Fence posts

   / Fence posts #1  

Toyboy

Platinum Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2010
Messages
978
Location
Hayward Wi
Tractor
Kubota BX2230D
I don't know if any of you would bother to do this with all the treated lumber now days. When I'm putting a post or whatever into the ground, I'll first spray the below ground portion with rubberized undercoating you get at WalMart etc. I've had some in the ground over 20 years (bird house posts) and when I pulled them, they were solid. It also works good on fresh cuts on trees if you like to seal them. Some do, some don't. Just thought I'd pass that along.
 
   / Fence posts #2  
Very interesting, your poles had no bark on I take it. I use the stuff after pruning large limbs on trees, apple trees too.
 
   / Fence posts #3  
What is it called? just rubberized undercoating?

What species is the wood of your bird house post?
 
   / Fence posts #4  
I've been using 8' untreated landscape timbers for horse fencing for 25 years. When I have pulled them up to move a fence line they are still good (although I turn them upside down for good luck). BTW: they are $1.97 apiece at Lowes every day around here. I screw my bluebird houses to these post. They are made from cedar fence boards . Racoons, sparrows amd birdshot (to kill the sparrows) are the only things making them go bad...
 
   / Fence posts
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Rubberized Undercoating comes in various brands. I just mentioned WalMart because most everyone has one close by. It's pretty cheap too, under $3 a can if I recall right. I've been using it on cedar posts for bird houses, but I've gone to using it on anything buried in the ground, treated or untreated (which can go bad also). Works really well in wet areas. Keeps the post from drawing water. I put a couple of 4x4 treated posts w/dead men on them in my sand volleyball court last year. Sprayed them before setting them, and don't have to worry about ever replacing them. Not in my lifetime anyway.:D

Years ago I sprayed several coats on the bottom of a stainless steel kitchen sink to kill the tinny sound. It's best to do that on a new sink, so you can let it cure and give it time for the odor to dissipate for a couple weeks before installing.
 
   / Fence posts #6  
Years ago I sprayed several coats on the bottom of a stainless steel kitchen sink to kill the tinny sound. It's best to do that on a new sink, so you can let it cure and give it time for the odor to dissipate for a couple weeks before installing.
Did this also years ago, couldn't see paying the xtra $20 they wanted for a "sound deadened" sink.
 
   / Fence posts #7  
I've been using 8' untreated landscape timbers for horse fencing for 25 years.

I'm wondering whether what you call "landscape timbers" is the same thing we call by that name; 8' poles, round on two sides and flat on two sides. And I suppose the time it takes them to rot out depends on your soil, but they don't last any time at all in this part of the country. I've never known of one to last 2 years and usually less than one year.
 
   / Fence posts #8  
I don't know if any of you would bother to do this with all the treated lumber now days. When I'm putting a post or whatever into the ground, I'll first spray the below ground portion with rubberized undercoating you get at WalMart etc. I've had some in the ground over 20 years (bird house posts) and when I pulled them, they were solid. It also works good on fresh cuts on trees if you like to seal them. Some do, some don't. Just thought I'd pass that along.
I do something similar with any wood product that I place in the ground...I use "brush grade" asphalt foundation coating...pretty cheap by the 5 gallon bucket at Lowe's or Home Depot. Works really well.
 
   / Fence posts #9  
I know its a sin to resurrect dead threads, but just wondering, 10 years later, how the asphalt or rubber coatings are working? I know the ACQ pressure treating isn't as good as the CCA-- had to do some repairs on the 12 year old deck at my mom's while we were in the US this winter-- posts I had put in the ground in concrete. Likewise, some 4x4 fence posts broke off at the base when a limb I was cutting off a tree hit the fence, they weren't older than 15 years. Coming back to Slovakia, some of the smaller black locust posts I used on our pasture fence have rotted in five years. Apparently, young wood on black locusts isn't resistant.

There is a product from England called a "Post Saver" which heat shrinks around the bottom part of the posts, but, well, its in England, everything shipping wise is screwed up by COVID-19, and I can get asphalt water proofing compound or rubber-asphalt underbody paint easily. Wondering if its worth the added cost and time to coat the bottoms of the new posts I'll put in (which will be either black locust, or some small oaks I've had to cut down).
 
   / Fence posts #10  
I've always thought that painting tar or something similar on the bottom portion of a post would help. Especially in the area where it's just under the surface, and just above the ground. But when I install a post, I've never done it. I make sure to mound up the soil or concrete so water drains away from the post and there isn't a low area next to the post. That low area holds water, and that water causes the rot. If you can get the water away from the post, there is no standing water, and the posts seem to last forever. 100% of every rotten post that I've seen has been from there being a low area around the base of the post. When I remove the post, the buried part usually looks brand new.
 
 
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