pergola posts

I used oak, which was not a lot more expensive than pressure treated softwood, and stuck them straight into the ground. They are still sound

Colin Bignell

Metposts also do bolt down feet.

HTH

Dave R

Also just seen they do a 'concrete in'.

I've used them & they work a treat - with a big enough hole & enough concrete e.g. 2 bags of postfix per hole.

Have a look at these

In message , Rick Hughes writes

Yes.

Don't concrete in or use anything which will retain water in contact with the post end grain.

I used 4"x4" treated softwood for ours and copied an installation I saw elsewhere. You need an *L* shaped piece of galvanised steel (they used stainless) with the long arm bolted through a slot in your post bottom and the short arm fixed to a concrete pad with a rag bolt or similar.

As has been said, diagonal bracing will make the structure rigid. Photo later if required. Current age 16 years:-)

regards

In message , Tim Lamb writes

Photos here.

regards

The fence at the bottom of our garden is shared between 2 neigbours, and owned by then, they both replaced the whole fence about 10 years ago, the one on the right had 2 posts, he concreted them straight in..... they have rotted through at the base and it's only the structure of the fence holding it all up,

The other neigbour had 3 posts, he too concreted them in, but he wrapped the bottoms of the posts in damp proof membrane, those 3 posts are absolutely solid, despite being the same age as the rotted ones, and the exact same wood from the same place, so pressure treatment was the same.

i'm in the moddile of building a shed and aviary, i've used damp proof membrane to cover the bottoms of the beams that are in contact with the concrete pad the shed sits on, so except for a torrential downpour flooding the pad, no water should ever make it to the beams, got my parents to do the same with their new shed, as the old one was 10 years old, and totally rotted underneath.

good point ..... it would also look a lot better

can you post a pic ?

I built a car port and did a similar approach .... had brackets welded up & galvanized, so that end of 6x6 posts sat on a support horizontal as well as slotted .

Just for my education, how do you cut neat slots in timber of that size please?

Just for my education, how do you cut neat slots in timber of that size please?

In message , Robin writes

Big circular saw bench with TC tipped blade, in my case. Tilt the post so the teeth cut parallel to the foot and just advance the work by the depth of cut you need.

regards

In message , Rick Hughes writes

Out there somewhere:-)

I think 4" is plenty strong enough. Aesthetically a heavier crosspiece might look better. My long runs are 4"x2" and the diagonal bracing at

The trellis is B+Q finest fitted in alternate bays.

regards