My wood fence posts are rotting off,,,what to do?

[radios1]

cementing the posts in, with the cement going above ground level will keep the moisture from rotting the posts at ground level.. it's all about keeping the moisture from getting to the posts without being able to dry out quickly.. but then look at telephone poles, how long they last!. Creosote makes them last at least 60 years!. Cuprinol may work too..

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Around here, if it's not a corner post, we just drive a T post next to the rotted wood post and wire them together.

SR

 

[hslogger]

If you post is rotting at ground level and broken off, here is what I have done with great success. Dig down with a pick or trowel, around the post a few inches. You will find that there is some solidness down there. I have a choker made out of real small diameter cable. quarter inch is a bit too big but works. 3/16 or one eight .One one is a loop. You run the standing end through the loop to choke the wood. Have some way to attach the standing end via loop or grab teeth to your pulling device. I have used my ancient handyman jack. I have used come along attached to the tractor bucket. I would not suggest using the bucket itself. What you want is a slow even pull, slowwww even pull to break the suction and you will have your post coming out of the hole. This tip came to me years ago by a professional fence builder who has built miles and miles of fence and done many repairs of old fence.

In Western Oregon the best longest living posts in the ground are Douglas fir posts that are creosote or penta treated. By and large, the more common pines, white fir, etc are cheaper and more likely to fail early than the forementioned. I have RR ties for corners that I installed early 80s and they are still doing the job. If you gonna sink wooden posts get the best you can lay your hands on.

 

[Rustyiron]

I hung a gate on a locust post and pounded a rr tie in for the gate catch. This was about 25 years ago. Several years ago the RR tie fell over (rotten) and the locust post (that's supporting the 16' gate) is still there.

 

[sixdogs]

To solve the problem, wrap a piece of tar paper or heavy plastic around the post at ground level, both above and below. Problem solved. That's how the early telephone posts were put in. Some people put the bottom part of the post in a thick plastic bag and it does the same thing.

This was common knowledge when I lived in rural Maine. The low PH of the soil--sour--causes the posts to rot when mixed with water and oxygen at ground level.. A 5" cedar post would only last 7 years and then snap off. With tar paper around it, it lasted much longer.

 

[oosik]

What Sawyer Rob said - post#22. T-133 post should be easy to drive. That's all I use for the perimeter fence on my 80 acres here... T-133. Heavy home made pounder put them in easily.

You will have the strength of the steel post plus retain the look of the wood post.

 

[ruffdog]

What Sawyer Rob said - post#22. T-133 post should be easy to drive. That's all I use for the perimeter fence on my 80 acres here... T-133. Heavy home made pounder put them in easily.

You will have the strength of the steel post plus retain the look of the wood post.

Yeah, that sounds the most reasonable at this point. Thanks for the responses guys.

 

[shooterdon]

What Sawyer Rob said - post#22. T-133 post should be easy to drive. That's all I use for the perimeter fence on my 80 acres here... T-133. Heavy home made pounder put them in easily.

You will have the strength of the steel post plus retain the look of the wood post.

Agree 100%. Cheap and easy.

 

[Semper Paratus]

On my parent's place in North MS, in the late 80s we were pulling the wire off of some old posts and pulling the posts. An older African American gentleman came by and told us he had built that fence "before the war". We quizzed him a bit and verified before the war was WW2. Those posts were already 50 ish years old, they had remnants of two previous sets of wire and the wire we were pulling. We reused those posts and when my parents passed in 2014, and we sold the property the posts were still holding hi tensile barbed wire. The post material you ask...Osage Orange, Bo Dock, Bois d'arc, hedge apple, what ever you want to call it.

 

[PILOON]

I cheat---
My split cedar rail fencing looks very traditional but I use 'T bars' and wire the split rails to the T's.
Then I use shorter (mostly cut offs rails) and wire halves , front and back, to hide the T bar posts.
From fairly up close U can't see any difference and from afar sure looks traditional.

LOL and my posts never rot.