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Every wrought iron fence you find locally and online has hollow square tube pickets. However, you want a solid picket wrought iron fence! Why are they so hard to find anywhere? Can you even get a solid picket iron fence anymore? Read on to see why its so difficult to find this type of iron fence anymore.
Why Does All Wrought Iron Fence Have Hollow Pickets?
Many people equate the hollow pickets on wrought iron fence to companies cutting costs and trying to make more money off of a lower quality panel. However, that is not the case at all! There are actually three reasons why wrought iron fence (as well as steel and aluminum fence) have stopped using solid fence pickets: weight, cost and improved manufacturing.
Reason #1 – Weight
This is by far the biggest reason for the change to hollow iron fence pickets. Solid pickets add a LOT of weight to a panel or gate. This extra weight puts additional strain on post anchors, brackets and gate hardware. It also makes the pieces cost more to ship and much harder to to move around when you are installing the pieces.
My heavy-duty 6ft tall x 8ft wide Signature Grade Classic style iron fence panel with hollow pickets weighs 125lbs. If we custom made that same panel only with solid 3/4″ pickets, that 6×8 panel would weigh over 350lbs! That’s a lot of weight for a person to move around for off-loading and installation!
Reason #2 – Cost
It should come as no surprise that having the solid pickets on a fence panel or gate adds to the cost of the piece with all the added materials. You can expect a solid picket fence panel to cost almost 75%-125% more (depending on picket size and application). That is a lot of additional cost for no real gain in strength or performance.
Reason #3 – Improved Manufacturing
Like many things in the modern world, improvements and advancements in materials and manufacturing have changed how things are built. Hollow tube square pickets can be manufactured to be almost as strong and bend resilient when made in the correct thickness. We also build our hollow pickets to have a rounded square edge to them. That proper thickness and rounded edge give you a hollow picket that is almost as strong and bend resilient as a solid picket without the weight and added cost.
The amount of force required to bend our hollow iron fence pickets vs the force required to bend a solid picket one is something that would be catastrophic to either piece. In other words, a person kicking a hollow picket fence would do no damage just like a solid picket fence. However, a tree falling or a car crashing through the fence is going to damage either a solid picket or hollow picket piece beyond repair.
Can I get a Solid Picket Iron Fence Anywhere?
You’ve read the above 3 items and while you understand the reasoning, you really need a fence or gate with solid pickets. We can still get you covered there. We do not stock any iron fence panels with solid pickets, but we have made many of them custom. Custom work does have a longer 10-14 week lead time over our standard 2 week lead time for stocked pieces. We price all solid picket iron fences by the job. You can check out our custom fence page HERE.
In Conclusion…
Don’t be worried that hollow picket equals lower quality fence. Modern fences are built just as strong, if not stronger with hollow pickets for the reasons we mentioned above. And if you do need a solid picket fence, keep our custom services in mind!
