Fencing posts

[roscoe erf]

Absolutly peed of with so called pressure treated timber. Got posts rotted off at ground level after 5 years.
When I was young fit & keen I cut Scotch trees down in a mature wood we had. Cut them to length & took them to the local sawmill where they cut them into 3" x 3" Brought them home & stacked them up for a summer. Another local sawmill had a creosote hot tank & they put them through that.
Last week the lads were altering a fence round the garden. They were amazed to find some of those 46 year old posts were 100% sound at ground level. Only deteriation was on the tops

5 years your doing better than most some strainers here gone before 3 years old f.f.s

 

[Dyffryn]

I have bought some creosoted strainers twice from different company's and had to cut the top off ( very hard ground) I am very shocked and annoyed that the creosote has only gone in to the post about 5-10mm. On some post’s. Challenged the company's and they both have the same story. That the creosote doesn't go in because it must be heart wood. Has any body else had this problem?

 

[ARW]

I have bought some creosoted strainers twice from different company's and had to cut the top off ( very hard ground) I am very shocked and annoyed that the creosote has only gone in to the post about 5-10mm. On some post’s. Challenged the company's and they both have the same story. That the creosote doesn't go in because it must be heart wood. Has any body else had this problem?

We have had this before, we once had a wagon load come and it had to go back for re-treatment

 

[Si85]

Tho they are expensive (but should last a very long time) has anyone started using plastic posts like these for general stock fencing?

Recycled Mixed Plastic Round Post with Point Ductile

Recycled Plastic Fence Post Pointed. Plastic Posts For Fencing are Impervious to water and fungi.

www.recycledplasticbuildingmaterials.co.uk

Looks like they would be cost efficient over the yrs they last

 

[Bury the Trash]

Tho they are expensive (but should last a very long time) has anyone started using plastic posts like these for general stock fencing?

Recycled Mixed Plastic Round Post with Point Ductile

Recycled Plastic Fence Post Pointed. Plastic Posts For Fencing are Impervious to water and fungi.

www.recycledplasticbuildingmaterials.co.uk

Looks like they would be cost efficient over the yrs they last

@Goweresque has experience of using plastic.

 

[tepapa]

Tho they are expensive (but should last a very long time) has anyone started using plastic posts like these for general stock fencing?

Recycled Mixed Plastic Round Post with Point Ductile

Recycled Plastic Fence Post Pointed. Plastic Posts For Fencing are Impervious to water and fungi.

www.recycledplasticbuildingmaterials.co.uk

Looks like they would be cost efficient over the yrs they last

Are you going to pay £30 for a plastic fence post when you can have a creosote post for £8 or a clipex beefy for about £11?

 

[tepapa]

I have bought some creosoted strainers twice from different company's and had to cut the top off ( very hard ground) I am very shocked and annoyed that the creosote has only gone in to the post about 5-10mm. On some post’s. Challenged the company's and they both have the same story. That the creosote doesn't go in because it must be heart wood. Has any body else had this problem?

And they'll stand there and tell you it's going to last 40 years too,
We've been treating posts for 200 years, come and visit our treatment plant.
no-one else has complained.
You can only treat heartwood.
British Standard depth of treatment is only 6mm.

Give me a minute and I'll try and remember some more excuses.

 

[Goweresque]

Are you going to pay £30 for a plastic fence post when you can have a creosote post for £8 or a clipex beefy for about £11?

I've managed to put up about 10km of fencing over the last 5 or 6 years with a large % of plastic posts (mixed with some creo in places) for less than £5/metre including erection by a contractor, so it can be done inexpensively. I do the prep work myself though so as to reduce erection costs.

As long as you have decent strainers (I've been using tropical hardwood sleepers) and you design the fence so you have straight runs, you don't need a massively thick plastic post, especially if you have a good hedge behind the fence. 60mm diameter is fine in such case. The posts are there to hold the wire upright, rather than providing a rigid barrier on its own. The trick is to really hammer the hedge back, get the posts and wire as tight in as possible, then let the hedge grow back through. Then it should last as long as the wire does, the posts will last forever. The first section I did you can hardly see the wire now, the hedge has grown right through.

In areas where there is no hedge behind, such as ditches and open boundaries then plastic isn't such a winner, as the posts are more flexible and don't provide such a rigid barrier as timber does. In such circumstances I've mixed creo in with plastic, one to one where there's no hedge backing at all, maybe 2 or 3 plastic to one creo where there is a hedge but its a bit gappy.

 

[ollie989898]

I would not like to try getting a plastic post into some of the land around here.

 

[Goweresque]

I would not like to try getting a plastic post into some of the land around here.

As long as you can get a rock spike in, thats all you need. You rockspike the pilot hole and then gently push the plastic post into it. There's no point trying to drive them direct into the ground, they flex too much, and are likely to go off sideways if they hit a root or stone.

 

[tepapa]

I've managed to put up about 10km of fencing over the last 5 or 6 years with a large % of plastic posts (mixed with some creo in places) for less than £5/metre including erection by a contractor, so it can be done inexpensively. I do the prep work myself though so as to reduce erection costs.

As long as you have decent strainers (I've been using tropical hardwood sleepers) and you design the fence so you have straight runs, you don't need a massively thick plastic post, especially if you have a good hedge behind the fence. 60mm diameter is fine in such case. The posts are there to hold the wire upright, rather than providing a rigid barrier on its own. The trick is to really hammer the hedge back, get the posts and wire as tight in as possible, then let the hedge grow back through. Then it should last as long as the wire does, the posts will last forever. The first section I did you can hardly see the wire now, the hedge has grown right through.

In areas where there is no hedge behind, such as ditches and open boundaries then plastic isn't such a winner, as the posts are more flexible and don't provide such a rigid barrier as timber does. In such circumstances I've mixed creo in with plastic, one to one where there's no hedge backing at all, maybe 2 or 3 plastic to one creo where there is a hedge but its a bit gappy.

60mm , I tried some 80mm and I couldn't knock them into a spiked hole. Once in they flexed all over the place.

I need to try a range of sizes but in my opinion you need to go larger in size for plastic to get anywhere near the strength of a timber post.

 

[nb844]

And they'll stand there and tell you it's going to last 40 years too,
We've been treating posts for 200 years, come and visit our treatment plant.
no-one else has complained.
You can only treat heartwood.
British Standard depth of treatment is only 6mm.

Give me a minute and I'll try and remember some more excuses.

isn’t it funny how many people get told no-one else has complained

 

[Hfd Cattle]

isn’t it funny how many people get told no-one else has complained

If you have time to sit and read the forum then you have time to come and do some fencing for me !!!

 

[nb844]

If you have time to sit and read the forum then you have time to come and do some fencing for me !!!

I knew I’d regret sticking my head above the parapet
Give me a ring tomorrow we will get something sorted

 

[Red Fred]

Has anyone used chestnut rounds? Wondered how they worked out. I find even the guaranteed round posts only last a few years on our sand. I'm already replacing ones I did about 5 years ago, but the guarantee doesn't seem to mean much in practice.

 

[Goweresque]

60mm , I tried some 80mm and I couldn't knock them into a spiked hole. Once in they flexed all over the place.

I need to try a range of sizes but in my opinion you need to go larger in size for plastic to get anywhere near the strength of a timber post.

The biggest I've had is 70mm and they went into a 60mm rock spike hole fine. The other thing is what sort of plastic they're made of - the black ones are made from recycled silage wrap, which is a better quality plastic, but is in fact more flexible and the posts tend to bend over if fenced in a curve, even the 80mm ones. The grey/coloured posts are more rigid, being made from lower grade plastics (mixed domestic recycling I think) but as a result are more likely to snap if significant sideways pressure is applied. Hence why I only fence in straight lines and use extra 5-6 inch creo strainers at points of inflection. The plastic posts then never have any significant sideways pressure.

 

[steveR]

I think I posted on here, the wind farm used a fencing contractor who said he has about 35 farmers he fences for, and only one uses creosote posts and one uses 15 year guarantee posts, all the rest the cheap Wynnstay posts. I can not understand it, I only use Fence n' Forget posts here. I also can not understand the Wind farm using cheap posts, some gateways they have done three times in the last 10 years!

Bean counters looking at the quotes with no idea of what is actually being quoted for...

Seen a similiar behaviour here with the Solar Farm management company, penny pinching on a year by year basis, instead of do it once properly and forget.

 

[ARW]

Bean counters looking at the quotes with no idea of what is actually being quoted for...

Seen a similiar behaviour here with the Solar Farm management company, penny pinching on a year by year basis, instead of do it once properly and forget.

Last year I was contacted by a supplier about a job at a new free range unit going up, big fencing job, they were unhappy with there regular contractor, they complained of poor work and posts rotting off after 5 years. They wanted a fence to last a lifetime
I was asked to quote for clipex and creosote, something that would last, also it had to be done before 1st april on new seeds. it was wet so only tracked machines would travel
I quoted and waited thinking we were the only contractor with the suitable equipment
Then I found out the customer had rang the supplier and hurled abuse at the size of the quote and that they could get fencing done much cheaper from there regular contractor using tanalised timber!
Waste of time!

 

[Drillman]

Last year I was contacted by a supplier about a job at a new free range unit going up, big fencing job, they were unhappy with there regular contractor, they complained of poor work and posts rotting off after 5 years. They wanted a fence to last a lifetime
I was asked to quote for clipex and creosote, something that would last, also it had to be done before 1st april on new seeds. it was wet so only tracked machines would travel
I quoted and waited thinking we were the only contractor with the suitable equipment
Then I found out the customer had rang the supplier and hurled abuse at the size of the quote and that they could get fencing done much cheaper from there regular contractor using tanalised timber!
Waste of time!

There loss.

i (among many others) know you do a top job

which reminds me I need to go for a look at fences see what’s to do this year.

 

[Zedlock]

60mm , I tried some 80mm and I couldn't knock them into a spiked hole. Once in they flexed all over the place.

I need to try a range of sizes but in my opinion you need to go larger in size for plastic to get anywhere near the strength of a timber post.

We are a distributor of Hanit recycled plastic posts and have installed them ourselves. There was some helpful feedback when we posted on here recently - yes you do need to spike the holes, and we think a vibrating post driver is better than a deadweight knocker, but we don't feel the flex is a great issue on the intermediates, as they should simply be holding the wire off the ground. For stock fencing we recommend 80mm rounds as inter's and 150mm round strainers, and done as box strainers. Please get in touch if you would like any samples.View attachment Hanit RRP list and RFQ, to print.pdf