Your pier pilings must hold up, if your dock is to hold up over time. It’s just a fact. The pier posts are the foundation of your dock and if they get harmed enough and fail, your dock will fail.
Because your dock piers are so critical, that means your dock pier protection is critical too.
Pier Protector is a dock pier post wrap that helps to protect your piles now and over time
Pier Protector can be installed onto the pier posts before your dock is constructed or it can be added after the dock is in the water. Pier Protector also has the added benefit that it can be added to piles and pier posts after there has already been some level of damage, so long as the posts can be cleaned before Pier Protector is put in place.
What can cause damage to pier posts and piles?
There are many things that can cause damage but the most common are:
- Age and general weathering from the natural elements like wind, water and rain
- Marine-life damage from Shipworms and crustaceans
In either case, the major result of the damage is that the strength of the pier posts declines over time as the damage increases. This can be scary for a dock owner because if the erosion or wood degradation becomes too severe, the post – and subsequently, the dock – could just literally collapse into the water without warning. Aside from resulting in costly repairs, this can potentially be dangerous if you, your family of friends are on the dock when it happens.
Pier Protector can potentially alleviate some of that worry by doing exactly what the name suggests—protecting your pier posts.
How does Pier Protector work?
Pier Protector is made of heavy-duty HDPE plastic. It’s an attractive, dark, marine black color and it comes in a roll. The desired length is purchased and then further cut into the needed size for your pier poles.
Your Pier Protector “strips” are then wrapped around the pier posts and affixed with stainless steel nails. A bit of the wrap stays above the water and the remainder goes into the water so that you have protection across the water line, which is where Shipworms attack and where damage would normally happen. It actually could be not be easier to install Pier Protector!
As mentioned above, you can install Pier Protector on new pier posts or piles that have been in the water for some time and even if the posts have some damage already. If that’s the case, you’ll just need to clean them first, before putting on the pile wrap. After installation, the covered pier posts should last you for many more years to come before you would even need to consider total pile replacement.
Is Pier Protector affordable?
Pier Protector is one of the most effective and attractive pier post protection options you can choose, while also being one of the most cost-efficient.
Of course, there are other options for pier and pile protection. But most are either cheap, flimsier, vinyl pier wraps that are just not going to be durable.
Alternately, they might be expensive, costly, options that are only practical for the most expensive of residential docks where the owner plans to stay long enough to “recoup” the investment.
Additionally, the pricey choices sometimes are appealing to community / commercial docks and piers where longevity of fifty plus years might be a is a bigger draw than cost is a concern. This is because even though options like SnapJacket and DuroSleeve claim to last up to 50 years, their price points reflect this claim. Both are relatively expensive and not super-easy to install either.
SnapJacket is a product that takes two fiberglass sleeves and wraps them around the pier pole. Then, concrete is poured in the gap between the SnapJacket and the pile – even “naturally” filling in any holes caused by Shipworms or other damage. –
DuroSleeve is a really attractive pile protection choice but it comes with a pretty significant price. It also MUST be installed before the dock hits the water. With DuroSleeve, a PVC wrap is heat shrunk onto the piles in the lumberyard and it covers the entire pile or post. Many colors are available, and the finished look is awesome. However, it is expensive and is only a choice if you haven’t built your dock yet or need to totally replace the pier posts.
