Preventing post rot after the fact?

[MH8675309]

I never set posts in concrete. I auger out the hole then clean out the excess with a hand post hole digger. Set the post in and tamp the dirt in with a steel tamper (this is just a piece of 3/4' round stock 5' long with a 2"round 1/2" thick steel cookie welded to one end) until the dirt is packed in good and the post is firm. Here (Michigan) we put posts in 42" deep so that the frost doesn't heave them up. OOsik is right about the railroad ties but if you're using it for an arena you probably dont want your horse - or you touching sticky creosote. Attached is a picture of our 60' round pen. It is ten years old.

 

[oosik]

MH8675309 - I forgot this was for an arena. For sure - you don't want your horses anywhere near a treated RR tie. Ever seen what a cow looks like after a good "rub up" on an old pine tree. It ain't pretty......

 

[EddieWalker]

Keep it simple. Concrete needs to go above the solid around it, and slope away from the post. Kind of like a volcano with the post coming out the middle. Posts can handle moisture, and they can handle dirt. What they cannot handle is the wet/dry cycle that happens when a low spot forms around the base of the post. This is from filling with dirt, not enough concrete, or mowing next to the post and eroding the soil built up next to the post. Mix the concrete fairly dry so it will keep it's shape, and build it up around the post.

 

[RustyA]

Up North frost is the enemy of fencing. Concrete just gives it something bigger to push against. We wrap any wood posts or railroad ties in garbage bags to make post slicker so frost can't get as much grip and heave it. Every spring while ground is moist have to go around with a mallet and tap steel t-posts back down...not a problem down south

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Where I live, nothing protects the post, concrete just makes it worse... The wood shrinks away from the concrete, and the water just sits there...

Pounding steel (as stated above) along side the post does work pretty good though...

Getting "marine grade" post solves the problem too, but they are very expensive...

SR

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Something can be done, but I don't remember much about the news article. Sometime in the 80's, I think, they drilled holes into the interior of the post near the bottom, put something in, then sealed the hole with a wooden plug.


Hundreds of posts in the stockade at Fort Vancouver:

Fort Vancouver National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)

View attachment 596579


Bruce

Probably penetrating epoxy. It turns rotted wood into a plastic composite that's stronger than the surrounding wood. In fact you have to be careful you don't just create a shear spot where the epoxy ends. I've used it with good results, but it's expensive.