PVC expands when heated and contracts when cooled. That is a property of the material, and every brand of vinyl fence does it.

Why does a wood fence installed five years ago need a hand run over it every spring, while the vinyl fence next to it doesn't?

A swing gate needs open ground to sweep through. A sliding gate needs open ground to slide past.

The gate used to swing shut the second the sensor cleared. Lately it hangs open a beat too long, then eases closed like it's thinking about it.

A rolled-up mesh pool fence, poles spaced a few feet apart with a see-through weave stretched between them, looks like it wouldn't stop a determined four-year-old for long.

Aluminum and steel resist a bolt cutter differently, corrode differently, and ask for different footings once they're in the ground, and no single one of those differences settles the question on its own.

A driveway gate is one of the heaviest moving things on a residential property. A steel or wrought-iron swing leaf can run well over a hundred pounds, and every ounce of that weight hangs off two hinge points and one post.

A pool gate has one duty that never takes a day off: it must return to closed and stay closed on its own, without a person remembering to push it.