Fixing wood fence posts, 2 questions

You should use a construction adhesive like LePage's PL Premium to glue

You may have to cut the top of the posts off in order to get solid wood to glue your steel roofs to.

Better to dig out the old post and put in a new one. Casting a post in concrete will accelerate rotting, by trapping water around the area where the post goes into the concrete, and will be more work next time.

With the tops: You might just trim down the rotted tops if there's room. You could also do a cap, like Nestork said. Or you can leave them. It probably wouldn't hurt to put a drain hole in, either. I'm guessing this is cedar stockade fencing that's quite old. Eventually you'll have to replace those posts but they take a long time to rot out.

| Fixing wood fence posts, 2 questions | | I have a wood picket fence, 44" high, with about 35 fence posts, round, | 4" in diameter iirc. | | I have two problems. | | 1) One is loose. It feels like it has broken off maybe 8" above the | bottom end. How to fix it???? | | I thought I would disconnect it from the fence, pull it out (which I | think will be easy), take a replacement (easy to find), cut it to the | same length as the piece that comes out**, put the post in plus some | instacrete or sackcrete***, pour in some water, and let it harden. | | Is that okay? If the part of the first post every rots away, and the | post sinks, I can replace it again. | | **Well actually I would put the new post in and use it like a pile | driver to crush the old post stub as much as I can. Then extend a | string from the posts to the left and right of this one, and mark this | one so it's the same height as the other two. | *** (the speedy stuff or the regular stuff both work, I hear) | | | 2) Some of the posts are hollow in the top center, going down 2, 3 even | maybe 4 inches. . Water sits on them and the wood rots or crumbles. | Sometimes green plant life grows in the holes | | a) I thought I should drill a hole in the side so the water drains out. | or | b) I should fill the holes with something, something that looks like the | original post if possible. . I had tried outdoor wood glue mixed with a | lot of sawdust. but that broke up. | | Suggestions? | | Thanks.

Caps are a good solution.

At least the tops should have been pointed so water would run off instead of sitting and causing rot.

You could cut them at an angle, try to get to good wood, if not fill with Bondo.

Do you think Bondo will look anything like wood? I could sprinkle coarse sawdust on it before it dries, but I think that won't stick for long. Or is it just supposed to be a neutral color filler?

Thanks, Nestork, May, and Tim.

| Do you think Bondo will look anything like wood? I could sprinkle | coarse sawdust on it before it dries, but I think that won't stick for | long. Or is it just supposed to be a neutral color filler? |

Bondo's not going to be much use with old wood. You could treat it with sealer first, but that's really for cases where you have a punky *section*. In your case the whole post is old. I would expect water to start seeping around the bondo patch before long.

good to know.

Well, if May says the Bondo won't work -- thanks May -- I'll have to think about this idea some more. I didnt' like the steel part, too utilitarian, but I'm thinking brown plastic of some sort, or wood tan color. Might not last as long, but I'll buy extra and they're easy to replace. There used to be a plastic store nearby, but they closed. The other is on the other side of town, but I'll be able to go within a couple months. Or maybe the net.

BTW, no one sells decent looking caps for 4" round posts. afaict. They have very ugly black industrial-type plastic caps, but nothing that looks like the pretty metal ones they sell for square posts.

There's good wood on all the posts. It's just the cores, 1 1/2 to 2

Thanks.