Post Supports

[Chris J Dixon]

I am contemplating building a small freestanding pergola, and considering the fixing method.

I want to avoid potential rot, so have discounted directly concreting in the uprights.

The last time I tried drive-in post supports I found it quite tricky to drive them whilst maintaining alignment, and I had to abandon one as I just couldn't get it past some buried rocks. (1)

I see that concrete-in supports are also available, which could be the best option. Am I right? Which make is best?

(1) Luckily it was only an arbour, and a diagonal pair has proved perfectly adequate.

Chris

[Chris J Dixon]

I had hoped for at least a comment. Will I have to wait 15 years for someone to spot it on one of the mirror sites?

Chris

[Richard]

Ah. Perhaps the tone was not quite right. Should've tried: "Contemplating building a shelter/prison for illegal immigrants.." and then following with the post dilemma.

Personally, I'd go for the concrete-in option.

[harry]

To drive in fencing spikes straight, you need to make a hole in the ground first with a bar.

[Tim Lamb]

If you go back 10 years or so... we had a discussion. I suggested using a strip of steel, slotted and bolted into the post foot and then concreted into a small pad.

The idea is that the post foot is not in contact with the soil and does not rot so readily. I got the idea from a rather grand pergola at Henley which used thick stainless steel!

[RobertL]

A slight variant: You can but post feet (that grip the post like the spikey ones) that have a flat base designed to be bolted down onto concrete. You could dig and fill concrete pads and then bolt these feet onto them.

[TMH]

I used those for the gate in my back fence and they worked well. I used these

[Chris J Dixon]

I had a bar, and drove it in. As it happened that still left a solid enough rock to block and then bend one arm of the crossed spike.

Chris