Treating Wooden Posts

[manoman]

Whats the best thing to treat a 5"x5" post with before it gets buried as a gate post?

Thanks

Phil

[Dave Gibson]

Stand it up in brewing bucket (or taller - depends how deep you are burying it), and fill up to 6" above ground line with wood preserver. Leave to soak for 2 or 3 days or more.

When I put my 3 inch posts in for my fence 23 years ago I used blanked off

2'6" lengths of plastic sewer pipe as a container and soaked each and every post for 2 days.

Its still standing firm with no sign of rot. Cheapest to buy 25 litre drums of preserver if you have a lot to do.

Dave

[Andy Hall]

It's best if you can buy a pressure treated one.

If you can't, or anyway, soak the end that will go into the ground in a solvent based preservative such as Cuprinol Wood Preserver for 24 hours before putting in the ground.

.andy

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[manoman]

Only have two posts to do, looks like this is gonna be pricey!

Thanks for the advice Dave,

Phil

[manoman]

Cheers Andy, will see what I can come up with in a visit to B&Q tomorrow

Phil

[Andy Hall]

It's worth taking the time and trouble though.

I spent last weekend replacing some fence posts that I had had somebody install about 5 years ago when I didn't have time to do it myself. Unbeknown to me, these had not been properly treated where they were going below ground level and had rotted in that time.

The failure will always come when it is cold and raining and blowing half a gale. Trust me, you'll be pleased you took the trouble if you don't need to touch these for 15 years.

.andy

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[Andy Hall]

If you can get to somewhere like Jewsons or BuilderCenter tomorrow morning, you should be able to get it a bit cheaper.

It's roundabout £20 for a 5 litre can for Cuprinol in various colours, a couple of ££s less for an own brand with less colour choice.

Look at the tin carefully, though and make sure you get a solvent one. A lot of the stuff sold in DIY stores is water based and not as effective for this purpose. There will be a label on it saying High VOC (volatile organic compounds), and that is what you want.

.andy

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[manoman]

Andy, you're a star. And to think 3 months ago I didnt know what a newsgroup was.

To update anyone who remembers (or cares) the block paved drive is almost down and the 29' x 9'6 garage base is drying as I type. The 6mm2 SWA is laid under the concrete (and obviously sticking out of it at the appropriate end)

Its all very exciting. Only a few weeks to wait for the garage itself and a reconditioned authentic pub pool table.

Woohoo!

[Grunff]

It's really worth finding somewhere local who pressure treat - it is

*sooo* handy to be able to pick up the phone and order x shape+size of softwood pressure treated.

[Andy Hall]

Agreed. Generally a sawmill or similar who make fencing, garden buildings and the like have pressure treating equipment and the material is fairly inexpensive.

I bought some so called pressure treated timber from B&Q not long ago, and either it wasn't treated properly or it had just been dipped. When sawn through, there was very little penetration of preservative.

.andy

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[T i m]

[T] Maybe they supplied my fencing supplier ... both of the 6" sq, pressure treated (tannalised?) gate posts I fitted 10 years ago have now rotted through (at ground level, AND I stood them in a bucket of creosote for a week).

Someone suggested drilling a hole into the post just above the ground level and 'feeding' it with preserative at regular intervals?

The next pair I fit will be 'soaked' in concrete or steel . The concrete ones I fitted 25 years ago haven't gone rotten and I did nothing to them before I fitted them (or since)!

I have found one good use for wood though ... bonfires ;-(

All the best ..

T i m

[Grunff]

It's just not necessary with proper pressure treated timber. We have gate post of various ages. One pair is over 20 years old, and looks as good as new (if slightly bleached). As long as the treatment is done correctly, the timber is extremely resilient. We never do anything to them - they just stand there.

[T i m]

[T] I'm glad you have had better luck than me ;-)

I'm probably going to replace the 2 x 6' panel side gates on 6" square (wooden) posts with a steel sliding gate for several reasons.

1) I don't have much room in the back garden / yard for any gates that open inwards.

2) I do have room down between the existing 6' panel fence and the garage for the sliding gate to run.

3) It would probably be a more secure solution

4) It would be easy to open for the missus

5) It might look sufficiently different from the surrounding fencework for people to spot the gate, the dropped kerb and white line AND NOT PARK ACROSS IT! (but I doubt it ..)

I wouldn't want to risk all that on wooden posts so they will probably be 5" square galv steel ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

[Pete C]

Cuprinol green or equivalent. Make sure the post is well dried out and soak the end that will be buried plus 6 - 12" for as long as possible, using the amount stated in the instructions.

cheers, Pete.

[Pete C]

Maybe the timber was still wet below the surface, and stopped the creostoe soaking in. Pressure treating is normally done to 'green' wood that has not been kiln dried, and is only a surface treatment.

cheers, Pete

[stuart noble]

Concrete

[PoP]

On Thu, 26 Feb 2004 10:07:13 -0000, "stuart noble"