Fence Posts, upside down or not?

[WAB85]

I use poles from our local utility company for fence building. I cut them to 8 foot lengths and put the largest end down. I have a Land-Pride PHD on a Kubota L3830 (12" auger). For years I have tamped the dirt around the post with a "stick" but it's hard to compact that way. I am in NE Indiana and our soil has a lot of clay. The last two years I have used sand to back fill. NO tamping required. Just put a level on the post, start adding sand and jiggling the post. You cannot believe had solid those post get. It is much better and faster than trying to tamp the dirt back in around the post.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Around here they get planted big end down, but driven smaller end down. I doubt it makes much difference.

 

[LBrown59]

Seems that if the wider end is in the ground, the extra canter may help keep the post from "heaving" up later.

I've never seen a power pole put in any other way.
They must know something and they have alot on the "line".

Like hundreds or thousands of volts.

 

[sixdogs]

When we lived in northern New England it was tradition to put the pointed end in first so you could pound them in.
Also, come sping you walk around with a large mallet-looking sledge and drive it back--- the top big end--- back to where it ought to be before the frost heave.
Apparenty that tradition spread to the rest of the country where it shouldn't matter.
It would work better the small end up but then it would be harder to pound back in.

Regarding rotting posts.
As noted, they rot at the ground level and not so much above or below grade.
In the old days in Maine, guys would wrap the ground contact area of telephone poles with tar paper and it worked.
We did it with our fence posts and it worked great. I also put the posts in garbage bags first and that also worked.
Anythng to keep the water/air contact away from the post at ground level.

 

[showcattle]

I've always buried the larger end when setting posts in a hole. If I'm using a post driver, narrow end goes in the ground. If you "drive" the large end in, it makes for a loose post.

 

[h2opdler]

I'm putting in round treated fence posts. Should I put them in upside down or right-side up? The posts are narrower on the top and wider on the bottom.

The way that I put fence posts in is that I use my tractor post hole digger to dig a hole about an inch or two smaller than the diameter of the post and then I make the hole about 30 inches deep if I want to bury the post 36 inches.

Then I set the post by the hole and push it in with my front end loader. This makes the post very tight and I do not have any hole to backfill.

This method works perfect if I put the poles in upside down but some have told me it is best to put the posts in right side up with the wide end to the bottom. If I do that then it makes the hole wider than the post and I have to backfill it and it never seems as tight.

Your opinion?

I just finished talking with a Amish guy that said he was told that "upside down is the right side up" Theory being that the cells of the wood wick up moisture and nutrients from the bottom up so in order to keep them from continuing absorbing water from the ground, put them in upside down.
That being said, I never heard that before so I'm still on the fence about which ways is correct, I have put them in both ways and never noticed a difference.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

They pound them big side up here. I figured because that end would take a beating better.

 

[stuckmotor]

I read an article first published around a hundred years ago where someone claimed to have built a fence placing half of the posts right side up and the other half upside down. He said the upside down ones lasted longer. I don't remember whether he
mentioned the species of wood or whether the posts were squared or round as they grew.

I've thought about putting in cedar posts upside down just as you described but, couldn't make myself do it. For one thing, the thicker end just sees like it would last longer and there's that I didn't want to explain to neighbors why the posts were upside down.

 

[stuckmotor]

I just finished talking with a Amish guy that said he was told that "upside down is the right side up" Theory being that the cells of the wood wick up moisture and nutrients from the bottom up so in order to keep them from continuing absorbing water from the ground, put them in upside down.
That being said, I never heard that before so I'm still on the fence about which ways is correct, I have put them in both ways and never noticed a difference.

As I remember the cells wicking up moisture was the theory given for upside down posts I mentioned in my previous comment.

 

[oosik]

Man - I'm glad all the posts around my 80 are T-133 steel. Except the ones going thru the moat area - they last forever.