What if I Want to Mount My Wrought Iron or Aluminum Fence to Something Other Than Your Posts?

Looking to mount your iron or aluminum fence to something other than the posts we provide?  Read on to see if brick, stone, wood or masonry pillars or columns are something you can use in their place.   

There are several reasons why a customer may not want to mount their iron or aluminum fence to one of our posts.  Perhaps they have existing posts from another fence, some type of masonry pillar they want to use or its just a decision of overall design.  Regardless of the reasons, you can absolutely mount your panels to something other than our posts.  We have had many customers mount our fence panels to treated or painted wood 4×4’s, brick pillars, stone pillars, stucco pillars and directly to brick or stucco house siding. The surfaces we do not recommend hanging on are fascia stone or an uneven stone surface.  The reason being that the surface is not flush and may make hanging the panel more difficult.  That is not to say you cannot make it work, but further consideration for the rail and bracket contact points will have to be taken into consideration.

For our wrought iron fence, the only additional item you will need to determine and source on your own is the method of securing the bracket.  Our standard iron brackets can mount to any flat surface.  Instead of us supplying a steel self-tapping screw, you will need to source an applicable screw such as a wood lag screw for a wood post or a masonry lag screw for brick or stone.

For the aluminum fence, you will need to make sure you let us know that you are not mounting to one of our aluminum posts.  The aluminum fence does not utilize brackets in a standard installation since they slide inside the post punch and are secured that way.  Don’t fret though.  We carry an array of aluminum brackets that work in the same manner as our iron ones.

While fence panels are not an issue for mounting to something other than their standard posts, gates can be another matter.  Unlike a fence panel that is mounted a stationary, a gate moves and exerts leverage force on its post.  That doesn’t mean you cannot mount a gate to a wood, brick or stucco pillar.  However, we recommend calling us with your setup to discuss what you are hanging the gate on.

A simple yard gate may be no issue, but a large yard or driveway gate needs to have some items taken into consideration such as material we are mounting to, how well its anchored (buried) and what’s underneath.  A solid wood 6×6 has much more strength to it than a hollow pillar with a brick facade.

With gates (especially the larger, heavier driveway gates) a good compromise is to utilize our posts to hang the gate and then build your pillars or columns to the side of them.  Essentially sandwich the gate with our steel or aluminum posts between the columns and pillars.  This way, you get the benefits of the stronger post with a 3ft concrete footing while still getting the more beautiful looking column and pillar.  If your pillars already exist and the gate with posts and hardware won’t fit between it, you can also mount the gate and its posts behind the post.  From the outside of your property, it will still have a clean look and the posts won’t be visible as seen in the photo below.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.  Our iron and aluminum fence and gates can be made to work in a wide array of installation.  If you have any questions about your particular setup, don’t hesitate to give us a call to discuss your project.  We’d be happy to help advise a solution!