Fence post idea??

Anonymous-0 · Apr 28, 2012

Hey,
Got this brainstorm and don't know whether to kill it or try it...

Got the OK to put up a more permanent fence at a couple of our places..
Only small areas so not a lot of posts.

Ground water is high in winter and the ground stays moist all year.

Just use a normal post, paint it with tar, and tamp it with peagravel?

My brainstorm is 6" PVC set like a post, cenented in, and filled with concrete (and hope I get my hooks etc in the right spot the first time :roll: )...... As I type this, thinking it'll be a whole lot less trouble just replacing a rotten post or two if ever needed....

So, if I use wood, locust is like hens teeth... Choices local are sawmill oak, larch, and some pines. Cut and skinned pine from the woods (maybe oak?)... and store bought pressure treated in either 4x4's or round posts...
what should I use???

Can find locust and cedar now and then but not often......

Thanks, Dave

C.R. · Apr 28, 2012

I think that PVC would get brittle if exposed to lots of sunlight. I knew a fellow had a tavern who tried that for something and the posts made of PVC snapped off easly maybe iron or steel pipe would do better?

Anonymous-0 · Apr 28, 2012

Order of outdoor wood durability is Osage orange, locust, white oak, mulberry, and Cherry. I might have the last 3 mixed up, but they are so close, as to be practically the same. I think larch is one of the least rot resistant. Cedar is somewhere near white oak, but from my experience, not much better than pressure treated (about 12 year life, near water). PVC idea has its merits.

504 · Apr 28, 2012

There are a lot of concrete posts around central
IL, (mostly on railroad right of way)a couple
pieces of re-rod for cracking and your good to
go.

SweetFeet · Apr 28, 2012

How about a heavy steel T-post, or large rebar in the center of your concrete as a reinforcement? Maybe dig a hole, put the steel post in place - then install the pvc and fill it up with concrete. Seems like the steel post stuck into the ground would maybe help hold the whole thing straight while the concrete sets up.

Could the hooks just be banded around the post with something like a large hose clamp? That way they'd be adjustable, or if one gets bad/broken - you could replace it.

Anonymous-0 · Apr 28, 2012

(quoted from post at 04:37:22 04/28/12) I think that PVC would get brittle if exposed to lots of sunlight. I knew a fellow had a tavern who tried that for something and the posts made of PVC snapped off easly maybe iron or steel pipe would do better?

PVC would be a form to be filled with cement.....
But would be an eyesore as it started breaking away I guess.... Good catch!

Anonymous-0 · Apr 28, 2012

(quoted from post at 04:42:44 04/28/12) How about a heavy steel T-post, or large rebar in the center of your concrete as a reinforcement? Maybe dig a hole, put the steel post in place - then install the pvc and fill it up with concrete. Seems like the steel post stuck into the ground would maybe help hold the whole thing straight while the concrete sets up.

Could the hooks just be banded around the post with something like a large hose clamp? That way they'd be adjustable, or if one gets bad/broken - you could replace it.

You's just tryin to get back at me for the other day :roll:

You know how you wimmens is... If I put sumpin up for her horses with hoseclamps and stuff fastened to it, I'd be livin at the shed and the horses at the house...

Good point with the Tpost as an anchor though....

Thanks...

Anonymous-0 · Apr 28, 2012

(quoted from post at 04:39:31 04/28/12) Order of outdoor wood durability is Osage orange, locust, white oak, mulberry, and Cherry. I might have the last 3 mixed up, but they are so close, as to be practically the same. I think larch is one of the least rot resistant. Cedar is somewhere near white oak, but from my experience, not much better than pressure treated (about 12 year life, near water). PVC idea has its merits.

If I can get 12 years out of a wooden post, that's what goes in there... Wife is on ebay looking for locust but sawmill oak from a quarter mile away is sounding like a lot less stress... Nice to nail boards on also.......

Heard about filling/tamping with pea gravel... Does it have to be smooth or will 1/4"+/- limestone be OK??

Thanks, Dave

Richard G. · Apr 28, 2012

Sunlight resistant pvc conduit. I inch thick walled. Helped a fellow years ago with a long fence. Bore holes in it for wire clips and one hole near the ground level to let water out to prevent freezing. Drove them in with a hand post driver and put up high tensile electric wire. Been up about 20 years with no problems. A car ran over the fence years ago and it just bent down without breaking. The driver could not figure how to get back out until the farmer let him out a gate. Use a treated post at corners and pulls with spring tensioners on wire.
Richard

John B. · Apr 28, 2012

Whatever type of wooden post you use, build a fire and char the end of the posts that will be in the ground. A charred piece of wood never rots. Old timers use to do that.
That's why you see old burnt stumps that never go away..

Handyman · Apr 28, 2012

I needed a new gate post one time and had no posts to use but I did have some PVC pipe so I dug two holes poured a footer in the bottom of them with rebar sticking up out of them then I put the pipe over that backfilled and then filled the pipe with concrete. had both pipes tied together with a steel pipe for a cross tie been there for ten years now and even bumped it with a tractor a couple times and its never moved, pipe still looks good with no cracking or splitting.

Dachshund · Apr 28, 2012

You put up that PVC with concrete, and it will be
there long after you ain't.....

Bigdaddy4430 · Apr 28, 2012

Ive seen guys north of here, take is take either woven wire or cattle panel and make about a 4 ft loop and fill with stone and ue for a corner post.Seems like alot of work to me but to each his own.

MeAnthony · Apr 28, 2012

This would work more for your corners, but something I saw recently was they'd taken a piece of woven wire fencing(or maybe a section of hog panel?), curled it into about an 18" diameter circle and filled it with rocks. Heavy, and large footprint, so should be stable. If you hit it with some cheap paint, would be more visible and more durable.

Good luck,

Anthony

donjr · Apr 28, 2012

Dave, the best thing I've found yet, and the cheapest, is an old phone or electric pole. They're heavy, can be cut into varying lengths and last for a long time. And can be used for a gate post.

Anonymous-0 · Apr 28, 2012

(quoted from post at 08:45:03 04/28/12) Dave, the best thing I've found yet, and the cheapest, is an old phone or electric pole. They're heavy, can be cut into varying lengths and last for a long time. And can be used for a gate post.

Thanks to the tree huggers, light poles and RR ties are fewer than locust posts. Saw a pile of them at a place a few years ago and asked. Guy said he bought them for a real good price only to find out he had been had by a pro..... Other guy unloaded them on him and got money out of them and he is stuck with them. Says he can't use them and can only get rid of them by turning them in to the landfill as hazmat (considerable bucks).....
Prolly not that drastic, but sure has folks scared........

Ozlander · Apr 28, 2012

sawmill oak from a quarter mile away is sounding like a lot less stress... Nice to nail boards on also.......
Thanks, Dave

White oak = GOOD

Red oak = not good

Anonymous-0 · Apr 28, 2012

I use bois'darc posts. They last forever. Roy

Anonymous-0 · Apr 28, 2012

Don, the problem I have with old poles is, that they are pine or spruce, or some sort of soft wood, what typically happens is that the center rots out, and the outer ring splinters and cracks, as you drive in staples. Staples kinda back themselves out, and you have to tighten or restaple, every year. I have heard the trick of charring, Right now, I am using some 3 x3 dunnage pieces made of cherry, they were used in a kiln, and must have gone through it many times. They are so dry, they don't absorb water. I am creosoting them, and planting them on a fence in the woods. Want to see if they last longer than PT posts.

Fence post idea??

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