Dang cheap chicken wire............

[CathyA]

DH and I just put up a beautiful new garden fence. We used 4' tall welded utility wire and lined the bottom with 2' high chicken wire. And now, about 4-6 weeks later, its rusting!! Even though the label said 20 gauge, its no where near the quality of the old 20 gauge we used to be able to buy. Its very disheartening. Even if they gave us our money back, the time and effort we put in on lining the fence with this chicken wire is worth way more than the cost of the fencing. Bummer.
Hopefully, it will still endure for at least a couple more years. The good old stuff would last, even after rusting. But this newer stuff will just disintegrate. Cheap junk. >:(

[Float On]

I hate it when they cheapen products. I'm almost afraid to bring any replacement item home for fear that DH will 'go off' on how cheap it is nowdays.
Where did you buy it? The 20 guage wire I bought 2 years ago at Lowes is holding up well - no rust.

[CathyA]

I bought it at Menards. I can't remember if it was "Redbrand" or not.......which I try to buy. We bought the welded utility wire at Lowe's, because they carry it, whereas Menards carries their own brand of lots of stuff (Yardworks), which is made in China. Menards is much closer, so I may have chosen an inferior brand for convenience sake, which I regret now.
As we were tearing out the old, rusted, twisted chicken wire, it felt so much stronger than the new stuff. It really makes me mad, since we buried a couple inches of it in the ground and attached it all around this big garden onto the welded wire with wire. It won't be that easy to replace.
Hopefully, since its just hanging there, it won't get too much stress and will at least last until we're too old to garden! (hopefully that's at least 20 more years).
We lined the bigger fencing to keep the bunnies out.
If I do call the Menards manager, what should I expect? My money back? I suppose we could buy better stuff, like at TSC or Lowes and just put it on top of the old wire.....before all the weeds grow through it. But dang, that's alot of work.
What's weird about this fence is that its every other hexagon that's rusted. You'd think it would be more consistent.

[CathyA]

Well, I just called Menards. I talked with someone in the Building Materials department, since they cover the chicken wire. I told him it was rusting after 2 weeks and he said "Oh, galvanized will rust." I said, "Uh.....galvanized means it will take alot longer to rust, since its been dipped." He said "Oh, I didn't know that". I said "Please let me talk to the manager". He said "I am the manager". Sheesh.........where do they get these people?

[Float On]

lol CathyA - they want to pay low wages and not train people they aren't going to get the people with knowledge - even all the way up management. Was he the department manager or store manager? I'd keep going up and write a letter to corprate about untrained employees.

[CathyA]

Thanks Float On. I'm pretty sure he was "just" the department manager. I had thought of talking to the store manager, but thought I'd start with the building materials manager first. He said I could get a form to fill out at the store, which I will. I'm just glad I didn't buy all the welded utility wire there too. But I've learned my lesson about what I do and don't buy at Menards. Its pretty hard to find much of anything that's not made in China......but I do try to stick with Redbrand, made in the USA.
(The bunnies are probably cheering with the chicken wire we put up). haha

[Gregg]

Whenever I have to buy something along these lines I go to Tractor Supply Co. In the end they may be just another big box store, but they do tend to specialize more in livestock supplies and equipment so the employees get more specific training and the products are geared toward people that should know the difference. I've always had good luck with them anyway.

[CathyA]

I go to TSC alot too for various things. Maybe its my own fault, since I was going for the least expensive stuff. My bad!
I have gotten alot of stuff there too though. I like supporting them, since they're the only place around that has certain items. Plus, they are a smaller business, which I like.