncle Fred, things went smoothly. It took us about 4 weekends all together to fully complete the project but that is because my husband is OCD and everything had to be perfect. We did have some uneven ground on the one side of our yard so we decided to step the fence from the bottom which took some time to do. With the aid of a transit, the posts were all within a ¼ inch of one another and looks like a professional installed it. I cannot tell you how may compliments we received on the fence.

Sun runs are finally complete!

One gate up!

Here comes the interesting part! ONE weekend after we completed the fence…HURRICANE SANDY hit! We had over 24 hours of sustained winds of 50mph with gusts up to 70mph here in Avon, Ohio. The house was literally shaking! In between 12 hours of manually emptying the sump pump because we lost power, I took frequent peeks outside. I was afraid that there would be no fence left standing! With tears running down my face, I thought all that hard work on that fence had been lost. After the winds had finally died down and we got our generator delivered we were able to take a deep breath and go outside and assess the damage. THE FENCE WEATHERED THE STORM! I am now a firm believer in this product! Our neighborhood was hit hard. All the basements were flooded, siding ripped off houses, trees down all around but our fence is still in one piece! I want to thank Wam Bam and all the wonderful employees you have there running your company. It was really a pleasant experience from beginning to end….minus the storm!”

Gate 2 complete!

Stepping up from the bottom so the fence remains level all around…..PERFECTION!

Quincy says “You did this all for me?” And yes, that is his tongue hanging out of his mouth!

Love it!

Well done Dawne, Uncle Fred, Mr Weiss and Quincy! We are very impressed!

PS If Mr Weiss ever finds himself in need of a job, he really should consider the fence installation business… 😉

Part 1 of 3 in our MythBusters Series!

This statement  below was actually brought to our attention by a customer who called us and said, “I noticed this on another website and that’s how I became interested in the no-dig solution. I thought there must be something to this if someone is attacking it so publicly?”

“There are some vinyl fencing companies claiming they are digless vinyl fence systems – do they work?
Well – some companies think you can just pound (or “bam”) a round metal post in the ground and attach a vinyl post to it and like magic you are done sipping a cold drink enjoying your new cheap Chinese Fence (yes – they don’t advertise the made in China…). Not true at all – this is a gimmick, we feel it is faster to dig the holes, with all of the work screwing in each rail with multiple screws (weak connection), steel posts (not stainless…) and leveling, you have the same amount of time installing our much higher quality fence. From our experience these Chinese systems are weak (no metal insert in the bottom rail), do not save installation time (only 7′ wide), AND are almost impossible to to keep straight and level. Also, the 4 grooves in the posts collect dirt and insects and really are not aesthetically pleasing. What is the old saying – you can’t cut corners for quality – remember, our American Made vinyl fencing will last a lifetime, so do not fall for the gimmicks of a quick installation. Nobody honestly thinks a fence post with absolutely no concrete around them will last a lifetime, well we know they will not….”

Firstly, in the spirit of WamBam we thought it would be both appropriate and fun to respond to this  by asking you to ask yourself some questions. You’re intelligent, so all joking aside, if the no-dig installation method is a gimmick:

Fred proudly stands by his no-dig vinyl fence which was installed over 20 years ago

1. Why would customers who installed vinyl fence the no-dig way almost 20 years ago still be raving on about it? 

• • Read about customers who installed their vinyl fence the no-dig way up to 20 years ago

2. Why have numerous well-established multi-million dollar companies staked their future on do-dig fence?

Check out these links, which are by no means comprehensive:

• • Straight’n’Level has been installing fence the no-dig way for 13 years. They also have a great video available for viewing.
  • Digless Fencing Solutions has partnered with Straight’n’Level to bring digless fencing to America. Watch a video of them trying to pull a pipe anchor out of the ground.
  • Here is an informative video about no-dig installation systems
  • This company has a lot of great stuff telling why they are firm believers in no-dig fence
  • Here are a couple other different companies who use the no-dig install method: http://www.post-mate.com/, http://therookpostmount.com/
  • Read a professional fence company’s PDF talking about the benefits of driving pipe or read about their preferred no-dig installation method

Over 1/2 million feet of no-dig vinyl fence installed in Western Canada over the past 15 years

3. Why has there been over 1/2 million feet of fence installed this way in the past 20 years, with more and more professional fence contractors getting on board every year?

See what professional fencers are saying about digless fence

4. Why would ASTM International Standards Worldwide ever consider developing new standards for the no-dig fence system?

• • Read an article from The World Fence News April 2012.

5. Would a fence that’s “a joke” be independently laboratory tested and certified to withstand wind loads of up to a category 1 hurricane?

• • See our fence undergo this test

Secondly , digging holes and pouring concrete is a fine way to install fence. We would never disparage it, with the exception of saying that it’s a heck of a lot of work that’s not necessary in a lot of applications. But digless fence isn’t for everyone,  and that’s why we also offer a line that is installed traditionally by digging holes and pouring concrete.

Thirdly, we admire our competitors, and believe they offer solid value. If they did not, they would not be in business. If you’re interested in a traditional install you would be well served by almost any vinyl fence company that sells traditionally installed fence on-line.

Lastly, a wise man once said that you can fool some of the people some of the time but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. We believe you are a wise person capable of making good decisions. Whatever your choice, you can be 100% certain of one thing about a fence. A good one makes for good neighbors. Tally ho….and good fishing!

Stay tuned for Mythbusters Part 2 and 3 coming shortly!

(WamBam Fence reviews)