Wood post fixings

[DavidL]

Hi all,

I did ask ages ago for advice about building a carport. I think I have it mostly worked out now (and I at least have cleared the ground now!) - and thanks for those that responded. A busy time at work plus a usual british summer means progress is slower than hoped...

Anyway - I have been wondering about the post fixings for about a year now, and I still don't have any answers. I will go for wooden uprights, 4x4, but how to secure them?

One slight complication - where a few of the posts are to go, there is already some concrete hardstanding. Elsewhere the concrete is still yet to be laid. The considerations are - will they be strong enough to take the lateral forces of wind (fairly sheltered admittedly), and being able to hang a sturdy bi-fold solid gate on (albeit running on a caster wheel). The post would however be braced over the top by the roof of the car port - but that may well be a delayed addition to the project.

So I think have four choices :

1. I cut a hole out from the existing concrete (or fit the post before laying the new concrete) and fit the new post nice and deep. Concrete it in.

1. As above, but with some additional bracing of some angle iron at the corners.

2. As above, but just packed out with some pea shingle (bracing optional).

1. Find a fabricator who will make up a stonger version of the metpost that will bolt that into the concrete. (I am thinking a square plate with a simple holder to drop the post into).

Option 4 is the simplest option - Easy to fit, easy to adjust the heights of the posts to make them level, easy to replace the things when they rot. I just have serious concerns about the strength.

Can I benefit from you advice and experience please?

Thanks, David.

[BigWallop]

Option 5, Get a fabricator to make square five faced cubes. Drill them so you can screw through into the ground to fix them. When the posts are dropped in, they hide the fixing underneath them. Like a collar around the base of the post. You don't have anything protruding if they are fixed like that.

Option 6, Fix a long piece of threaded rod into the ground. Slip over a decorative tube (i.e.. plastic pipe of any colour you wish to choose). As in Option 5, Fit collars at about 500mm (18 inches) off the ground to hold the posts. The posts look like they are floating in mid-air and look really fancy.

Option 7, Create a light weight cantilever roof from the house wall that covers the area and doesn't need any posts to hold it up at all. No need to worry about hitting the posts with the car. Allows room to walk along both sides of the car without obstruction. No need for any precision driving to line the car up in the middle of the space.

HTH.

[Rod]

I don't think pea shingle is ideal. It 'flows' too easily. Seems you want rougher stones that 'lock' together.

I don't like metposts. But basic strength has never been one of my criticisms. (Though twisting of the spike type is a problem.) Far more concerning are things like:

They are ugly; They would more obviously be protected if galvanised; They have no adjustment facility (e.g. screws that would allow minor changes to alignment); They depend on your timber being the right size - there is no tightening-up facility. (I bought posts a while ago and found an awkward situation in which a drain prevented normal fitting. Got a metpost concrete-in, and found it was just too large to hold the post. But the next smaller was much too small. Used screws and wedges.)