World Fence News

Celebrating our 32nd year of publication • Visit us online at www.worldfencenews.com JANUARY 2016 Lakehouse West Retire- ment Estates is a high-end re- tirement community nestled on 25+ pristine wooded acres in Sarasota, Fla., on the west coast of the Sunshine State. One of two major ren- ovation projects performed during 2015 was the replace- ment of approximately 2,000 lineal feet of 20+ year old wood fence. Through a combination of persistence, vision and thinking "outside the box," the end result was a visually pleasing, durable and "green" bamboo fence that beautifully en- hances the landscape. East Coast Fence and Guardrail of Cocoa, Fla. was the installing con- tractor, and the story of how the proj- ect came about is fascinating. Don Miller, the general manager and 40+ year veteran of East Coast Fence, pro- vides the narrative: Donald Blivas, a co-owner of Lakehouse West Retirement Estates, along with Fred Fiala and John Rowe, live on Siesta Key, a pristine area along the west Florida coast. A cus- tom bamboo fence was installed in this area and when Blivas saw it, he became very interested in bamboo. "The natural beauty was exact- ly what he wanted to replace the old wood fence at Lakehouse," said Mill- er. "He met with Annette Hodges, the executive director, and it was decided to get serious about bamboo fence for Lakehouse." Through a stroke of luck, Miller said that about five years ago he had received a brochure from Cali Bam- boo ® , a leading manufacturer of green building materials for residential and commercial projects made primarily from bamboo, including fence. Although he reorganized his of- fice several times, he never threw the brochure away. "Around the first of the year, a group of us at East Coast Fence were talking about how most all types of fenc- es had become a commodi- ty, and we were looking for something that would dif- ferentiate us from everyone else," he said. "It took me a couple of days, but I found that Cali Bamboo brochure and called. I spoke with Jay Emel and Chris Veety of Cali Bamboo and East Coast Fence was hooked. "Bamboo wood fence is really beautiful, especially with the color choices, and I feel it is the greenest, most eco-friendly building product of its type on the planet." East Coast Fence became a Cali Bamboo distributor, and was perfectly positioned when Blivas continued to show interest in the product. Blivas was referred to Miller, who then met with Hodges and Rich Meo- la, the director of environmental ser- vices for Lakehouse. A lengthy discussion took place to go over bamboo colors, cane sizes and height. Cali Bamboo comes in a variety of heights, colors and cane sizes. The 8' wide rolls can be natural, carbon- ized (a slightly darker brownish tint) or black. These are actual colors, Miller noted, and nothing is painted or stained. The bamboo fence comes in ei- ther ¾", 1" or 2" diameter actual cane sizes. It was decided that 1" natural color fence would be the perfect fit. The natural color would blend in perfectly with the wooded area and the 1" canes would be more than suffi- cient as far as strength was concerned, he said. Miller and Meola then took a golf cart and left to inspect the fence line. As they approached the fence, Miller immediately realized that there was a Bamboo offers beautiful, eco-friendly fence option for retirement village continued on page 8 The natural bamboo color was chosen because it nicely blends in with the wood- ed surroundings. Other colors are available, including carbonized (a slightly darker brownish tint), and black. The colors are natural, not painted or stained, further contributing to the product's eco-friendliness. The bamboo is installed on Master Halco's PostMaster steel post system, further contributing to the fence's durability. The PostMaster posts were one of the very limited choices of posts that could be driven through the dense root system of the Australian pines that cover the area. A wooden façade covers the steel posts. (East Coast Fence & Guardrail photos)

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