There are lots of good reasons why wrought iron gates are quite so popular with homeowners and commercial businesses across the UK – they’re durable, highly resistant to even the harshest weather, and notably long-lasting. If properly maintained, they can often last for up to 70 years!
Now, whatever type of property or environment you have in mind for them, there are a couple of key points you’ll need to be aware of both before and after the installation. This week on the blog here at SL Wrought Iron, we thought we’d sum up some of the most important ones!
Planning permission
Happily, the vast majority of gates and railings will not require planning permission. However, there are sometimes a couple of exceptions, such as for railings that may be located to a public highway. Installing a gate or railing without the necessary planning permissions (in instances where it’s required) often result in official instructions to remove the structures again, and that can be quite costly, both in terms of time and money.
It’s worth reiterating that most of the time, planning permissions won’t be necessary, but if you’re unsure, you can always ask one of our team here at SL Wrought Iron. It’s also a good idea to check with your local authority, just in case.
Intrusive vegetation
This isn’t something to watch out for with the gates and railings themselves, but instead, it comes under the category of general garden management. In rare cases, depending on what sort of plants you have in your garden, nearby plants and vines can sometimes cause damage to home features (including gates or railings) by exerting pressure on the metal or infiltrating gaps and joints over time.
Obviously, it’s not something you have to worry about from day one, but it’s just worth keeping an eye on every time you do your occasional maintenance checks of your gates or railings. If you think that it’s on the verge of becoming a problem, it’s a good idea to regularly trim back vegetation, preventing it from encroaching on your gates.
Rust and corrosion
Although a more common problem than vegetation, rust and corrosion is still something that thankfully isn’t an issue too regularly, given the general resistance of wrought iron gates to rust and inclement weather. However, it’s still worth giving them a look-in from time to time in terms of maintenance. Wrought iron gates and railings don’t tend to have many issues – but when they do, it’s often to do with rust.
However, it will still take a relatively long time to develop, and it’s also something that can be dealt with in relatively short order, as we outlined in a previous post. It’s always worth checking after the heavy weather elements of the winter months. (You might want to check a bit more frequently if you’re near the ocean too, where stronger winds and sea spray is more common.)
Know the difference
When you buy from us here at SL Wrought Iron, you can take your pick from two finishes for your metal gates or railings – either galvanised and powder coated, or simply primed. We’ve explained the key differences in a previous post, but in a nutshell, galvanised gates are put through an intensive process that minimises the necessary maintenance throughout the year, and ensures they won’t need to be painted. Primed steel, on the other hand, allows customers to apply their own paint, but the trade-off is that the results are a lot more maintenance-intensive.
On the whole, that’s one of the biggest reasons why we find that most of our customers tend to prefer galvanised steel and powder-coated railings, as they take minimal effort to continue looking their best throughout the year. Ultimately though, there are no hard and fast rules – the choice is yours!
And of course if you have any specific questions, or you want to know something more in particular about our metal gates or railings, that’s exactly where we can help here at SL Wrought Iron. Feel free to give us a call on 01254 236994, and we’ll be happy to assist however we can.
Or, if you’re ready to start narrowing down your decisions as to which metal gates or railings would be best for your property, we have a great variety of ranges to choose from, encompassing everything from Wilpshire and Chatburn to Longridge and Barnoldswick. Why not take a look around, and see what you can find?
