Concrete vs. Postcrete

[Jonathan]

Not idy you have stony soil, as it is almost impossible to keep them straight.

Jonathan

[stuart noble]

A weak concrete mix that's easy to remove when the post rots is the logical answer if you have loads to do, like on a farm etc. I dug a 5" x 5" hardwood gate post out of concrete the other day for a neighbour. The bits of wood below ground are still surprisingly un-rotten and a bitch to get out.

[Huge]

BTDT when the oak hinge post for my 5-bar gate rotted. Tedious, isn't it?

[stuart noble]

So tedious that I left quite a bit in there, put some 6" screws into the base and re-set the thing in concrete. Also put a bracket on the adjoining wall the keep it stable till it goes off. Terrible bodge but apparently it's only temp till they have the wall rebuilt

[ARW]

Depends on the size of the hole.

[Vir Campestris]

The posts will be fine, but the metal will rust off.

I can show you if you want...

The right method is concrete posts. Spurs if you want - no timber or exposed steel below ground.

Andy

[Tim+]

Could be right although IMO concrete posts are ugly. Certainly Metposts are the worst answer.

Tim

[harryagain]

They are also IME shit. There is never enough concrete to give adequate covering to the reinforcing. Consequently it soon spalls.

[Vir Campestris]

Well, all I can say is mine haven't. perhaps 20 years wasn't long enough

- I've seen spalled stuff in WW2 defences.

Andy

[Chris Hogg]

My mother has concrete posts supporting a chain-link fence across the bottom of her garden. Put in in the mid-1950's. The posts are falling to bits due to spalling. I don't know what holds them together. I have to be careful when I'm gardening near them that I don't bump into them and cause a total collapse. Eventually they'll be replaced, but not in her lifetime (she's old and doesn't want that sort of thing doing). And there's so much salt in the air in West Cornwall, driven off the sea by winter gales, that those steel Metposts only last a few years.

[Vir Campestris]

8X

So concrete ones only last 50 years by the seaside?

That's long enough for me - and presumably ours would do better well inland.

Andy

[Chris Hogg]

It's also possible that the concrete was poor quality. The house I'm in at the moment (not my mother's) was built about the same time as her concrete posts were installed, and we had to have a chimney re-built due to mundic* in the concrete. Cheap, post-war concrete down here often contained it.

I'll use concrete again when the fence is replaced. It'll see me out, that's for sure!

[alan_m]

I've seen concrete spur type posts being compromised when the bolts holding on the wooden post have rusted, expanded and cracked the concrete.

[Rick man]

wrap a builders plastic bag around the bottom of the post before you pour the postcrete in, the post will not rot then