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what can you use to protect a wooden fence when the bottom will have soil contact

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Wooden posts that have been gear up directly into soil are probable to begin rotting every bit soon equally their base absorbs some water. Once a wooden postal service has started rotting, your simply pick is to throw it abroad and sink a new mail. Fortunately though, at that place are a few preventative steps you lot tin can have to ensure that your wooden posts won't rot in the ground and that they'll stand for years. Make sure to use a sturdy hardwood for your mail service, and treat the wood if it hasn't already been treated. And so, if your post needs to support weight, you can coffin its base in physical.

  1. 1

    Choose yellow pine for an like shooting fish in a barrel-to-treat choice. While pine is non a particularly hard wood, it is very receptive to being treated and absorbs industrial treating chemicals well. Southern xanthous pine is especially receptive to the chemicals. Other forest that aren't as practical as southern pine only absorb the treating chemicals on their surface, leaving the interior of the forest untreated.

    • You should exist able to find southern pine—or whatever other wood you choose to use—at a local hardware store or lumberyard.

  2. 2

    Select white cedar or black locust if you're concerned virtually fungi. In swampy, marshy environments, fungi are one of the primary causes of post rot. Both black locust and eastern white cedar are naturally resistant to all types of fungus.[i] This makes them an platonic choice for posts that will exist in damp ground. Cedar is also an ideal wood for fencing effectually your business firm as information technology is cute and has a long lifespan.[ii]

    • Considering cedar is high in demand, information technology's as well more expensive than, say, yellow pine.
    • If you alive in a fairly arid environment, fungi may not be much of a business for your posts.

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  3. 3

    Opt for cypress or redwood for naturally moisture-resistant options. Since these types of wood are naturally resistant to soaking upwards moisture, they're a good choice of lumber for your posts.[3] Cypress in item is noted for its color consistency, density, hardness, and relative lack of knots. These factors get in a superior wood to use for posts.[4]

    • Even so, although these forest are naturally adverse to soaking upwardly water, they still need to be treated! Always buy treated redwood or cypress—or treat your ain—to ensure that the posts stay rot-free for years. [v]

  4. iv

    Avoid using tough-to-care for woods similar Douglas fir. Lodge-pole pine is another wood to avoid selecting for your posts. Both of these woods have a structure that that makes them permeable to rot-causing moisture and leaner. Additionally, pieces of Douglas fir and lodge-pole pine often contain sapwood, which is more decumbent to rotting than other types of wood.[6]

    • Douglas fir and lodge-pole pine are what's known as "refractory" species of tree. They're typically treated only by professionals, since treating them requires additional steps that tin't be performed at habitation.
    • For example, the lumber must be steamed to make information technology more receptive to the chemical woods preservatives that are and then applied.

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  1. 1

    Choose only woods that are marked as having been pressure-treated. When you're perusing the wood supply at a lumberyard, have a look at the end tag (a piece of paper stapled to the base of the post). It should say that the wood has been treated to the standards of either the International Lawmaking Committee (ICC), the American Forest Protection Association (AWPA), or the Canadian Standards Clan.[7]

    • Wood that haven't been pressure-treated will have a looser structure, making them more permeable to water, bacteria, insects, and other rot-causing agents.

  2. two

    Use UC 4A or UC 4B treated lumber for the best below-ground option. The 4A or 4B rating should be clearly marked on the lumber'south end tag. If the lumber has been treated by the AWPA, cheque for posts that have a UC 4A or UC 4B label. This indicates that the posts are intended for beneath-ground use. These posts are particularly resistant to rot.[8]

    • If you need to cut one or more of these treated pieces of lumber to the size you'd like for your posts, make sure to re-treat the cut portion with a copper-naphthenate preservative.
    • Associations other than the AWPA don't give their treated forest this type of rating.

  3. iii

    Soak the bottom 1 ft (0.30 1000) of untreated posts in a forest preservative. If you've purchased untreated wood—or if you cut your lumber to shorten it—yous need to treat your mail before burial it. Purchase a wood preservative that contains copper naphthenate at a lumberyard or hardware store. Pour near 1⁄two litre (0.53  qt) of information technology into a big saucepan. Prepare the end of your mail service that you'll bury in the basis into the bucket and let it soak for xv–twenty minutes.[9]

    • Giving your posts a thorough soaking in a wood preservative volition go a long way in preventing them from rotting.[10]

  4. 4

    Paint a thick layer of the preservative on your post. Continue the post in the saucepan where it'southward been soaking. Use a iii in (7.6 cm) brush to apply a thick layer of forest preservative beyond the bottom 2 feet (0.61 grand) of the post. Work in long vertical strokes. Let the mail dry overnight before setting it in the globe.[11]

    • If you were to skip applying the wood preservative, you posts would likely brainstorm to rot within vi months, regardless of whether or not you lot set them in physical.

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  1. 1

    Dig a hole that'south a quarter deep as your postal service is tall. For example, if you'll be setting a post that's three feet (0.91 m) deep, dig your pigsty to a depth of 3⁄four foot (0.23 m). This will keep the postal service securely in the footing and prevent it from tipping over. While it's entirely possible to dig a postal service hole with a shovel, a postal service-hole digger is a much better option. This tool digs a pigsty that's simply about 4 inches (10 cm) beyond, so you're left with a post-sized hole that won't need to be filled in much afterwards.[12]

    • Regardless of whether you're using the post for a fence or a mailbox, remember that water causes rot. The all-time mode to keep your post from rotting itself out of the footing is to sink it in cement.

  2. 2

    Fill the bottom of the hole with half-dozen in (xv cm) of gravel. Use a shovel to pick upwardly 3–4 generous scoops of gravel and deposit the cloth in the hole. Then utilize the shovel tip to pack the gravel downwardly so there'south no actress space betwixt the rocks. Placing a thick layer of loose gravel at the lesser of the post pigsty volition allow groundwater to trickle through the rocks and downwardly abroad from the base of operations of the mail.[13]

    • This will prevent the postal service from rotting past keeping it constantly dry.
    • You tin can purchase gravel at a local hardware shop or landscaping-supply business.

  3. three

    Mix a small-scale batch of cement in a wheelbarrow or cement mixer. Use a cement mixture that contains pocket-sized pea-gravel for a stronger hold. Open the bag and use your shovel to toss 3–4 large scoops of cement mix into a wheelbarrow. Then add water i loving cup (240 mL) at a time. Stir the cement mixture with your shovel every time you add together h2o. The cement will have reached its ideal consistency when information technology'southward roughly as thick as coarse mud.[fourteen]

    • If you're mixing in a cement mixer, you won't need to stir with the shovel. Just flip the "on" switch and stand up back while the auto spins for 5–8 minutes.

  4. 4

    Place the post into the hole then it rests on top of the gravel. Make sure that the treated side of the post is facing down. Position the post in the verbal center of the hole, so it will exist surrounded by an fifty-fifty layer of cement on all sides.[xv]

    • If you have a friend or family unit member nearby, ask them to assistance yous with this pace. The 2nd person can hold the post upright while you motion on to the adjacent step.

  5. 5

    Fill the hole with cement until it's even with the basis level. Apply your shovel to scoop the moisture cement into the hole. Periodically tamp the cement down by poking at it with the tip of the shovel. This volition remove whatsoever unwanted air bubbles from the cement. Continue to fill up the pigsty with cement until it's level with the surrounding basis. Then, take a trowel and smooth off the tiptop of the cement.[16]

    • If at that place'southward whatever open basis between the cement and the superlative of the hole, your mail volition be vulnerable to soaking up wet at that spot.

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Add together New Question

  • Question

    Do I need a vapor barrier if my ground contact lumber is going to be laid atop of the soil (non buried)?

    Community Answer

    Yes. This volition finish the wet transfer from the ground to the lumber, which could be the about common reason for wood rotting that has ground contact. The wood should still be treated against fungal attack (force per unit area treated is good).

  • Question

    Should I put a plastic bag on the post earlier putting into concrete?

    Community Answer

    That'south non necessary. Paint the entire wooden contend with a waterproofing sealant intended for exterior wood (such as decks and fences). You'll also paint the portion of the fence postal service that will be beneath the footing. You lot can use a garden sprayer to spray the woods sealant if preferred

  • Question

    Would letting some wood preservative run down the lower part of an already set post do any good? What about chlorine bleach, chlordane, insecticide or other options?

    Community Answer

    Definitely, don't utilise bleach, chlordane, or insecticide. Regardless, if the mail service is already set, in that location'southward cipher yous tin cascade on the exposed part that would help in preservation. It would merely preserve the above footing department of mail that yous apply it to.

  • Question

    My stairway's posts are already 2' in the ground, sitting on concrete slabs and covered with soil. Is there whatsoever style to help preserve them at this indicate?

    Community Answer

    If you lot can excavate to expose, then you could apply your treatment or sealant. The nigh vulnerable role will be the very bottom of the posts. You can install temporary supports for your stairs using a spiral jack and a few 4x4, 4x6 or 6x6 timbers or iii 2x4'due south bolted together: screw jack and timber upon it where you desire to lift, carefully turn the screw until the the weight is taken off your in-basis postal service, position a temporary cut snugly, use a thick lath for a base. Borax (Twenty Mule Team Borax laundry booster): pour into the hole around and under the base of the post. The boron in borax volition forbid fungi.

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Things You'll Need

  • Copper-naphthenate preservative
  • Bucket
  • 3 in (7.6 cm) castor
  • Post-hole digger
  • Gravel
  • Cement mix
  • Water
  • Wheelbarrow
  • Cement mixer (optional)
  • Shovel
  • Trowel

  • Avoid using wooden posts that are uncured. Equally the wood dries out, it will shrink. If the post is surrounded by concrete, a pit volition form underneath your postal service. Water volition collect hither and contribute greatly to woods rot.

  • Of course, one of the easiest means to avoid having a rotting post on your hands is just to employ a metal mail instead. Metal is a much more durable fabric when building a fence or putting up a mailbox post. Although you lot volition probably have to occasionally spray paint the post to keep it from rusting, you lot will likely never need to replace it.

  • A metallic postal service is worth considering if y'all don't feel comfortable pouring cement or can't find a sturdy hard woods post.

Cheers for submitting a tip for review!

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Nearly This Article

Article Summary 10

If yous want to protect a wooden mail service from rotting in the ground, opt for forest that has been pressure-treated and has a 4A or 4B rating on the tag, as these forest are especially resistant to rot. To treat your post, soak the bottom pes for fifteen to 20 minutes in a large bucket of wood preservative containing copper napthenate. After your post has soaked thoroughly, apply a brush to apply a thick layer of preservative on the bottom 2 anxiety. Brand sure to allow the post dry out overnight before setting it into the ground. For more tips, including how to protect your wooden mail service using cement, read on.

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