Fabric under tension
Chain Link Fence
Chain link isn't panels on posts. It's one continuous piece of stretched fabric, and it behaves like one.
Northwest Georgia and the north Atlanta metro
Everything depends on tension
Chain link is bought on price and judged on whether it sags. Those two facts are connected. The mesh has no rigidity of its own.
Hold it slack and it hangs in a curve, catches leaves, and gives under any weight put against it. Hold it tight and it becomes a flat, springy plane that pushes back.
Getting it tight is a stretching operation across the whole run, done before any tie goes on. It takes equipment and patience. It's also the step that disappears from a fast install.
Terminals against line posts
There are only two kinds of post in this system, and they do opposite jobs. Line posts hold the mesh up.
They take almost no pull, which is why they're light and why the mesh only rests against them. Terminal posts, meaning ends, corners and both sides of every gate, are what the fabric is stretched against. All of the tension in the run arrives at them and tries to pull them inward. They're thicker, deeper and carry more concrete for exactly that reason.
A run with under-built terminals looks fine the day it goes in. It loosens over the first year as those posts lean toward each other by a fraction of an inch each.
Top rail or tension wire
The top edge of the fabric has to be held or it flops. A top rail is a pipe threaded through the tops of the line posts, joined into one continuous member from terminal to terminal.
It makes the fence rigid along the top, which is what you want if anything is going to lean on it. A tension wire does the same job with a taut wire instead. It costs less, it goes in faster, and the top of the fence stays flexible. On a long back boundary where nothing pushes on it, that's a reasonable trade. Around a dog run it is not.
Coating, and what actually corrodes
Galvanized mesh is steel with zinc on it. The zinc gives itself up slowly to protect the steel, which is why plain chain link lasts as long as it does with nothing done to it.
Vinyl coating adds a polymer layer over that. It changes the color, softens the look, and gives the zinc an easier life. Where it fails is at cut ends and at damage, because water that gets under a coating stays there.
Either way the fittings matter as much as the mesh. Cheap bands and ties are the first thing on a chain link fence to go orange.
If chain link isn't the answer
Layout, post setting and gates across all materials are on the fence company page.
If privacy is the actual requirement, chain link is the wrong tool and wood privacy fence is the right one. If you want an open fence that never needs painting, look at aluminum instead. How to read a fence quote ranks the materials by installed cost and shows what a quote should itemize, and choosing materials puts chain link beside the alternatives for the person paying.
What actually happens
What makes a chain link run tight
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Terminals are anchors
Ends, corners and gate posts aren't simply bigger. They're the points the fabric pulls against, so they're set heavier and deeper than the line posts and everything else works off them.
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The top has to be held
A top rail threaded through the line post caps gives a rigid edge that resists a person or an animal pushing over it. A tension wire instead keeps cost down and lets the top flex.
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Fabric stretched, then tied
The mesh is pulled taut across the whole run before anything is fastened. Hanging it slack and tying it off is what produces a fence with a wave in it that no amount of later fiddling will remove.
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Tension bars at every termination
A flat bar woven down through the end of the mesh, clamped to the terminal post with bands, is what holds that tension. Fabric tied directly to a post pulls loose from the tie.
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Bottom tension wire where it matters
A wire run along the bottom stops the mesh being lifted at the base. If there's a dog on the inside, it's worth doing.
Questions we get asked
Before you call
Galvanized or vinyl-coated?
Galvanized is the plain silver mesh and it's the cheaper of the two. Vinyl coating in black or green makes the fence recede visually, which matters more than people expect at the back of a yard, and it adds a layer over the zinc. Both are long-lived.
Does chain link have to look like a construction site?
Black vinyl-coated mesh on black posts almost disappears against trees, and it's a common choice where the job is containing a dog without blocking a view. Slats and privacy weave are also possible, though at that point wood or vinyl is usually the better answer.
What gauge should I get?
Lower gauge numbers mean thicker wire. Residential fence is usually a lighter gauge than commercial, and the difference shows up over a long life, not on day one. If there's a large dog leaning on it, go heavier.
Can chain link follow a slope?
Better than almost anything else, because the fabric is flexible. It follows the ground closely without stepping, which is why it holds animals well on uneven yards.
Where we work
Towns we cover
Pricing a chain link run?
Length, height and the number of gates will get you most of the way to a number.