WOOD FENCE POSTS
Tools required :- Spade / shovel, spot board, bucket, wood saw, lump hammer, post / 600mm spirit level and tape measure.
Safety tip :- Wear gloves when mixing mortar and concrete as cement can irritate and burn skin.
Wood fence posts can be bedded in the ground using the same method as used for concrete posts (see concrete fence posts). The only difference in using this method is you should have a base of stone approximately 100mm in depth at the bottom of the hole to help drain away any future accumulation of water and reduce water ingress into the bottom of the post ( see fig 1 ). As with any wood used outdoors a few coats of good quality wood preserve will keep it in good condition and probably improve its finished look.
fig 1 Wood post
When you use any wood post externally always cap the top of the post off with a piece of ornamental or homemade timber, this stops the end of the post soaking up water through the grain.
Wood posts can also be fixed to spikes of various sizes ( dependant on the size of post being used ) which are driven into the ground usually with a sledgehammer, the disadvantage of using spikes is they obviously have to be level when they are knocked into the ground and in the past I have found this quite difficult to do when the ground is soil or clay mixed with brick and stone etc. To protect the post socket on the spike place a small piece of post in the socket and this will take the force of the sledgehammer rather than the metal socket. When the spike is in position the post can mounted in the socket and held in place with zinc coated wood screws.
If you have a solid concrete base the wood posts could be held in place using floor mounted post sockets which once in position can be fixed in place using rawlbolts, coachbolts etc.