treating telephone poles

[donais]

what should i use to treat them( i live in california)?? so im probably limited there. Im going to put lights on them for my arena, what type would you use???and how high?? jon

 

[sunspot]

Can you buy them already treated? There is a wood pole plant near my house. It now smells like a mothball factory what with the new laws on chemicals. Every now and then, they haul out a load of Creosote poles. Can you buy them in california?

 

[tallyho8]

If you are using used telephone poles then they are probably already treated. If you have some kind of new post that is not treated, there is no proper DIY method of treatment.
It depends on what kind of lights you are using on how high they should be. I have some 400 watt hps lights that are 20' high with the poles 6' in the ground and I have a 1000w hps also that is 20' high but it would work much better if it were 30' high.

With the increasing energy costs I would not consider any lights except hps or metal halide.

 

[donais]

im a cable guy and we use the poles in the training yard they are un treated. the poles are in sleeves in the ground and bolted in like a christmas tree stand, but 6 feet deep. i got 7 of them 4- 40 foot 1- 30 foot and 2- 22 foot poles.so ive got the pole to go as high as i need. Are the hps lights pricey and where and how many for a 65 foot round pen, we are gonna do it first then the arena. i was thinking of 3 ploes for the pen to cancel out shadows, but would two work almost as well??

 

[Soundguy]

Assuming you can get the stuff in the peoples republik of kalifornia.. I'd treat the ground area with copper napthenate. or paint with fence paint.. you can get the stuff in brown / black.. or you can use black asphalt paint.

The black asphalt paint is good stuff.. cheap and bugs and mold and rot don't like it.

soundguy

 

[donais]

thanks soundguy, you know its sad that cali is the way it is if only we could break off san fran and some of the northern counties and send them out to sea..the wife wont let me transfer to oklahoma.. ill try finding the copper ...

 

[RWolf]

Outdoor enamel paint. Apply thick and let dry. Apply to about 1 foot above ground and don't forget base of pole. It's cheap and will last a long time.

 

[flusher]

what should i use to treat them( i live in california)?? so im probably limited there. Im going to put lights on them for my arena, what type would you use???and how high?? jon

I built a gate and fence for my Japanese garden a few months ago.

The gate posts are redwood and the fence posts are pressure treated 4x4s. The redwood has natural resistance to rot and the PT posts are made rot resistant with chemicals. Since I'm a belt and suspenders type I used the green paint-on copper stuff on the buried parts of the posts, let it dry for a few days. Then I sprayed several coats of black auto undercoating on the buried part, let it dry and set the post.

 

[donais]

well i got one in today i ended up using asphalt roof stuff i had in a shed... tip of the day..... i used a piece of old shag carpet as a paintbrush.... worked perfect.. one ploe in 5 feet deep. now i need to find the lights...

 

[Soundguy]

remember to get some pics.

soundguy