We’re tearing out our old rusted chain-link fence and are replacing it with a cedar picket fence. The fence panels are 4′ x 8′. 4″ x 5/8″ pickets on 2 horizontal supports. The posts will be ACQ treated 4′ x 4′.
Questions…
1) is the 8′ span going to support itself or does that seem a bit long? The pickets are spaced fairly wide, so I can’t imagine it’s TOO heavy, but just wondering if I should have some intermediary support at the 4′ mark (I suppose I could always add that later if I start seeing sag)
2) concrete? Yay? Nay? From what I’ve read in here in the past, people prefer gravel/class5 instead, to allow drainage, UNLESS you have clay soil. About 6″ down you hit pure red clay in our yard, so I’m guessing I should go with concrete. If so, do you recommend gravel footer, then post, then cement at bottom of post, then soil on top? I’ve read that’s better than putting the concrete at the top of the hole which would lend to frost heave issues. As for the concrete option, should I treat the bottom of the wood with anything additional to give the posts a bit of longevity?
3) Stain. What brands do folks recommend? I think we want to go with a fairly opaque redwood color. I’d rather pay more now for good stuff rather than have to re-stain sooner than later. Stain will be applied via brush.
4) fence paanel hangers? It’d be easiest to just attach the panel ends directly to the front or back face of the posts (via stainless or triple-dipped screws). However, my wife is thinking that it’d be nice to use butt joints to keep the posts fully exposed and maybe stain them a different color. I like that idea, but assume I’d need to use some galvanized hanger hardware which is $$$ + one more thing to fail against the ACQ wood. Thoughts on that?
Replies
#1. that's normal... you should be good to go...
#2. use pea gravel...
#3. Cabots...
#4. use ACQ rated or swithch to cedar posts..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
pea gravel, eh? Seems like that would be very hard to compact well. Do you advocate that method even in heavy clay soils? One other thought...has anyone used the composite 4x4s for fence posts? They are the black (very dark grey), heavy ones typically sold as landscaping timbers.They are really heavy, not quite as stiff as wood, but seem sturdy enough for a fence post. The catch is they only come in 8' sizes so I'd have a lot of 1-2' chunks left over. But given that they'd never rot, perhaps that's not a big deal waste-wise.
been using pea gravel for years..
so far so good....Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
I dont really get the drainage issue. I think people tend to over science things at times. if you dig a hole stick a post in in it fill rocks around and below the post. how does that help? you created an easy flow system to fill the hole with water? where exactly does it drain to? are we putting drain tile in too? yeah I can see that putting some rock in the bottom will keep the post above settling water for a time. but filling the rest of the hole with rocks doesn't really do it for me. An ACQ post is rated for ground contact and should get you what 30 years? Concrete gives you a good solid anchor. I will try to link to another thread on similar topic. where poster is having troubles with gravel set posts. one can also run into trouble with concrete posts. Although I'm not for the gavel method I don't discount that people use that method and claim success with it. IN any case whatever method is used it needs to be done correctly and can work both ways. I personally don't see the need to drain more water to the bottom of the post - setting it in concrete will not be any wetter than this IMO.
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=90578.7
Edited 6/5/2007 2:52 am ET by alrightythen
if, indeed, AC2 has a 30 year lifespan in contact with the ground, I'd have to agree...might as well use concrete. 30 years from now whoever is here is going to want a completely different fence anyways.