Wooden fence posts

[lutonlagerlout]

a fencing contractor I know has stopped using wooden posts
he did a 20 panel fence 6 years ago with 4 " wooden posts and 6 of the posts have rotted at ground level
his supplier has offered to pay for the 6 new posts and fitting but the client wants a complete new fence
so now he is using concrete only
all the posts were treated
anyone else have this type of experience?
cheers LLL

[mickg]

we normally use concrete posts and concrete base panels in the north west, it seems to be a southern thing with the timber posts and timber gravel boards

[GB_Groundworks]

They generally rot at the bottom where they are incorrectly concreted in, ie they are concreted in which attacks the wood and then the concrete is normal podged in with a stick or a boot and forms a bowl that holds the water there and rots them.

For slotted panel fencing like mick said concrete posts and boards but still you see them flailing after 10-15 years

[Al Jardin]

They generally rot at the bottom where they are incorrectly concreted in, ie they are concreted in which attacks the wood and then the concrete is normal podged in with a stick or a boot and forms a bowl that holds the water there and rots them.

For slotted panel fencing like mick said concrete posts and boards but still you see them flailing after 10-15 years

Good point Giles
That was discussed on landscape juice a while ago. Basically don't put concrete at the bottom of the whole. Instead use a free draining aggaregate such as shingle or, easier still, just ballast. Allows water to pass down to the ground. Then concrete around the base of the post in as normal.

Al

[London Stone Paving]

we normally use concrete posts and concrete base panels in the north west, it seems to be a southern thing with the timber posts and timber gravel boards

I always used concrete posts and gravel boards. They are a bit of a maul to get in but once they are in you know thye are going nowhere

[gonchy]

the problem is as thats been metioned above u need to slope concrete away and have shingle or similar in first to keep soil away from posts and help drain we also used to put shingle around top of post too as some people keep the concrete low and fill with soil then rot the post

[dig dug dan]

never fill the hole right to the top woth concrete. this helps.
If i use concrete posts, its the lightweight ones from now on!

[mike builder/landscaper]

I watched a program on tv a while ago and this bloke was putting fence posts in and filling the hole in with 10mm gravel tamped down. I would never dare try it but it sounds logical that it could work.

[montygti]

Weve had big problems at are stables where fence posts and gate post have rotted out in four years. They just arent treated very well anymore and chatting to are local agri merchants they even said theyve had a fair few complaints. Are posts wernt concreted in but pushed in with a digger.

[Al Jardin]

On the Arab owned estates up our way stock fencing is soaked in creosote before installation. They get replace after 5-10 yrs and are like new when they come out.. Very useable after.
There seems to be very little drying time for softwood fencing combined with inferior treatment. So after it warps it then rots.

Al

[higgness]

Quality will depend on the timber and the treating.
Very wet timber will not take in a lot of treatment.
Sometimes timber is sold as double vac treated, you cannot know for sure, unless you were there when it was treated.
I worked in a yard with a treatment tank, guy who ran the tank got very good at keeping a straight face when asked if the timber was double vac treated. He was also very fast at treating the timber. If questioned he had a standard range of answers ready at all times.
Always treat your cuts.
Even if no one will ever see them.

[bodgeitandscarper]

What are the lightweight fencing posts like, are they any good?

http://www.litecrete.co.uk/

[lutonlagerlout]

butterfields used to stock something similar
not as strong and prone to breakages
LLL

[dig dug dan]

Been using them for a while. They are made with lite ag, stones that are full of air bubbles, which is where they lose the weight of a conventional post.
as luton says, but they cut very easily.
my suplier is doing them at the same price as traditional ones.
the 1 foot gravel boards are a dream to install now

[Tony McC]

I don't think I've seen these new lytag posts and panels, but I recall a similar product from years ago, when they were scratching about for ideas of what to do with clinker ash, and they weathered very quickly before gradually falling apart. They might just have been a local thing - the factory was more-or-less next to Bold Power Station in Sen Tellins - because I've never seen them anywhere else.