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CertainTeed Fence Installation: The Fort Lauderdale Owner’s Guide
CertainTeed fence installation in Fort Lauderdale typically runs $3,500 – $9,000 for a full section replacement or new run, depending on linear footage, post condition, and whether we’re matching existing Bufftech or EverNew panels. Most jobs are completed in a single day once the material is on site. Here’s the part nobody tells you until $2,000 in: the failure you’re looking at usually isn’t the panel itself. It’s the post, the post cap, or the bottom rail – and the way we handle that difference is what determines whether you’re doing this again in three years.
You’re on this page because a CertainTeed fence product – likely a Bufftech privacy panel or an EverNew ornamental section – has given out somewhere on your property line. Maybe a post leans after a summer storm. Maybe a gate drags against the latch. In Fort Lauderdale, with our salt air and rainy season, the failure points are predictable, and we fix them with the right materials the first time.
Which CertainTeed Models This Applies To
CertainTeed makes two primary fence lines we see in Fort Lauderdale: Bufftech (vinyl privacy, semi-private, and picket styles) and EverNew (vinyl ornamental railing and fence, often paired with a composite or aluminum insert). Within those lines, panel heights run 3 – 6 feet, and the post dimensions are not interchangeable. A Bufftech 5-inch post doesn’t accept an EverNew panel without a retrofit bracket some contractors will tell you works fine. It doesn’t over time.
A compatibility gotcha we fix regularly: CertainTeed changed the wall thickness on some Bufftech post profiles around 2018. If your original fence went in before that and you’re replacing just one post, a new post from a different production year may have a slightly different inside dimension. That matters when we’re reusing existing panels. We measure, verify, and order the correct profile rather than forcing a fit with shims and sealant. On the OEM versus aftermarket question: for CertainTeed panels, we use OEM or dimension-matched equivalent. For internal post stiffeners and gate hardware, a quality aftermarket aluminum insert frequently outlasts the original and costs less. We’ll tell you which dollar goes where.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your CertainTeed Fence Installation Is Failing
- Leaning post at the gate line. The post itself is usually fine. What’s failed is the concrete footing or, more often in Florida, the post was set without enough depth below the soil line. Salt-saturated soil in Fort Lauderdale eats shallow footings fast.
- Panel sagging between posts. This is a bottom rail or internal aluminum stiffener failure. CertainTeed panels are designed around those stiffeners carrying the load, and once they flex, the vinyl follows.
- Post cap cracked or popped off. UV and heat expansion do this. A missing cap lets rainwater into the post cavity, which then corrodes the hardware below.
- Gate won’t latch or drags after rain. The gate frame has settled, or the hinges were mounted with fasteners too short for the post. When we rebuild a gate, we route the hinge post with a full-depth aluminum insert and through-bolt the hardware.
- White chalky film on the panels. Not failure – that’s standard UV oxidation on vinyl. But if it’s accompanied by brittleness or hairline cracks near the routed areas, the panel’s structural life is done.
Replacement Cost & What’s Included
In Fort Lauderdale, full CertainTeed fence installation runs $3,500 – $9,000 for a typical yard. The low end covers a modest run of 4-foot picket with standard posts. The high end accounts for 6-foot privacy panels, larger gates, multiple corner posts, or removal of an existing fence first. What drives the number isn’t mysterious: linear footage, panel height, post size, number of gates, and what we find underground when we pull the old posts. Our written quote reflects all of it before work starts, and we don’t come back later asking for more because the soil was rockier than expected.
What’s included: removal and disposal of the failed section, new posts set to industry depth with the correct concrete collar, new panels and top rails, hardware, and a walkthrough when the job’s done. The price on day one is the number on the invoice. And under the 365-Day Done Right Promise, if a post shifts or a gate sags inside the year, we return and make it right at no charge – that’s written into every contract, not a handshake.
See the difference
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AfterDIY or Call Us?
There’s a real difference between a leaning post and a snapped one. If the panel just popped out of a routed rail, you may be able to pop it back and conserve the damage. If a post is leaning, that’s a footing failure, and the fix is digging, resetting, and bracing – not a screw job. Vinyl fence isn’t like wood. You can’t sister a new board alongside. The whole section needs to come out in order and go back in square. Get that wrong, and the gate binds, the panel gaps at the top, and the whole line looks off. We’ve been called to enough “saved money” DIY jobs that we know the sequence that goes wrong. Call us at (754) 551-2922 before you start, tell us what’s leaning, and we’ll tell you whether it’s a Saturday fix or a service call. Either way, the estimate’s free.
FAQs
With proper post depth and drainage, you’ll get 15 – 25 years from CertainTeed vinyl in our climate, with the gate hardware usually failing first at the 8 – 12 year mark. Salt air shortens lifespan mostly at the aluminum inserts and fasteners, which is why we use marine-grade replacement hardware on jobs near the coast. Call (754) 551-2922 if a gate’s sagging and you want an honest repair estimate.
A single cracked panel section can be replaced without touching the rest of the fence, assuming the posts are still solid and the profile is still manufactured. When a post has cracked below grade or the footing has shifted, that post is replaced, not patched. Call (754) 551-2922 with a photo and we’ll tell you over the phone which repair you’re looking at.
For a standard single-yard replacement, one to two days. The material either ships to our shop or comes from a regional distributor, and once it’s on the truck, installation moves quickly. Gate rebuilds and full removals add half a day. Call (754) 551-2922 and we’ll give you a written arrival window and timeline before we schedule anything.
We carry common Bufftech post caps, aluminum stiffeners, and gate hardware on the truck, and our supplier keeps panels and full posts in South Florida. If it’s an EverNew component, that’s typically a one-week order. Other product lines we keep parts access for include KraftMaid cabinetry, Cambria quartz, and Silestone surfaces, so if the fence project turns into a bigger conversation about the house, we can have that too.
Get a Written Price Before You Decide
If you’ve got a CertainTeed fence post leaning toward a neighbor’s yard in Fort Lauderdale, you don’t need a speech. You need a number, a date, and someone who shows up. Call (754) 551-2922 and talk to a live person – we answer directly, at any hour, and we’ll schedule the right person to measure in the next available window. You’ll get a written scope and a real price, not a range that somehow becomes the ceiling once we’re on site. That’s the only way we’ve operated since the Kingswell Guarantee was established in 2004, and it’s the same standard today on every fence we install.
Written by Trevor Nash, Owner, Penhallow Remodeling Fort Lauderdale at Penhallow Remodeling Fort Lauderdale, serving Fort Lauderdale and nearby areas.
