Gate posts, fence posts & rotting

[fred]

Round here telegraph poles are pressure treated.

About 20 years ago we put a fence around a vegetable garden to keep out the wabbits.

After shooting and eating same wabbits they ceased to be a problem so last year I had occasion to remove the fence. The only posts that hadn't rotted were the few we had used to finish off the job which were standard round fe nce posts as supplied by the forestry people. All the other posts were pres sure treated and survived very well.

IME forget concrete. Dig a hole. Few stones in the bottom and back fill wit h soil well tamped down and more stones if you have them. Most fences are q uite solid in a side to side manner as they gain support from their neighbo urs. Its the to and fro that causes the problems

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Ian Jackson writes

Open Reach parked in my yard a few weeks back to inspect a pole.

As far as I could see this involved digging down 6" round the post, inspecting for rot and then treating with some chemical. I didn't stand over him:-)

[Jacko]

Yes.

No, the reason that pressure treatment is used is because just leaving the wood in contact with the preservative doesn?t see it soak in well enough. And that is even more true when the preservative is in a hole in the post rather than with the post put in a bath of preservative. Very little of the preservative would get to the area of the post which sees the water in contact with the post where it rots because of that water.

[Jacko]

I just don't believe someone wouldn't have come up with that approach in the centuries we have been doing that if it would work.

Yes, it has happened to mine more than once.

I know mine has, more than once because I have seen it.

Unlikely IMO, otherwise it would be routinely done with new poles.

[Ian Jackson]

In message , Jacko writes

You seem to have a very narrow view about unusual DIY suggestions, ie if what is being suggested was any good, we would all be doing it already - and if it's not being done, that proves it doesn't work. Very strange.

[gareth]

Which is what I said. Taking the relative times available for commercial treatment (as qucikly as possible) and amateur use (over time) then the approach of putting preservative into a hole whence it can slowly seep makes sense.

[Jacko]

I have in fact suggested some myself, like with how to make sliding doors sound like Star Wars doors if that is what you want to have.

And that is true with something we have been doing for centuries now. If the approach you propose was useful, someone would have tried it and have noticed it works better and said something about that with something as common as fence posts and poles.

Nothing strange about it. The obvious exception is when technology has changed, like with drilling a couple of small holes in failed double glazing. I have never said that that isn't worth doing and it clearly does work when it has been tried. And I have never said that the sort of insulation that harry has done is pointless either, even tho it is a relatively recent approach, now viable because of how cheap decent in insulation has become and how expensive heating houses has become lately.

[Jacko]

No it isn't on you claim that his suggestion is a good one.

Taking the relative times available for

No it doesn?t. It doesn?t matter how long you wait, without pressure treatment the preservative doesn?t soak into the wood and doesn?t get anywhere near the outside of the post where it is in contact with water. below the ground.

[Chris Holford]

In article , Jacko writes

snip

In my experience it works very well.

[gareth]

[Jacko]

But did you test it properly and only do that on half the posts and check if the ones you did with the hole lasted a lot longer than the ones you didn?t have the hole in ?

Bet you didn?t.

[Chris Holford]

In article , Jacko writes

I treated the posts on my fence with (old)'Cuprinol'in holes like this; they are still there after 30 years. The fence on the other side of the garden, which is owned by the neighbour and not given this treatment has had to be replaced twice in the same time period.

[Jacko]

But you don?t know what would have happened if you had not done that.

The fence on the other side of the

But you don?t know that the posts were done the same way or with the same wood or treatment before the posts went into the ground.

Plenty who have not done any preservative in holes in the posts have had their fence last for more than 30 years, including me.

[Vir Campestris]

+1

For the sceptics - if you put preservative in a hole in the middle of the post, where do you think it goes if it doesn't soak into the wood?

Sure, it won't do a good job of protecting the outside of the post - but that will be the bit the 1 minute pressure treatment did. And if the outside rots away leaving a solid core - well, that's better than the outside and the inside rotting...

Andy

[Jacko]

Out the cracks in the wood and just evaporate out of the hole.

Which is the only part of the post that matters decay wise.

- but

That won't happen either.

- well, that's better than the

[harryagain]

Another thing that helps is to put plastic paint cans over the tops of posts. Covers the end grain where they often rot.

[gareth]

A carved wooden finial looks better and rots in the place of the post.