Best thing to put around gateposts , Concrete ?

[andybk]

have to put in quite a few new gateposts (hardwood sleepers) over next few months for 12 and 14ft gates , we usually auger the holes out and concrete in around them , but talking to a fellow farmer he just rams in soil/ stone around his ,recons concrete makes them rot around base (tanalised posts) another has used that packed mix that creates expanding foam (bit pricey) . any suggestions or preferences ?

 

[suffolksmallholder]

NO
NO
NO
NO

Drill or dig a deep hole. As deep as you can. 4’+
Put in post. Ram the back and if you can mix in some type 1 then you will be ok.
Creosote the middle piece or use that post protector sleeve to stop the rot.

When the post finally rots you can remove the rotten part and the rammed material. Easy. Sorted.

My pet hate is concreted in gateposts. What a waste of my life

I can drill a 4’ hole in minutes. Square it up and get a 7”x7” post in before my 10 o’clock. Two by lunch.
Two 7’ gates hung and there for fifteen years, easy big enough to get a timber tug through without fuss.

Concreted. I’ll walk away from the job
SS

 

[andybk]

When the post finally rots you can remove the rotten part and the rammed material. Easy. Sorted.

My pet hate is concreted in gateposts. What a waste of my life

I can drill a 4’ hole in minutes. Square it up and get a 7”x7” post in before my 10 o’clock. Two by lunch.
Two 7’ gates hung and there for fifteen years, easy big enough to get a timber tug through without fuss.

Concreted. I’ll walk away from the job
SS

i expect hardwood sleeper hanging posts and leccy pole slam posts will outlast me lol (tanalised posts get brittle with age these days , good idea about type1 or similar fine mix , just didnt want wobbly posts

 

[suffolksmallholder]

i expect hardwood sleeper hanging posts and leccy pole slam posts will outlast me lol (tanalised posts get brittle with age these days , good idea about type1 or similar fine mix , just didnt want wobbly posts

I have hardwood sleepers around my raised beds. They are now fifteen years old. Some are as good as the day they supported railway lines and some really need replacing.
I await the bosses instructions on that one

Pick your sleepers!

FYI,
As the son of a sawmill owner I always favoured timber gates.
I decided to use IAE metal gates for my smallholding along with their corresponding galvanised posts. I will admit that these are concreted in. If, as & when they rust I will pull the lumps out with the timber grapple
I like their fuss-free operation
I have fourteen gates.
SS

 

[GEMS]

Have to agree DO NOT CONCRETE -its a quick fix that is not sustainable and will annoy the hell out of you when it needs replacing.
An augered hole is quick , firm in soil manually.
Hang gate so that when latched no weight is on hanging post pulling it off plumb.
Wooden gates and posts are like triggers broom -last forever.
When i first started working on a farm the old boy would replace horizontal bars on wooden gates - called shivers !
then rehang........

 

[ARW]

You beat all the soil back in the hole, it’s harder work beating the soil back in than digging the hole. If you get all the soil back in it will be as tight as it would be knocked in with a post knocker. If you need extra hold coach screw some braces on the bottom of the post and beat in, like a telegraph pole.
Concrete is last resort and concrete as deep as possible so it’s not at ground level where the rot starts, concrete is only useful if you can’t get depth for hold, in that case you want as much concrete at the bottom of the gatepost as the weight of the gate

 

[tepapa]

Don't use concrete it'll do a good job for the 5 years it holds before its helped rot the post. Then it'll be a right arse when you go to replace the rotten post.

Shovel the spoil back in the hole in layers and compact it tight as you go.

 

[Bald n Grumpy]

I've taken to using reclaimed sleepers for gate posts, I dig the old post butt out with the mini digger and if at all possible get the hole deep enough so the sleeper doesn't need the top cutting. Ram soil and stones around and like @ARW said get all the soil plus a bit more back in for a good job.
Going to try cutting sleepers lengthways for fence posts as experiment as fed up with buying and replacing posts

 

[andybk]

I've taken to using reclaimed sleepers for gate posts, I dig the old post butt out with the mini digger and if at all possible get the hole deep enough so the sleeper doesn't need the top cutting. Ram soil and stones around and like @ARW said get all the soil plus a bit more back in for a good job.
Going to try cutting sleepers lengthways for fence posts as experiment as fed up with buying and replacing posts

far better value than tanalised , especially the hardwood ones , can pick them up for £20 ish around here

 

[Bald n Grumpy]

far better value than tanalised , especially the hardwood ones , can pick them up for £20 ish around here

Are they reclaimed creosoted?
I'm paying £35/£38 with the vat but They're good stuff.

 

[andybk]

yea

Are they reclaimed creosoted?
I'm paying £35/£38 with the vat but They're good stuff.

yea still stinks of creo , were used as shed partitions so well dry (always avoid bottom couple ) , bloody heavy though and leccy poles were £30 each for 21-24ft , so can get 3 out each pole

 

[HarryB97]

If you’re going to auger a hole out concrete a steel post in! No point going to all that effort for a wooden post just hit it in with a post nocker!

 

[Pistonbroke]

We just knock box barriers in with the knocker. No barring holes,no concrete,cordless drill to bolt a couple of hooks on and jobs done. Maybe not so good in soft ground but they cut into harder ground and stay solid.

 

[andybk]

We just knock box barriers in with the knocker. No barring holes,no concrete,cordless drill to bolt a couple of hooks on and jobs done. Maybe not so good in soft ground but they cut into harder ground and stay solid.

these ?

Pardon our interruption...

 

[Nearly]

If you can't knock pointed railway sleepers in then you need a bigger hammer.

 

[Pistonbroke]

these ?

Pardon our interruption...

Yes,16ft long so cut in half for two 8ft posts. We have a Shelburne post driver with a clamp around the post so it stays straight. If it hits stone it just cuts through like a chisel and carries on. Maybe in soft soils they might loosen over time but here they are just like they're in concrete

 

[S J H]

I’d buy one of these if you’ve got a lot to do

Post Hole RammerStrainrite Post Hole Rammer

Buy the Strainrite Post Hole Rammer at Electric Fence Online âFREE delivery from £99 âUK's largest supplier âWarehouse in the UK âExpert help and advice

www.electricfence-online.co.uk

I find mine the perfect weight, tamps down better than anything else I’ve used, Id layer in type 1 with the soil of it’s not good enough.

 

[JWL]

Chap I used to work with would get a length of tree at least 2' across, usually 3', dig a damned big hole around 4' deep. Stick the big log in thick end down, tamp back in the spoil and you ended up with a tree stump sticking out of the ground in a place that is convenient.
The next phase would be to shape your stump into a gatepost with a trusty chainsaw.
To be fair, he was getting on towards retirement when I worked with him and there were posts he'd put in 30 years previous and they were still solid.
Those posts could destroy machinery as opposed to being knocked over.

 

[M-J-G]

Concrete around wood is the worst combo IMO.
Concrete a steel post or drive a timber post, if you have to dig a timber post if pack it with stone.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Going to try cutting sleepers lengthways for fence posts as experiment as fed up with buying and replacing posts

concrete and galve steel is what ive found to last best.and be most cost effective over the years anything eles has been a false economy
its not just therotting around the post but its the decay /wear and tear at and around the the hangings cause movement in them ... that will make the gate droop or not latch easiy on a wood .gate post wider you go/ heavier the gate the more this happens and quicker.
ive replaced ours or most of them 3 times now started when i was 16 then did them again in the 90's a mixture of elm to start with and oak and softwood cca tretaed. sleepers and electric/telegraph poles. and this the last is nearly completed galve concrete auger drilled hol;e to save '
what i found was that the few rsj and galve steel ones that had been put in as an exception where still doing exactly the same job as they had been set and intended for thats on owned ground and tenanted.and we have a lot of gates having lots of small fields and in aquard places to set rarly level or straightforward
mind you i do extend the bought galve posts with srap steel to give a bit of length and anchor though.

my gates hanging success means they need to be still being and latching with my little finger after 50 years its rare wood will still be allowing that ime.
being able to do that and with a 15'gate when needed and thats success in my book nowadays on reflection
just to make the point again that many dont see through lack of observation or experienc, its the hangins that are as much of a let down as any things steel hanigs dont move after time set the pins absolutly plumb at the start mind . thats the pins doesnt amatter then wether the pos is not quite up right get the hanging pins dead plumb.

if you dont mind replcing them in a few years or that a gate will be drugging in the ground or hard to latch then carry on regarless.