Cypress post or pressure treated

[rickyb01]

I had a retaining wall built and had 10" plastic corregated sleeves installed while wall was going up. So the bottom is all sb2 rock and they are 24" deep. I going to put in 6x6 post and put up a railing for protection. What do you guys think will last longer? Cypress post or Treated Pine.

Would you concrete or gravel the post?

Thanks Rick

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I would put tamped stone under the post, for good drainage, then back fill. When the hole in about 2/3's filled, I'd break a bag of premixed concrete in the hole, and let it pull moisture from the soil and "set" itself.

So far where I live, that makes the longest lasting pole.

Setting the pole IN concrete makes the "shortest" lasting hole!

SR

 

[polkwrangler]

I would use a good grade pressure treated pine with gravel on bottom

 

[CADplans]

In Virginia, only "virgin growth" cypress has rot resistance,, really O L D trees.
The regrowth that is now harvested has not been standing long enough to develop rot resistance.

I have had several friends make outdoor furniture out of recently (relative, time-wise) cut cypress.
It rots like pine or spruce,,,

Use pressure treated!! :thumbsup:

 

[Ford850]

In Virginia, only "virgin growth" cypress has rot resistance,, really O L D trees.
The regrowth that is now harvested has not been standing long enough to develop rot resistance.

I have had several friends make outdoor furniture out of recently (relative, time-wise) cut cypress.
It rots like pine or spruce,,,

Use pressure treated!! :thumbsup:

Exactly. I had some Adirondack chairs made from cypress, and they rotted just like untreated white pine. I would use treated posts.

 

[roadhunter]

This is always a good conversation. Putting ravel around a post either makes it drain really well or gives a place for water to collect around the post in the porous structure. Just depends on the situation, soil type, grading, etc..

RR ties seem to hold up really well compared to the newer treatments unless you can get wood with a Penta or QNAP treatment which are superior to what's available at most lumbar yards who use water based treatments.

 

[EddieWalker]

Around here, cypress is too expensive to use for posts, so I don't know how well it will work. Cedar is popular, but it doesn't last as long as a treated post does. I've found that when a treated posts is installed properly it will be there a very long time.

In every post that I've seen that rotted out, it always happens at ground level. The dirt settled, or the concrete was poured below grade, and when it rains, water puddles around the post. I don't think it matters too much if you use dirt or concrete to set the post, as long as you have drainage away from the post. Concrete built up like a cone is always going to be there to shed water, dirt built up tends to wash away over time.

I've read about putting gravel at the base of a post for drainage, but I don't understand how that works. It seems to me that the gravel will hold more water and create a wet area at the bottom of the hole. Why would water drain away from gravel once its in there? I've never seen any evidence that this causes any issues, but I've removed enough posts to know that the bottom of a 50 year old post will still look brand new when the rest of it looks its age.

 

[rickyb01]

The structure of retaining wall will drain the hole the post goes in. I'm going with pressure treated pine and will concrete them. Thanks for the reply's I will have more questions in the future. Ricky

 

[CCWKen]

Be sure to read the labels on whatever you get. "Pressure Treated" no longer means it's rated for ground contact automatically. I bought some PT 2x4s and plywood with the intention of building a gas can locker outside the barn. Basically a large foot locker where the top and front open and elevated off the ground with said 2x4s on end. As I was getting ready to start cutting, I started pulling the staples and labels off the ends. Previously, I just pitched them but they were a different color than they used to be. I looked at one and in bold letters it said; "Not for ground contact". That was a bummer.

Apparently, there's now different classes of pressure treated lumber. IIRC, it's a number scale and only the high number is rated for ground contact. I'll have to re-educate myself before heading back to get "ground contact" lumber. :ashamed:

I suspect our Govment had a lot to do with this in an effort to protect us.

 

[Gary Fowler]

The clayey soils where I have experience with fence post holds water forever in a hole. The best solution to that is to encapsulate the post completely in concrete and build up a cone of concrete at the top of the ground level so that at least 2" of concrete is above the ground. I start by putting in at least 3" of dry mix concrete in the bottom of the hole then set the post on top then fill the hole with dry mix and water it in a bit on top. The ground moisture is enough to fully hydrate any that isn't watered. I dug up some post that had been it the ground 20 years, used a sledge hammer to break off the concrete and the post looked new in the concreted portion. I used the same post to rebuild the fence that had been blown over and misaligned from a hurricane.