Learning not to be cheap

[ne7800]

My wife always says I "Cheap out" on things because I am always looking for the cheapest possible way to do things. About 3 years ago we decided to put a 6' privacy fence around our back yard. Of course I found the cheapest way now I am slowly replacing the fence panels with quality ones and wow what a differance!. So the lesson here is "Spend it now or spend it later"

First panel up

Second panel with gate opening

All the panels minus the gate

With the gate

 

[OldePharte]

Re: Learning not to be cheap

Yep, ya gets whats ya pay fer.

 

[ne7800]

Re: Learning not to be cheap

Only problem is I got 3 panels up and 23 more to go and i can only afford to buy a few panels a week

 

[Bart Sr.]

Re: Learning not to be cheap

Looks good!!! You should use more than 2 coolers though.

 

[ne7800]

Re: Learning not to be cheap

Looks good!!! You should use more than 2 coolers though.

Hahaha well i would like to say that they were full of beer but actualy they were my redneck saw horses

 

[JaSla74]

Re: Learning not to be cheap

Call me an idiot, but what was wrong with your cheap panels? If it's just yellow pine all they need is pressure washing. If your new panels are pine they'll look the same in a few years. I found the only thing that keeps them looking nice for years on end is a quality stain.

 

[ne7800]

Re: Learning not to be cheap

Call me an idiot, but what was wrong with your cheap panels? If it's just yellow pine all they need is pressure washing. If your new panels are pine they'll look the same in a few years. I found the only thing that keeps them looking nice for years on end is a quality stain.

It was more than just the panels, the first time i used landscape timbers for posts and they rotted out and broke, the old panels were very thin and were cracking/breaking, the new panels are twice as thick, plus made from treated lumber and they are prestained

 

[JaSla74]

Re: Learning not to be cheap

Ahh, I couldn't see that cheap.

 

[JB]

Re: Learning not to be cheap

Yup. Doing it right once is usually less expensive than doing it cheap and doing it over.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Learning not to be cheap

Yeah, same here, but on a smaller scale today.

I picked up 4-5 $1 garden hose sprayers at Wal-Mart last year and broke the last one a few weeks ago. Asked the wife to pick up a cheap sprayer when she was at Wal-Mart and the $3 plastic sprayer was worthless, waste of $3. I broke down today and picked up a $7 all metal (MADE IN USA) sprayer at Lowes and it works perfect, much better then the cheap Wal-Mart/China made sprayers.

Hopefully, I won't have to buy another sprayer for a couple of years...

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Learning not to be cheap

Had our $10 dollar sprayer for about 10 years so far. Still working fine.
Ya get's what you pay for in a lot of cases.

 

[Fly Rod]

Re: Learning not to be cheap

You get what you pay for when you go to them outlet stores like Home Depot or Lowes, it's not about quality, it's price and that is why people swarm to them thar places like Bees swarm to honey.

Cedar fence last longer then pine.

Pressure treated hard pine beams vs. not so good treated soft pine beams.

Hot dip galvanize vs. not so good electroplated galvanize.

Armstrong sheet vinyl with color all the way through the product $40.00 per yard compared to Home Depot Armstrong $12.00 per yard surface photo stat. you see the trade mark Armstrong and people think they are getting the same quality product for less when they are not.

 

[Adjuster]

Re: Learning not to be cheap

You are still cheaping out on the fence. PVC is the only way to go now but boy does it cost ya some dollars.

 

[ne7800]

Re: Learning not to be cheap

You are still cheaping out on the fence. PVC is the only way to go now but boy does it cost ya some dollars.

Nah I don't care for the look of the pvc fencing I like the wood look better