I am currently creating a ‘Stockade’ type fence at the bottom of my garden. It’s a joint venture between myself and one of the back-to-back neighbours (our boundary wall was in a dangerous state so we’ve agreed to replace it).
Where possible, I’ll be sinking posts into holes in the ground and setting them in postcrete.
A couple of the posts will be bolted to the neighbours garage foundations using bolt on meta posts.
Finally, where my back garden joins another neighbour’s back garden – which is at a slightly lower level than mine, I’ve used drive in meta-posts. Before driving in these posts, I dug down about 18 inches but was not able to get further down. This meant that on one side of the hole, there wasn’t really sufficient support to hold a post – hence the drive in meta-posts (confused – see diagram below)
OK, to the question(s).
What’s the best preservative to use on the fence posts? I’ve trawled through this site and seen some mention of using bitumen. Is this simply a case of painting bitumen onto pressure treated posts or do I need to preserve them further with a wood preservative – if so, which is best? Overall, the fence is going to be green but if needs must, I’ll use a different colour (black if bitumen) for the below ground level and first few inches above ground.
Secondly, as mentioned, some of the posts will be using drive in meta posts which have sockets some distance below the ground surface. Here is a diagram for help.
______XXXXXXXXXXX_______
XXXXXX|XXXXXXXXXX|XXXXXXX\
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XXXXXX|XXXXXXXXXX|XXXXXXXXX\
XXXXXX|XXXXXXXXXX|XXXXXXXXXX\___________
XXXXXX|XXXXXXXXXX|XXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXX|XXX|XXX|XX|
XXXXXX|___|___|__|
XXXXXXXXXXXV
XXXXXXXXXXXV
XXXXXXXXXXXV
XXXXXXXXXXXV
XXXXXXXXXXXV
XXXXXXXXXXXV
XXXXXXXXXXXV
The left shows the level of land on my side, the right is the neighbours.
Once the wooden post is in place, is it possible to then concrete over the bottom of the post and the socket. The post will be a six and a half foot post which I think is too big for the socket. This way, there’s 2 foot driven into the ground, and 18 inches sort of supported in concrete – overall the amount above ground would be about 5 foot.
Many thanks in advance
Gordon
Where possible, I’ll be sinking posts into holes in the ground and setting them in postcrete.
A couple of the posts will be bolted to the neighbours garage foundations using bolt on meta posts.
Finally, where my back garden joins another neighbour’s back garden – which is at a slightly lower level than mine, I’ve used drive in meta-posts. Before driving in these posts, I dug down about 18 inches but was not able to get further down. This meant that on one side of the hole, there wasn’t really sufficient support to hold a post – hence the drive in meta-posts (confused – see diagram below)
OK, to the question(s).
What’s the best preservative to use on the fence posts? I’ve trawled through this site and seen some mention of using bitumen. Is this simply a case of painting bitumen onto pressure treated posts or do I need to preserve them further with a wood preservative – if so, which is best? Overall, the fence is going to be green but if needs must, I’ll use a different colour (black if bitumen) for the below ground level and first few inches above ground.
Secondly, as mentioned, some of the posts will be using drive in meta posts which have sockets some distance below the ground surface. Here is a diagram for help.
______XXXXXXXXXXX_______
XXXXXX|XXXXXXXXXX|XXXXXXX\
XXXXXX|XXXXXXXXXX|XXXXXXXX\
XXXXXX|XXXXXXXXXX|XXXXXXXXX\
XXXXXX|XXXXXXXXXX|XXXXXXXXXX\___________
XXXXXX|XXXXXXXXXX|XXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXX|XXX|XXX|XX|
XXXXXX|___|___|__|
XXXXXXXXXXXV
XXXXXXXXXXXV
XXXXXXXXXXXV
XXXXXXXXXXXV
XXXXXXXXXXXV
XXXXXXXXXXXV
XXXXXXXXXXXV
The left shows the level of land on my side, the right is the neighbours.
Once the wooden post is in place, is it possible to then concrete over the bottom of the post and the socket. The post will be a six and a half foot post which I think is too big for the socket. This way, there’s 2 foot driven into the ground, and 18 inches sort of supported in concrete – overall the amount above ground would be about 5 foot.
Many thanks in advance
Gordon