150m 6ft fence - materials

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Rampant Golf

Original Poster:

2,788 posts

225 months

Saturday
quotequote all
Hi all

I am shortly going to be putting a fence around my property to replace an existing worn 3ft fence and a chicken wire fence. I am going to be putting a 6ft fence up and I am looking at materials. I plan to run the fence boards vertical offset front and back rather than horizontal.

Wood is cheapest but I am concerned about rot - i know its not a short term problem but I want to do this once, do it right and not worry about it. What are my options for the posts other than wood? Composite, metal and concrete? Does anyone have any experience of using any of these and suggestions with which to go for?

Any idea out is appreciated.

sherman

14,407 posts

230 months

Saturday
quotequote all
Paint the bottom 3ft of the 8ft wooden post with bitumen paint vefore you put it in thd hole and you will dramatically increase the wooden posts life dpan.

megaphone

11,214 posts

266 months

Saturday
quotequote all
sherman said:
Paint the bottom 3ft of the 8ft wooden post with bitumen paint vefore you put it in thd hole and you will dramatically increase the wooden posts life dpan.
But they will still rot, might last 10-15 years but will rot and the fence will fall over. The wooden posts I fitted lasted less than 10 years, now held up with concrete spurs.

OP avoid wooden posts.

sherman

14,407 posts

230 months

Saturday
quotequote all
megaphone said:
sherman said:
Paint the bottom 3ft of the 8ft wooden post with bitumen paint vefore you put it in thd hole and you will dramatically increase the wooden posts life dpan.
But they will still rot, might last 10-15 years but will rot and the fence will fall over. The wooden posts I fitted lasted less than 10 years, now held up with concrete spurs.

OP avoid wooden posts.
Utter drivel.
A well mainted fence will last 30+ years

Snow and Rocks

2,864 posts

42 months

Saturday
quotequote all
You can still get proper creosote impregnated posts from various suppliers too.

The creosote does smell a bit up close in hot weather but will increase the life of the posts considerably.

Regbuser

5,503 posts

50 months

Saturday
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Am curious how the buried 3ft can be maintained, especially when inherited from previous owners

Concrete spurs in post mix now holding up our rotted timbers

Actual

1,272 posts

121 months

Saturday
quotequote all
Use slotted concrete posts with concrete gravel boards and wooden panels that slide in.

The slotted concrete posts have holes so that you can use long concrete screws to secure the panels to stop intruders lifting the panel to gain access or steal the panel.

In 3 of our properties the wooden fence panels failed after 20 years but concrete posts were still solid and it was easy to lift and drop in new panels.

One problem that can occur in 20 years is any ground movement like clay traveling down a slope can cause the posts to lean over.



RSTurboPaul

12,010 posts

273 months

Saturday
quotequote all
Snow and Rocks said:
You can still get proper creosote impregnated posts from various suppliers too.

The creosote does smell a bit up close in hot weather but will increase the life of the posts considerably.
Creosote smells lovely biggrin

OutInTheShed

11,305 posts

41 months

Saturday
quotequote all
In my experience, some posts last a long time, some less so, because the ground is wet.

Even some concrete posts don't last forever, the reinforcement can rust!

Gtom

1,722 posts

147 months

Saturday
quotequote all
35 years ago my dad the fence at his house (now my house) and he did the fence posts out of parana pine that he got from where he worked.

They are still rot free and rock solid. The softwood fence panels he made and never treated aren’t so good!

You can get 4x4 oak posts for sensible money, these will outlast any softwood posts and look better than concrete.

PhilboSE

5,161 posts

241 months

Saturday
quotequote all
Replacing softwood fence posts when they rot and blow down is the kind of job that you wish you’d spent the extra money originally to not have to do it again.

I’d go concrete or oak.

Pheo

3,432 posts

217 months

Saturday
quotequote all
I would use durapost and then fit rails between. Very easy to fit the posts, and last a long time. Still has the aesthetics of timber.

megaphone

11,214 posts

266 months

Saturday
quotequote all
sherman said:
megaphone said:
sherman said:
Paint the bottom 3ft of the 8ft wooden post with bitumen paint vefore you put it in thd hole and you will dramatically increase the wooden posts life dpan.
But they will still rot, might last 10-15 years but will rot and the fence will fall over. The wooden posts I fitted lasted less than 10 years, now held up with concrete spurs.

OP avoid wooden posts.
Utter drivel.
A well mainted fence will last 30+ years
How do you maintain a wooden post that is in the ground?


JoshSm

1,025 posts

52 months

Saturday
quotequote all
megaphone said:
How do you maintain a wooden post that is in the ground?
You choose a wood type and if necessary a treatment that doesn't need to be maintained.

I've got 3x3 chestnut posts in place that are 30+ years old. I broke one out of its concrete when changing layout and it was perfect (and very hard), ended up putting it back in elsewhere.

Similarly wooden fence panels can last ages or no time at all depending on material & construction. What really seems to kill them apart from just mechanically coming apart with time is contact with the ground or anything else building up. Even then the decay could take years.

Rampant Golf

Original Poster:

2,788 posts

225 months

Saturday
quotequote all
Thanks for the replies all, good input from thr PH hive mind as usual!

Im tempted by the concrete posts but I dont want slotted panels as the rest of the fence is wooden batons and fencing boards nailed to it.

Ill do some goggling of the options outlined here and get pricing up this job!

sherman

14,407 posts

230 months

Saturday
quotequote all
Unless you are doing something fancy £100 a meter should bd a rough ball park to work to.

PhilboSE

5,161 posts

241 months

Saturday
quotequote all
You can get concrete posts that take arris rails. Here’s one I did last year. Concrete barge boards too, with eleagnus x ebbengei planted in front.


119

11,769 posts

51 months

Saturday
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You can get 6ft panels to fit fence posts so no need to mess about with rails etc.

It’s what was already fitted at our last house when we moved in and the panels lasted our 15 odd year tenure.

ssray

1,197 posts

240 months

Saturday
quotequote all
I did hit n miss fencing with concrete posts, not sure I've got a good pic on the phone, I'll look.
Did it over 10yrs ago, last year a corner post had moved so I rebuilt those panels in about an hour

Easternlight

3,633 posts

159 months

Saturday
quotequote all
Slotted concrete posts, concrete gravel boards to keep whatever fencing you chose off the ground.
Will last year's if painted regularly.
If you use arris or cant rails and feather edge board you can go 8' panels and reduce the number of posts you need but you will struggle to find 8' gravel boards

Edited by Easternlight on Saturday 5th July 17:57