Longevity in Treated Timber

4 February 2009

We do seem to spend a surprising amount of time replacing fencing that hasn't been around that long. Most companies guarantee there fencing for 25 years and it has been dipped into a medium that prevents all those little bugs having it for breakfast. The only problem is that on the face of it, it doesn't work. Quite often the panel is in perfect nick but the post is rotten through and will snap against the concrete pad and come off in your hand. It is so long ago since the fence was put up no one can quite remember where it was bought, and any accompanying paper work is long since thrown away and so the guarantee is obsolete. How annoying for the client and a waste of good natural resources.

One of the major problems seems to be the fencer cutting the bottom few inches off  during installation. It's like taking the lid off the sandwich box in a goat enclosure, the soil microrhiza have a field day and before you know it, all strength has been eaten out of the post. The treatment seal has been broken and the critters get to work.

If you do need to shorten a fence post, put the cut uppermost at the top of the fencing and treat twice with a preservative. You can sleep well in the knowledge that in 25 years time those posts will be going strong.