Size of fence posts?
 

Fence advice needed please.
My son and his neighbor are splitting the cost on a wooden fence.
100' x 6'. No lattice.
Neighbour wants 6" posts so the fence will last 100 years he says. (Old fart)
I think it will be gaudy and a waste of money instead of 4".
It's isolated from the wind, but there are train tracks be hind the houses.
4" or 6" posts?

I would think with the cost of wood these days that for 6" posts you could easily put in a cinder block wall.

They're gonna use pressure treated ground contact posts in concrete .... right?

I'd do 6" ... every what ... 8' ... cost difference is not bigly ... divided by two.... meh.

Easy decision ... I've used 4" up until now ... and plan a lot more....real soon...

I'll prolly use 4" :D

6 is better tho' ... 4 is good enough for me.

HTH .... LOL

I dunno???

My girlfriend's fence has 4" x 6" posts - just to throw a wrench in the discussion. :)

That's what Ima gonna use ... she must be brilliant :)

What type of livestock is he keeping in?

We build barbed wire fences all the time. The corner posts are 5.25 or 6” and the normal posts are 3.25 or 4.25… every 16.5’.

My fences see far more load than the fence in an urban backyard ever will. In the summer cows are running on them constantly trying to get to the grass on the other side. In the winter, the tensile load of the wire from thermal contraction pulls them incredibly tight. A good fence lasts 40+ years. I just replaced one with old split cedar posts that was about 100 years old.

4” is fine especially with an 8’ spacing. The fence will get torn down for other reasons long before it wears out. Stop overthinking this stuff.

I used these on my last fence. That baby is still standing 25 years later...

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Simpson-Strong-Tie-PGT2-12-Gauge-ZMAX-Galvanized-Pipe-Grip-Tie-for-2-in-Pipe-2-3-8-in-Outside-Diameter-PGT2Z-R/100374928#overlay

What type of wooden fence? Rail, solid, etc.

100ft is going to be 14/15 posts depending. Adding two feet to every pole is essentially 30 extra feet of post baked into the price: At the local Tractor supply, 6'5" x 3.5" are $12.00 a piece.

I'd go 6 feet depending on the style of the fence, 'cause...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1746464845.jpg

I need to drop by Tractor Supply :)

Thanks!

The type of fence where the boards stagger from one side to the other.
He and my son are adamant that it will be a better fence with 6" posts.
Maybe the fence guy has extra 6" ones and wants to get rid of them.
The quote is for $6500.
I guess I should just stay out of it and mind my own business

Labor as well?

Workable.

Just + tax

We have approx. 560' of property line fenced with treated posts, 6" X 8', in concrete with 3 cross beams, posts 10' on center, plus corners and maybe a gate or two. Over-laid with 3' steel mesh to keep pets in. Around here they last maybe 5 to 7 years, the idea is to replace them as they go so you don't have a big job all at once. Our yard guy currently charges $150. per post installed, including the post and materials. The cross beams last a long time. I don't recommend using the big box stores for these, crappy quality.

I just finished building a 6' fence and I used 4x4 treated posts.

My Opinion:
I used 4x4 posts but I spaced 7' apart vs. the typical 8'. It's pretty sturdy and the fence I built 25 years ago (identical) is still just as strong as new. However, my fences are 60' long and connect to other fences at 90 degrees so that adds some stregnth.

I would think that if you are going to space at 8', a 6x6 would add strength.

My lumber company recommended using "treated" lumber for the posts because the redwood these days is grown faster and does not have the anti-bug/rot properties that older lumber has.

What Tidybuoy said.

The dimension of the posts is not the failure point. Over time, stringers to which the pickets are nailed may sag if they span 8 feet. Shortening the dimension of each fence panel to 7 feet will improve longevity far better than increasing the diameter of the posts.

And no wooden fence made of conventional materials is going to last 100 years.

I'm wondering, what's more useful, a thicker/fatter post or a longer post that goes deeper into the ground.

In the greater Houston area, most fences seem to fail by falling over, not due to breaking, but due to the ground being soft and falling over likely due to the ground becoming saturated and sloppy.

We also have ground frost here

4", 6" is stupid

I would also consider the moisture level in the ground. The other week I replaced a 4x4 pressure treated post which had rotted through at ground level due to wet conditions at that location. It lasted about 25 years.

Best
Les

4" is plenty but I go 7' between posts rather than 8'. Adds to cost but helps when a hurricane shows up. We also run 3 horizontal 2x4's rather than 2 and a 1x6 treated rot board at the bottom.

The first time I saw that rot board at the bottom, I thought it was genius!

I'll prolly do similar but might use 4x6s ... not long runs tho...

Just because it's stoopid ;)

Back side of my property wood fence. Strong wind a couple years ago snapped off three of the twelve foot sections. 4X4 treated posts.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1746477158.jpg

^^^ I recall some jeanyus suggested shorter spans rather than dig out old posts :D.

Metal posts - he uses steel for the fence, but you could use wood pickets.

<iframe width="359" height="638" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Tv3o3WE2wX0" title="Building A No Dig Fence To Last 100 Years" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I bought one 6x6x8' pressure treated post at HD today for 35 bucks . For 100 ' of fence that's going to add up quick ! I would go 4x6 or 4x4 .

Yes I remember that. Good advice.
I did one better though I burned the broken sections and left it open.:D

Another suggestion is to get your 2x4's at a lumber yard that offers rough cut boards vs the stuff you get at Home Depot. They are noticeably thicker and look better. I found that the cost was about the same as smooth cut at Home Depot.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1746489007.jpg
4x4 PT with no wood to concrete or dirt contact and it'll last longer than the old guy neighbor

Are you talking basket weave fence, with 6" posts for $6500? :eek::eek: I'll hire them next if so.

In SoCal we only ever used 4x4 and they only failed due to rot, never broken healthy wood. If they really want 6" and the quote is reasonable, just have it done. No reason to fuss about it. Maybe the local fence guy knows something we don't. Soil and weather conditions vary a lot from state to state and I appreciate local knowledge.

I have a 150" fence with RR ties for posts @ my Lazy H Ranch.
Got the RR ties for free off an abandoned spur line all tore up.

Or simply offset the 1st section to 6' or 10' if the existing post are on 8' centers.

Alot of fences up here use old steel from wells for posts. My neighbor had one built with old 2" galvanized retired well pipe last year, rust and all. Infact when my well pump signed off last August the guy who I used to replace the pump and pipe turned me onto a dude who would come collect the 1" pipe. He made hog fence panels out of it and was thrilled to take my 700' away. Only I was more thrilled to not have to cut and take it to the metal recycler.

The other thing is pressure treated lumber is like most lumber these days and is not dense old growth and will rot pretty dam fast. Today's redwood is the same, and not much better. See the 1x6 slats that are as much white as they are red.

The PT being usually a doug-fir is a joke 4x or 6x. Too much soft new growth product that is very cellulose and even if using PT it absorbs moisture quickly. If I were building a fence, I'd look to get even cyclone fence post driven w/o concrete and then go to the wood. The companies that do cyclone have pneumatic drivers, imagine an air powered T-post driver...

Todays PT does not rot easily as long as there's no earth to wood contact. It's not as good as it was back in the day when it was super dark green. They advertized to last 40 years buried in a tropical jungle. It was deemed too carcinogenic and I'm sure they were right. Cheap redwood from a big box store is not worth using in my opinion. Cut from 8 year old farmed trees and not much better outdoors than fir or pine. The "white" grain you refer to is called sap wood and rots faster than interior soft woods. You can still get old growth, real deal redwood but you'll pay dearly for it. For framing outdoors I go with PT and dont let it touch the ground or bury it in concrete

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1746497114.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1746497114.jpg
A pic of one of the sono tube footings I did for a deck at my house 10 years ago. The home cheapo PT is still solid as when I bought it. The second pic is a corner of the railing I did with heartbeat, old growth, straight grain redwood that cost me a small fortune. The railing shows but I don't care about the ugly posts

The S4S redwood for decks & rails is much older growth to be sure, but if redwood has white, light streaks in it is less dense and more likely to take on moisture. Your post is painted and directly loaded so it out of the moist soil. A fence post in concrete might as well be direct buried in dirt because the moisture infiltrates. Go ahead and slope the post concrete so water does not collect and drain into it, you can still push it over in like 4 years.

I set the Simpson post mount's floor a half inch above the concrete. The pressure treated uncut end of the post sits on the galvanized platform of the mount and is never sitting in ponding water. I expect posts set like this to last longer than me. I've done fence posts (with cheap PT 4x4) the same way and they're pretty much a forever post. I poke a few 2' junk steel rods or heavy wire down into the wet concrete too

Dude, you are comparing apples and oranges. A weighted, structural post like you show is not like a fence post buried in the ground... The expectations of those differing conditions are huge.

A weighted post does not act like a fence post with its lateral, side to side need. I do respect your preservation painting.

Apples n oranges.