"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
o.uk...
It occurs to me that any wooden post concreted into a hole in the ground
is going to rot eventually, tanalised or whatever - it's got to be a
matter of time.

The worst area is going to be the end grain by my reckoning, since end
grain is the most absorbent and is going to absorb moisture faster than
any other part of the post.

Soaking the end in wood preserver is one option, but are there others?

A couple of inches of gravel in the bottom of the hole would provide a
natural drain, but might weaken the installation.

Wrapping the post in a plastic bag could work, but again might weaken the
installation because the concrete wouldn't bond to the post.

Piece of DPM in the bottom of the hole?

Any thoughts?


Hi Dave, I concreted our 3" posts in 18+ years ago and although painted with
preserver at the time and subsequently with a mix of old oil etc they are
now rotting, with the last gales fracturing some posts. They rotted just at
ground level and not apparently lower down. I expected to just chip out the
post remains and slot in another but the wood appears quite sound with
initial drillings revealing sound wood.

Gio