Concrete fence posts

[Martin]

Hi,

I am going to build a garden fence with posts which will be in very close proximity to the foundations of an adjacent area of paving. For this I want posts which won't need replacing every 10 years (with consequential disturbance of the foundation) and I am thinking that concrete posts will be better than wood for this.

I went to the local builders merchant this weekend and was appalled by the quality of the posts they were offering - rough edges and full of bubbles. I just can't believe they will surviving more than a few years before the rebar starts to rust.

Are there any magic words I can speak when phoning around other suppliers (e.g. name of a manufacture, name of a product, or particular type of post) that will ensure that I get good quality posts which will last longer than wood. I am looking for posts that I put rails and featherboards onto, not slotted posts for panels.

Thanks, Martin.

[Andy Hall]

Try specialist fencing suppliers who mainly supply to commercial contractors. I found some good ones in this way.

[The Medway Handyman]

Alas they all seem like that. You can get uPVC posts & panels that don't rot or fade apparently - might be worth a Google.

One thing about concrete posts - they are unbelievably heavy - two man job to install.

[John Rumm]

Other option would be to drive a metspike into the ground and then fit a wooden post to that. Makes it easy to change posts later if required.

"have you got any that are not crap?"

Find a specialist fencing place. Our local one makes their own posts and gravel boards etc to a very high quality.

[dmc]

Concrete posts are incredibly heavy and a real pain to install. Might be worth looking at something like the Jackson fence range (or local equiv - I just know about Jacksons as they are up the road).

seem to offer a 25 year guarantee on the posts. They've been around a long time as well so I assume they stick to that :)

Darren

[dennis]

They aren't. I was given two posts and they are smooth and amazingly dense. I have no idea where he got them except that they were from an online supplier. The supplier does them with one, two (straight and angle), three or four groove versions too.

One man and a woman can do it but I wouldn't do it again.

[meow2222]

Have you considered making your own?

Plastic pipe for the outer profile

2 strips of timber for the 2 grooves. Each is wrapped with poly sheet to give a smooth non-stick surface, and the timber is screwed to the pipe from the outside, thus no blemishes on the inside. Dont forget to taper the wood edges slightly. Coiled stainless steel EML for reinforcement. 1:3:5 mix with fibres for increased tensile strength & crack control.

NT

[John]

Pressure treated wood should last 25 years. I always set them into gravel rather than comcrete. That way any water can drain away rather than sitting in a concrete cup full of wood post.

John

[The Medway Handyman]

How do you get the post rigid enough to withstand a high wind?

[The Medway Handyman]

I have actually installed 9' concrete posts by myself - mind you I'm a strapping lad - ex weightlifter - and I struggled with them.

[ARWadsworth]

Bollocks. You are a magician. A wave of your magic wand and they lifted themselves into place ;-)

Adam

[John Rumm]

Just like that? ;-)

[John Rumm]

As long as it is gravel with nice sharp edges, I expect that would hold it rather well.

[dennis]

Gravel compacts well as long as it isn't pebbles, crushed stone chippings works well IME. Also use a post hole digger and avoid disturbing too much surrounding soil. Works with telephone poles so fences shouldn't be a problem.

[Andy Hall]

They went down his trouser leg.

Doesn't bear thinking about.

[John]

I use a post hole borer to get a deep hole with vertical sides and use sharp gravel to fill the gap around the post. I've built my gazeebo that way and it'll probably out last me. Aim to get a good deep hole about 2 to 3 ft deep. It should be fairly close to the size of the post and vertical. That's the difficult bit. If you get the angle wrong, shave a bit off the side with a post hole digger. The aim is to rely on the already compacted earth to hold the post in place. There's a lot of information on this site

we differ on how best to plant the posts. I found the site makes fascinating reading in all respects. Just like a good book I suppose.

John

[The Medway Handyman]

I wish they had!

The old magic wand isn't as good as it was - especially after lifting those posts!

[Andy Hall]

You can get tablets for that...

[Robin]

FWIW Supreme now do a range of lightweight concrete posts.

list them and sometimes have them in stock. I can confirm they make it a doddle for one (weak and winded) person to handle 2.36m posts. But the concrete is *very* different from the (smaller) conventional posts I installed 25 years ago: lots of what looks like clinker (to keep the weight down) and voids (to make them even lighter?). So I may survive to see them crumble.