What is the best way to put 6x6's in ground 4' to ensure long life. The wood
is freshly milled Juniper (Tamerac, Larch) and the geography is eastern
canada. People have told me to wrap in plastic and refill with earth, refill
with gravel, refill with concrete.... Which is best?

"mark" wrote in message
news
What is the best way to put 6x6's in ground 4' to ensure long life. The
wood is freshly milled Juniper (Tamerac, Larch) and the geography is
eastern canada. People have told me to wrap in plastic and refill with
earth, refill with gravel, refill with concrete.... Which is best?


I would stay away from concrete and wrapping with plastic. Both will retain
moisture.
I would go with gravel.

"mark" wrote in message
news
What is the best way to put 6x6's in ground 4' to ensure long life. The
wood is freshly milled Juniper (Tamerac, Larch) and the geography is
eastern canada. People have told me to wrap in plastic and refill with
earth, refill with gravel, refill with concrete.... Which is best?


Concrete base/foundation/column, Simpson Post base.
http://www.strongtie.com/products/co...A-ABE-ABU.html

Dave

In article ,
says...
What is the best way to put 6x6's in ground 4' to ensure long life. The wood
is freshly milled Juniper (Tamerac, Larch) and the geography is eastern
canada. People have told me to wrap in plastic and refill with earth, refill
with gravel, refill with concrete.... Which is best?

Dry the posts, take them to a sawmill and get them high pressure saturation
treated before putting them in. That will go a loooong way towards longevity.
I've been ramming pressure treated pine posts into bare dirt for the last 20
years and they're all still there (I have a farm for a main source of income).

If you bed them in concrete, make sure that the concrete gently slopes away
from the base of the post on all sides.

-P.

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com

mark wrote:

What is the best way to put 6x6's in ground 4' to ensure long life. The
wood is freshly milled Juniper (Tamerac, Larch) and the geography is
eastern canada. People have told me to wrap in plastic and refill with
earth, refill with gravel, refill with concrete.... Which is best?

The _best_ way is to use a concrete footing. If the wood is going to be
buried then the species counts for more than the method of burial and
Tamerac is not a good choice for such use. Red cedar (also sometimes
called "juniper") or pressure treated pine would be a better choice but if
you can get hold of some bois d'arc (aka "osage orange" and "bodark") or
ipe I think you'd be in better shape.

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 20:08:03 GMT, "mark"
wrote:


I would agree with the gravel(crushed stone), 1/2 to 3/4 inch
aggregate size. If the posts are cut from the heartwood of tamarak
grown in wet areas, all the better.

Around here Tamerac, Juniper and larch are all the same tree.

"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...
mark wrote:

What is the best way to put 6x6's in ground 4' to ensure long life. The
wood is freshly milled Juniper (Tamerac, Larch) and the geography is
eastern canada. People have told me to wrap in plastic and refill with
earth, refill with gravel, refill with concrete.... Which is best?

The _best_ way is to use a concrete footing. If the wood is going to be
buried then the species counts for more than the method of burial and
Tamerac is not a good choice for such use. Red cedar (also sometimes
called "juniper") or pressure treated pine would be a better choice but
if
you can get hold of some bois d'arc (aka "osage orange" and "bodark") or
ipe I think you'd be in better shape.

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)