STEEL & ALUMINUM
Black aluminum and steel fences, gates and railings in Northwest Arkansas
Black aluminum and steel fences and gates, plus aluminum stair and pool railings, installed and repaired by Fence Pros NWA.
Chapter 01
Why aluminum doesn't rust, and why that matters on a black fence
Steel rusts. Wood rots. Aluminum does neither, and that's the whole reason a black aluminum fence still looks like a black aluminum fence after a lot of summers. Aluminum builds a thin oxide skin when it meets air, and that skin keeps the metal underneath from corroding. There's no orange bleed running down the posts and no flaking paint to scrape and redo.
Most aluminum fence gets its color from a baked-on powder coat. It's a dry powder sprayed onto the metal and cured into a hard skin, not brushed on like paint. That coat is what takes the sun, the rain and the Arkansas humidity day after day. When you compare fences, ask about the finish and look at the cut ends and screw holes, because that's where a thin finish gives up first.
Steel is the other half of what we build with. Every gate Sean McLaren builds sits on a steel frame, and two customers say so in their Google reviews: no twisting, no warping. A swinging gate leaf pulls on its hinge side every time it opens, so the frame has to stay square or the latch stops meeting the post.
Black aluminum fence with a double gate on a wooded lot
Racking a fence down a slope
Northwest Arkansas isn't flat. Lots in Springdale and Tontitown roll, and a fence has to follow the ground without leaving a gap a dog can slide under. Aluminum panels are rigid, so there are two ways to handle a grade. Stepping holds each panel level and drops it in stages, which leaves a wedge of open ground under the high side of every step. Racking keeps the posts plumb and tilts the rails so the panel runs parallel to the slope.
On a hillside like the one in our photo of an aluminum double gate across a sloping lawn, the top line can follow the ground instead of marching down it in stairs. It looks cleaner and keeps the gap at the bottom even. Racking has limits, because a panel can only tilt so far, and a steep stretch may need a step or two anyway. Sean walks the line at the estimate and tells you which parts rack and which ones step.
Chapter 03
Pool yards, stairs and railings
Aluminum is a popular choice around a pool because you can see straight through it and splash water doesn't rust it.
Pool barriers are regulated, and the rules change from one city to the next: how the fence is built, how the gate latches, what has to sit on the pool side. We don't print those rules here because they belong to your city and they get updated. Check the pool-barrier requirements with your city before you pick a style, and bring them to the estimate so the layout matches.
The same material makes a good railing. In the photos of our jobs you can see black aluminum stair railings on new concrete steps, one running up stone steps to a pool deck, and a railing at a pool edge beside a lounge chair. A railing is a fence turned on its side: it has to stay rigid, shrug off weather and stay put when someone grabs it on the way down. Whatever your steps have to meet, check with your city, then call Sean to talk through the job.
Fence Pros NWA is licensed and insured, Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board licence 0466650427 (Fence Pros LLC). Sean McLaren and his crew install and repair steel and aluminum fences from Tontitown and Springdale across Northwest Arkansas. Call (479) 871-3942, Monday to Saturday, 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM.
Aluminum, gates and railings on real lots
These are our own jobs: a fence and gate across a gravel drive, a double gate on a slope, a railing up to a pool deck and a fence along a new patio. If you want a wood fence with a black steel-framed gate instead, see our steel-framed gates. If something already standing has started to lean, we do fence repair on every fence type.
Fence and gate across a gravel drive 
Double gate on a sloping lawn 
Stair railing up to a pool deck 
Fence along a new patio at dusk
More finished work is on our Our work page, or ask Sean about aluminum for your yard on the contact page.