CenFlex Fencing

When we looked into options for our perimeter fence that were both safe (for horses and kids) and aesthetically pleasing, we settled on CenFlex flexible vinyl rail fence by Centaur. We wanted the look of something that was cohesive with our New England Colonial-style farmhouse, but that offered the functionality of a modern product. This beautiful fence has 4,200 lbs of strength per rail, spreading the weight of any impact, such as tree falling on the fence, or an animal running into it, over the entire length of the rail instead of across a small section of the fence. It also retains is flexibility and strength well below freezing and boosts a 20-year warranty.

We installed line posts, h-braces, and fence braces using treated wood posts from Tractor Supply. We used 4" posts for most of the line posts, 6" for the braces, and a few 6" posts in places we needed added stability such as slight curves in the fenceline. We followed the manufacturer's directions for posts and braces from CenFlex, and poured a bag of dry concrete down into each post hole, tamped it until it was packed tight and allowed them to slowly cure as moisture from the ground and rain water seeped in.

Once the posts were installed, we strung a string along the top of the posts using nails. We placed it roughly at the height we expected the top rail to sit. We were then able to shift the string up or down until we had the rail-line sloping up and down in a gentle, manageable fashion. Since we were using a vinyl rail, we needed to make sure any changes in slopes happened gradually enough for the rail to be able to flex up and down smoothly. Once we were satisfied with the top rail placement, we marked the rails at a slope (using a cardboard template) with a sharpie marker and cut the tops of the rails off with a chainsaw.

We opted to go ahead and stain the posts before proceeding with the rails. Typically posts would be left to weather for 6 months before staining, but it made more sense to go ahead and do it before the rails were in the way. We simply filled a 1-gallon pump garden sprayer with Ready Seal stain in pecan and sprayed it on both sides of each post.

Next, we built a fence post template to make installing the rails easier. We took a scrap piece of wood, marked it at the correct spacing between the rails to show where each rail needed to be. Then, we used this template to mark each post where we needed to install the brackets. We held the template up to the top of the post and marked it where the top rail would go.

Once we were ready to hang the rails, we loaded a 660' spool onto Centaur's spinning jenny. Then, we unspooled the rail along the entire length of the fenceline so it was laying in place ready for us to install. The spinning jenny allowed us to unroll the spools without them twisting and turning, creating loops. It was a bit cumbersome for one person, but with two or even three it was quite manageable.

We attached each vinyl bracket on the bottom first, and then rotated it to the side so we could slip the rail in. Then we could rotate the bracket back into a vertical position and attach the top. We kept the brackets loose enough that the rail could still slide a bit through it so that we could tighten the rail later without it hanging up anywhere. When needed, we spliced rails together with the splice buckle, and around corners we used the inside corner barrel rollers in place of the brackets.

The first rail went up quickly, and we were pleasantly surprised at how easy this fence was to install. Except for unrolling the rails and attaching the end brackets, most of the installation was done by a single person (and a small, inexperienced person at that). This product is one I would definitely recommend to anyone looking to install a quality product that is simple and easy to work with. It did cost a bit more than a typical post and board fence, but with the ease of maintenance, I think the fence will easily pay for itself in a short amount of time. The vinyl rail also allowed us to change the post distances as needed to avoid rocks without having to worry about the distance being too long for a board to reach. We were a little concerned that it would be challenging with our elevation changes, but with careful planning we were able to get a beautiful and functional fence put up even up and down our hills.

To install the second and third rails, we used the template again and installed the next two brackets under the first one, keeping the spacing between each rail consistent from one rail to the next. Once we had all three rails up, we attached the single barrel tensioners to the ends of each rail. If you do a short or straight section, you could use the end termination buckles, but with our setup we had long stretches and curves to deal with so we needed to be able to tension both ends of the fence to get it pulled taut. Once we had the vinyl rails through the barrel tensioners, we used a ratchet and wrench to tension the rail and lock it in place. We repeated the tightening process a week or so later, and it has held really well for a year now. It could use another tightening but by no means does it look slack or sagging. It has held up well to our livestock the past year and looks every bit as new as it did a year ago. We did add an electric wire above the top rail to prevent our cribbing horse from damaging the rail or the posts, and then ended up adding a second wire above the middle rail as well when he started cribbing on that after living on our farm for a couple of weeks.