"Dennis the Menace"
wrote in message
roups.com...
replying to BigWallop, Dennis the Menace wrote:
spam.guard wrote:

"Rod" wrote in message
...
ends
no
me
your
the
the
holes.
The end quality should also be considered, in any kind of job. If you
have
the time to maintain the work after installation, then, by all means, go
with the flow. If you fit and forget, then it's always best to take the
time, and maybe spend just a little more, to do the thing properly so it
lasts.
I notice that a lot of confidence is now put into these newer products,
but
do they do the job to last the rigors of time? If they are meant for the
quick DIYer to make it look pretty in a short space of time, will the job
actually last the full lifetime guarantee period?
I personally hate the quick fix mentality that has been forced into the
DIY
market. A proper job, to me in any case, is one where the installation
is
still there, and still looking as good as when it was installed, when I
pass
by in ten or twenty years time.
A coat of paint or tighten with a spanner to keep it looking good, is all
it
should need. Most DIY Stores now sell ready made mixtures of most
products,
and at a much cheaper cost. I have seen half bags of sand and cement
for,
literally, pennies, and small bags of ballast gravel to mix with them at
a
couple of quid a bag.
I'm not the type to go back and forth to maintain things. It takes a
major
disaster to destroy anything I install. So the job should be done
properly,
right from the design stage, before I will tackle it. Any job can be
done
with a little thought before hands-on. Most DIYers will tackle a job
with
great gusto at the start, then find that a little bit of preparation
would
have done the work quicker, and sometimes cheaper, if they had looked
before
going ahead.
Once your fence posts are fixed, that should be them finished. If you
have
to make adjustments after you have poured the ballast, then you are
making
the job weaker than it could / should have been. That goes for one or
many
posts. If you make fencing without fixing the posts first, any
adjustments
can be sorted before the posts are fixed in their final positions.
Leveling and straightening should all be done without the posts being
fixed.
Holding the posts in place with small battens of timber, or metal struts,
then fixing your filler panels, or whatever, in between, allows you to
make
all the small adjustments that make the fence look great. Once
everything
is in place, then you make your mix and fix your posts in their final
positions.
If you want to use PostCrete to fix the posts in their final positions,
then
all good and well. But, in my opinion, don't fix the posts until you know
the fence is going to look the part, and is going to last the years you
want
it to.
But that's just me. :-) Rant over. LOL



I'm going to try doing some post and rail, without putting the posts in
first, I'll keep you posted!


Posts last longest in the metal post spikes.
Also quicker to erect.
Any form of burial leads to rot in a few years especially now the treament
on the timber is such crap. ie no arsenic/copper allowed any more.