Fence post ?

[Pallet Pete]

Your helper is much cuter than mine:

View attachment 105157

That's my 14 year old niece who needed a distraction from Boys Boys Boys lol so I gave her a job and non boy conversation.

Pete

 

[gzecc]

Unfortunately the devil is in the details, even when it comes to pressure treated wood. Most PT wood is not designed for ground contact. Make sure the tag on it states "ground contact" if you going to bury it.

 

[Pallet Pete]

Unfortunately the devil is in the details, even when it comes to pressure treated wood. Most PT wood is not designed for ground contact. Make sure the tag on it states "ground contact" if you going to bury it.

Good advice I did that but only because I saw it on one other tag and it made me curious.

Pete

 

[pyroholic]

Unfortunately the devil is in the details, even when it comes to pressure treated wood. Most PT wood is not designed for ground contact. Make sure the tag on it states "ground contact" if you going to bury it.

I don't believe there is any PT that is NOT made for ground contact anymore. With the advent of ACQ the only variations are in the chemical composition to aid certain varieties of wood to absorb the treatment, and most recently color variants.

• ACQ-A: Standardized by the American Wood-Preservers' Association (AWPA)1 in 1992 and deleted in 2000 due to a lack of use.
• ACQ-B: Standardized by the AWPA in 1992 and is primarily used for the treatment of western wood species such as Douglas fir because its ammonia carrier solution allows the ACQ to penetrate into these difficult-to-treat species. This formulation contains 66.7% copper oxide and 33.3% quat as didecyldimethylammonium chloride (DDAC). ACQ-B treated wood has a dark greenish-brown color that fades to a lighter brown and may have a slight ammonia odor until dry.
• ACQ-C: Standardized by the AWPA in 2002, it contains 66.7% copper oxide and 33.3% quat as alkyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride (ADBAC). Ammonia and/or ethanolamine can be used as the carrying solution in this formulation. Wood treated with ACQ-C varies in color that ranges between that of type B and type D.
• ACQ-D: Most wood-treating plants in the US generally use the ACQ-D formulation except for much of the west coast. Standardized by the AWPA in 1995, ACQ-D contains 66.7% copper oxide and 33.3% quat as DDAC. Type D differs from type B in that it uses an ethanolamine carrier solution rather than ammonia. Wood treated with ACQ-D has a lighter greenish-brown color with little odor.

(broken link removed to http://www.epa.gov/oppad001/reregistration/cca/acq.htm)

 

[Ashful]

I don't believe there is any PT that is NOT made for ground contact anymore.

Sure is, at least last time I checked. Just an issue of how much ACQ they press into the wood. Lower concentrations used in 1x's and 2x's meant for above grade, higher concentration used in 4x4's and landscape timber.

 

[jharkin]

I would use PT for the posts. They will last much longer, especially if set in concrete, and they're a small fraction of the cost of cedar. Since you're doing shadow box, it will be pretty easy to hide the post behind a picket on the pretty side of the fence.

Also, setting posts in concrete is often not the best choice. You're much better off drilling the hole, setting the post, and then compacting modified crushed stone in around it. It will hold the post like concrete, but will keep the post dry. Even better if you drill the hole 6" deeper than necessary, and put 6" of crushed stone in the bottom of the hole before setting the post. Posts set in concrete usually rot off right at the top of the concrete. This will take close to 20 years for PT, but could happen in 5 - 10 years with cedar.

+1, I did the stone method for my cedar lamp and mailbox posts. Dug a hole 1ft dia. and deeper than the post, lined with landscape fabric, a few inches of stone in the bottom, then filled in stone around the post and just top covered the final couple inched with soil. Use a sledge to compact the stone tight around the post and it wont go anywhere.

Like Joful said, setting the posts in concrete is often the worst thing to do, it forms a bathtub around the base of the post holding water in. The professional crew I hired to do our fence told me the same, they only set gate posts in concrete if needed, everything else goes right in the dirt and actually lasts longer that way.

 

[ScotO]

+1, I did the stone method for my cedar lamp and mailbox posts. Dug a hole 1ft dia. and deeper than the post, lined with landscape fabric, a few inches of stone in the bottom, then filled in stone around the post and just top covered the final couple inched with soil. Use a sledge to compact the stone tight around the post and it wont go anywhere.

Like Joful said, setting the posts in concrete is often the worst thing to do, it forms a bathtub around the base of the post holding water in. The professional crew I hired to do our fence told me the same, they only set gate posts in concrete if needed, everything else goes right in the dirt and actually lasts longer that way.

Same here when I built both my deck and the kids' playhouse. I dug the holes for the posts around 40" deep, lined the floor of the holes with red brick, stood and plumbed the posts, and packed 2RC shale around the holes......they are solid as concrete, with the ability to "breath". And in the event that you would need to remove the post, its pretty easy to do (compared to getting that concrete out).

 

[lukem]

I always backfill posts with pea gravel. Plumb it up...back fill....shake the post a little. Tight as can be.

 

[Ashful]

Modified will tighten up even better, like concrete!

 

[Pallet Pete]

I have a paint spray gun that I use for automotive and spraying enamel in general. I am getting ready to paint soon and had an idea ( light bulb ) moment. Would it be possible to use a plastic hose to slip over the syphen end and drop the other end in the 5 gallon pale ? This would eliminate the canister.

Pete

 

[jharkin]

Rigged like that, I don't know if a syphon feed gun would be able to draw paint. If it does at minimum you will need a bigger nozzle for latex.

The make dedicated rigs like this that use a pressurized tank to feed the paint to the gun...usually hvlp... Take a look at spraygunworld to get an idea. Not cheap however.

 

[pyroholic]

Sure is, at least last time I checked. Just an issue of how much ACQ they press into the wood. Lower concentrations used in 1x's and 2x's meant for above grade, higher concentration used in 4x4's and landscape timber.

That makes sense, I guess I was only considering posts. Still have never seem more than one type of any given dimension of lumber available at any lumber yard I've been to.

 

[gzecc]

That makes sense, I guess I was only considering posts. Still have never seem more than one type of any given dimension of lumber available at any lumber yard I've been to.

If you look at the tags on the end of the demensional pt lumber at home depot it will say "not for ground contact". Lowes I believe has "ground contact" pt demensional lumber.

 

[Ashful]

If you look at the tags on the end of the demensional pt lumber at home depot it will say "not for ground contact". Lowes I believe has "ground contact" pt demensional lumber.

That's likely because you're looking at 2x4's in one store and 4x4's in another. Lumber in both stores rated for ground contact are treated with ACQ 0.40 PCF, and for above grade use it's ACQ 0.25 PCF. This is all industry-standardized and closely controlled by your gub'ment, not up to store-by-store discretion.

 

[HDRock]

Hay Pete
Super ,Super, project, with pallet fence boards.
I suggest U DO NOT paint them ,cuz down the road, U will end up with a flaking , pealing Mess .
Oil basted stain would be much better, put some oil in that pallet wood to preserve it, and it can be applied with a pump sprayer.
Deck stain and fence stain are different ,with fence stain U can use high pigment stain to get the color U want .
If U already bought paint , take it back , really !!

 

[Pallet Pete]

Hay Pete
Super ,Super, project, with pallet fence boards.
I suggest U DO NOT paint them ,cuz down the road, U will end up with a flaking , pealing Mess .
Oil basted stain would be much better, put some oil in that pallet wood to preserve it, and it can be applied with a pump sprayer.
Deck stain and fence stain are different ,with fence stain U can use high pigment stain to get the color U want .
If U already bought paint , take it back , really !!

Hello my friend it's been a while ! Yes I was going to do a stain however it is very pricey. We ended up
purchasing barn and fence oil based enamel. I used it on my wood shed a few years ago and it still looks great no peeling
or flaking at all. My father also painted a yard swing made from 4*4s over 20 years ago with it and it looks like new still. I won't lie I would rather stain it but we are on a tight budget and $67 for enamel 5 gallon pale fits well I refuse to paint with latex it never goes well for us. Do you know of a cheaper method to buy stain by chance ? It's $200 for 5gallons in my area I would love to find a better price !

Pete

 

[gzecc]

That's likely because you're looking at 2x4's in one store and 4x4's in another. Lumber in both stores rated for ground contact are treated with ACQ 0.40 PCF, and for above grade use it's ACQ 0.25 PCF. This is all industry-standardized and closely controlled by your gub'ment, not up to store-by-store discretion.

The point is that my local home depot's don't have ground contact demensional pt lumber except for 4x4 and 6x6. Lowes does.

 

[Ashful]

The point is that my local home depot's don't have ground contact demensional pt lumber except for 4x4 and 6x6. Lowes does.

Cool. I'll have to check next time I'm at our local Lowes. It used to be that both carried timbers in ACQ 0.40 and all planks in ACQ 0.25. Maybe that has changed, recently.

 

[Pallet Pete]

The progress as of last night.

Pete