We've gotten estimates from 4 fence companies and want to know which
is better for Florida -- cypress or pressure treated pine. We get both
opinions from the 4.

Also, do all fence posts need to be secured with concrete or only the
ones that support gates?

On Jun 30, 6:45*pm, torpeau wrote:
We've gotten estimates from 4 fence companies and want to know which
is better for Florida -- cypress or pressure treated pine. We get both
opinions from the 4.

Also, do all fence posts need to be secured with concrete or only the
ones that support gates?

Your fence posts will last a lot longer if you use metal spikes which
just drive in.
http://www.screwfix.com/prods/27750/...5BBOCSTHZOCFGA

These overcome the problem of the posts rotting off at ground level.
Picture here. obviously you will go somewhere local.

Your gateposts will be bigger and concreted in.

On Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:45:23 -0700 (PDT), torpeau
wrote:


We've gotten estimates from 4 fence companies and want to know which
is better for Florida -- cypress or pressure treated pine. We get both
opinions from the 4.

Where in Florida? Cypress trees live in water covered swamps mostly.
I have a furniture piece from cypress (old).

What ever you do, consider the water table.

Also, do all fence posts need to be secured with concrete or only the
ones that support gates?

One of the 4 companies should know this. What works in N. FL may not
be the same in S. FL or even Key West.

On Jun 30, 12:45*pm, torpeau wrote:
We've gotten estimates from 4 fence companies and want to know which
is better for Florida -- cypress or pressure treated pine. We get both
opinions from the 4.

Also, do all fence posts need to be secured with concrete or only the
ones that support gates?

Pressure treated develop a lot of cracks and generally look bad after
a few years. It weathers to a light gray color. Cypress doesn't
crack near as bad, but it does turn much darker, even bleeding through
stained coatings. Cypress is a little more expensive than PT but not
much. I've been told that cypress lasts very well when used in wet
locations (docks & piers), but not near as long in dry locations
(fences). I built my cypress fence last year so don't have any way of
knowing it that is true or not.

Red

Four fence companies and various opinions. Based on this thread and
how we weighed what the four companies said, we are going with the
cypress and with only the gate posts concreted.

Supposedly cypress holds up a bit better -- considering warping,
durability, etc. The company we chose said that posts tend to get
brittle of the years and as they move slightly they could break. The
gate posts need the concrete for stability and will have steel
bracing. One company gave a discount for cash -- made them
competitive, but was a turn-off to people who had taxes deducted from
our salaries.