Creosote posts beware !

[SilliamWhale]

Find it hard to believe that encouraging people to handle creosoted treated posts day in day out is less hazardous than using the old arsenic treated ones. Using creosote as a paint on product has risks but that can be easily ameliorated with gloves etc. but a lot harder to do handling posts all day.

 

[Grassman]

Seems to me that they all rot at ground level. The bit in the soil is fine, as is the bit the staples are into, but the 6 inches around turf level always rots.

That's about right.
Seem the bacteria, bugs or whatever does the eating needs moisture and air to survive. Remove one or the other and little rot occurs.
Fence rails are treated to a lower standard for a reason. Rarely see a rotten rail.

We did have a load of rotten fencing in dry land however and the manufacturer said it was a particular rot that occurs only in dry ground. The treatment didn't work on that apparently!

 

[Grassman]

Find it hard to believe that encouraging people to handle creosoted treated posts day in day out is less hazardous than using the old arsenic treated ones. Using creosote as a paint on product has risks but that can be easily ameliorated with gloves etc. but a lot harder to do handling posts all day.

I agree . Especially with a hydraulic post knocker hitting the post with great force.

 

[Paddington]

That's about right.
Seem the bacteria, bugs or whatever does the eating needs moisture and air to survive. Remove one or the other and little rot occurs.
Fence rails are treated to a lower standard for a reason. Rarely see a rotten rail.

We did have a load of rotten fencing in dry land however and the manufacturer said it was a particular rot that occurs only in dry ground. The treatment didn't work on that apparently!

Dry rot

 

[Grassman]

Dry rot

They did tell me a scientific name but I forget!

 

[Cheesehead]

Dry rot

I'm thinking honora occasionem praestat

 

[General-Lee]

They are tanalised supposedly.
And I have yet to see many rotten posts above ground level.

Nearly always good well below and above ground level just the bit near the surface.

 

[Danllan]

They are tanalised supposedly.
And I have yet to see many rotten posts above ground level.

Nearly always good well below and above ground level just the bit near the surface.

It nearly always seems to be the few inches above the base; but, I'm bug*gered if I want to leave any room for doubt, so I go for belt and braces and only use wholly creosoted posts; I just don't trust the 'modern' tantalising.

And I give all my posts a new coat on the top when new in place, plus once every few years after that... for the minimal cost and effort it pays off. A neighbour is replacing fencing put in less than five years ago, I won't be .

Creosote smells wonderful.

It makes hedgehogs horny too...

 

[Enfoff]

I haven't trawled through every post on here, so apologies if already mention by someone... Our fencing contractors use sunblock cream on exposed skin and avoid problems when working with creosote.

Two more things should be noted about creosote: 1) some people react far more than others, e.g. I'm lucky and hardly get a reaction, my cousin's skin swells up and changes colour so that it looks like he's been in a fight, and lost; 2) sunlight on creosote on skin tends to exacerbate any problem.

I did some panel fence creosoting for a painting and decorating company when I was 16. One of the other 'apprentices ' threw an apple which hit my full bucket (he was aiming at my head - t**t) the creosote splashed and hit me in the face - up my nose and in my mouth.Luckily my glasses stopped it going in my eyes. The boss gave me a hankerchief , a cup of tea and a 15 break. My face felt like sunburn for a while but I survived so I guess I am one of the lucky ones with minor reactions.

 

[Paddington]

I'm thinking honora occasionem praestat

Bless you !

 

[Princess Pooper]

Creosote smells wonderful.

As a kid there was a creosoted larchlap fence alongside an urban footpath behind our house. I always used to stop and give it a sniff - glorious!!!

 

[Paddington]

I tried those creosote sleeves you can put on tanalised posts thinking they would be much cleaner to use. You need to get the positioning right so it protects the post where it enters the soil. After a few months I needed to re position a couple of posts and found they were rotting above ground and above the sleeve. Went onto fully creosoted posts after these.

 

[Grouse]

Creosote smells wonderful.

Yes I love the smell of new telegraph poles

 

[Paddington]

Someone took me to task for using creosoted posts, they weren't ecological, environmentally friendly, polluted watercourses, killed off amoeba, bacteria, lichen etc. I asked when did she last knock in a few posts and did she mind repeating it every couple of years ?
Never did get an answer.

 

[tepapa]

Someone took me to task for using creosoted posts, they weren't ecological, environmentally friendly, polluted watercourses, killed off amoeba, bacteria, lichen etc. I asked when did she last knock in a few posts and did she mind repeating it every couple of years ?
Never did get an answer.

No restriction on using creosote in water. It is recommended for use in marine environments.

 

[graham99]

Just what was in the old post preservative that was so bad that it was banned and we now have to use creosote ? My mother came up to nick some posts while I was away to fence off her bungalow and took my son for some help . He picked some posts up without gloves and later rubbed his face with his hands . Later that night he was treated in A&E for burns !
Today I was repairing some fairly new fencesthat had fallen over thanks to the ban on the old preservative and as always I was wearing gloves , but when I banged a staple in it fired liquid creosote straight in my face . My face is now smeared in after sun and feels like it's on fire , far worse than any sunburn I can remember . Surely to God the old stuff can't of been that bad that it was worse than this .This isn't DIY creosoting either , bought ready done , only good thing about it I guess if it burns like this it must be doing a good job

did a bit of creosoting when young .with no protection what so ever.
a part from it being the worest job ever ,i never got the burns desrcibed.
so very interesting

 

[Paddington]

Wasn't the reason for the banning of arsenic to do with the projected risk to workers in the treatment stage in confined areas and not the handling stage ?
How about someone designing a sleeve to fit over creosoted posts and strainers when knocking them in ?

 

[Grassman]

Wasn't the reason for the banning of arsenic to do with the projected risk to workers in the treatment stage in confined areas and not the handling stage ?
How about someone designing a sleeve to fit over creosoted posts and strainers when knocking them in ?

There is one but in a previous post they didn't think they were good.