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Is powder coating a fence worth the extra cost?

June 23, 2008

I live in Las Vegas - immense heat and sun. I'm hearing mixed advice on powder coating an iron fence. Is it worth the extra expense of $1000 to $1600?

It will be surrounding a pool and near grass sprinklers. I was told that it won't hold up that great.

any advice would be good

thanks

Jaime Pollack
- Las Vegas, NV, US

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Hello Jaime. Unfortunately I can't give you the answer you'd like. Coatings -- whether they be paint, powder coating, or whatever -- are multi-step processes consisting of mechanically preparing the fence, proper phosphatizing sequences, and finishing up with paint or powder. And there are many different powder coatings including epoxy, polyester, and hybrids.

Yes, a good powder coating will be better than a good liquid paint, but putting powder coating on bare steel will be far less satisfactory than a good liquid paint on top of proper pretreatment. So you are pretty much limited to judging the fence company or painting company based on experience with them; you are just not going to able to judge how well the finish will hold up based on buzz words like powder coating. After all, the world's nicest finish is on automobiles and for the most part it's not powder (it's really, really good pretreatment before painting).

If appearance isn't an issue I don't think anything will last as long as galvanizing.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
June 24, 2008