Fixing wood fence posts, 2 questions

I have a wood picket fence, 44" high, with about 35 fence posts, round,
4" in diameter iirc.

I have two problems.

1) One is loose. It feels like it has broken off maybe 8" above the
bottom end. How to fix it????

I thought I would disconnect it from the fence, pull it out (which I
think will be easy), take a replacement (easy to find), cut it to the
same length as the piece that comes out**, put the post in plus some
instacrete or sackcrete***, pour in some water, and let it harden.

Is that okay? If the part of the first post every rots away, and the
post sinks, I can replace it again.

**Well actually I would put the new post in and use it like a pile
driver to crush the old post stub as much as I can. Then extend a
string from the posts to the left and right of this one, and mark this
one so it's the same height as the other two.
*** (the speedy stuff or the regular stuff both work, I hear)


2) Some of the posts are hollow in the top center, going down 2, 3 even
maybe 4 inches. . Water sits on them and the wood rots or crumbles.
Sometimes green plant life grows in the holes

a) I thought I should drill a hole in the side so the water drains out.
or
b) I should fill the holes with something, something that looks like the
original post if possible. . I had tried outdoor wood glue mixed with a
lot of sawdust. but that broke up.

Suggestions?

Thanks.

You should use a construction adhesive like LePage's PL Premium to glue 1/8 inch thick steel plates to the top of your posts to act like little "roofs" to keep the post dry.

You may have to cut the top of the posts off in order to get solid wood to glue your steel roofs to.

Better to dig out the old post and put in a new one.
Casting a post in concrete will accelerate rotting, by
trapping water around the area where the post goes
into the concrete, and will be more work next time.

With the tops: You might just trim down the rotted
tops if there's room. You could also do a cap, like Nestork
said. Or you can leave them. It probably wouldn't hurt to
put a drain hole in, either. I'm guessing this is cedar
stockade fencing that's quite old. Eventually you'll have
to replace those posts but they take a long time to rot
out.



| Fixing wood fence posts, 2 questions
|
| I have a wood picket fence, 44" high, with about 35 fence posts, round,
| 4" in diameter iirc.
|
| I have two problems.
|
| 1) One is loose. It feels like it has broken off maybe 8" above the
| bottom end. How to fix it????
|
| I thought I would disconnect it from the fence, pull it out (which I
| think will be easy), take a replacement (easy to find), cut it to the
| same length as the piece that comes out**, put the post in plus some
| instacrete or sackcrete***, pour in some water, and let it harden.
|
| Is that okay? If the part of the first post every rots away, and the
| post sinks, I can replace it again.
|
| **Well actually I would put the new post in and use it like a pile
| driver to crush the old post stub as much as I can. Then extend a
| string from the posts to the left and right of this one, and mark this
| one so it's the same height as the other two.
| *** (the speedy stuff or the regular stuff both work, I hear)
|
|
| 2) Some of the posts are hollow in the top center, going down 2, 3 even
| maybe 4 inches. . Water sits on them and the wood rots or crumbles.
| Sometimes green plant life grows in the holes
|
| a) I thought I should drill a hole in the side so the water drains out.
| or
| b) I should fill the holes with something, something that looks like the
| original post if possible. . I had tried outdoor wood glue mixed with a
| lot of sawdust. but that broke up.
|
| Suggestions?
|
| Thanks.

Caps are a good solution.

At least the tops should have been pointed so water would run off instead of sitting and causing rot.

You could cut them at an angle, try to get to good wood, if not fill with Bondo.

On Fri, 11 Jul 2014 10:19:03 -0700 (PDT), TimR
wrote:

Caps are a good solution.

At least the tops should have been pointed so water would run off instead of sitting and causing rot.

You could cut them at an angle, try to get to good wood, if not fill with Bondo.

Do you think Bondo will look anything like wood? I could sprinkle
coarse sawdust on it before it dries, but I think that won't stick for
long. Or is it just supposed to be a neutral color filler?


Thanks, Nestork, May, and Tim.

| Do you think Bondo will look anything like wood? I could sprinkle
| coarse sawdust on it before it dries, but I think that won't stick for
| long. Or is it just supposed to be a neutral color filler?
|

Bondo's not going to be much use with old wood.
You could treat it with sealer first, but that's really
for cases where you have a punky *section*. In your
case the whole post is old. I would expect water to
start seeping around the bondo patch before long.

On Fri, 11 Jul 2014 09:04:12 +0200, nestork
wrote:


micky;3258271 Wrote:

2) Some of the posts are hollow in the top center, going down 2, 3
even
maybe 4 inches. . Water sits on them and the wood rots or crumbles.
Sometimes green plant life grows in the holes

a) I thought I should drill a hole in the side so the water drains out.
or
b) I should fill the holes with something, something that looks like
the
original post if possible. . I had tried outdoor wood glue mixed with
a
lot of sawdust. but that broke up.

Suggestions?

Thanks.

You should use a construction adhesive like LePage's PL Premium to glue

good to know.

1/8 inch thick steel plates to the top of your posts to act like little
"roofs" to keep the post dry.

Well, if May says the Bondo won't work -- thanks May -- I'll have to
think about this idea some more. I didnt' like the steel part, too
utilitarian, but I'm thinking brown plastic of some sort, or wood tan
color. Might not last as long, but I'll buy extra and they're easy to
replace. There used to be a plastic store nearby, but they closed.
The other is on the other side of town, but I'll be able to go within a
couple months. Or maybe the net.

BTW, no one sells decent looking caps for 4" round posts. afaict. They
have very ugly black industrial-type plastic caps, but nothing that
looks like the pretty metal ones they sell for square posts.

You may have to cut the top of the posts off in order to get solid wood
to glue your steel roofs to.

There's good wood on all the posts. It's just the cores, 1 1/2 to 2
1/2" in diameter, that are disappearing.

Thanks.