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Corten steel panels

muirswondermuirswonder Posts: 13
in Problem solving
Hello I am thinking of attaching some decorative corten steel panels to my fence. If I have some spacers (say 5cm), would the fence be marked with streaks of rust coming off the corten steel? 
Also: would the rust seeping into the raised beds below damage the plants? 
Thank you kindly for your suggestions! 
MW

Posts

  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    First thing I'd check is whether your fence can carry the weight. Corten steel is designed to rust to produce a protective surface but I don't know how mobile the rust would be. You could have a look at some existing architectural applications to see how much rust leakage occurs.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    The material does seem to shed a bit of rust over time despite suppliers saying it shouldn't. Iron oxide is supposed to be good for plants though so probably nothing to worry about. As long as you keep water from running off the panels onto the fence then you shouldn't get streaks but you might have to look carefully at how you make the spacers to prevent water running along them. Maybe add a washer or something to break any water flow.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • muirswondermuirswonder Posts: 13
    Dear Steephill & Wild Edges & Pansy face
    thank you soooo much for your input - I am a lot wiser now! 
    All the best
    Muirswonder
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    I agree, corten steel is absolutely fine with plants. It’s a national obsession here, fences, gates, planters, border edging, house drainpipes... you name it they’ve made it! I have never seen it run or stain, for example, in the many public planters sited on porous stone or concrete paving, in wet inland areas or seaside locations. I don’t know about next to wood, though, if that is what your fence is made of...
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    You can buy fairly thin Corten. I like it.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    I love Corten steel
    Devon.
  • micearguersmicearguers Posts: 646
    I've added 20m of everedge corten steel edging to my borders this winter. I slightly miss the mossy aspect of my old plain wood edging and the habitat it was for little critters, but it was too much work patching it up. The corten edging was easy to work with and I like its elemental look.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    There was a garden on TV a while back and they had it used to face retaining " walls " . They looked stunning and from above were invisible so it looked like a ha ha.
    Devon.
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