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Shoutout to the old guy at the lumber yard who saved me a bundle on cedar posts
I was picking up a load of 4x4 cedar posts for a big privacy fence job in Springfield last month, and the yard guy, Frank, asked me how I was planning to set them. I told him my usual way: dig the hole, drop the post, pour in the concrete. He just shook his head and said, 'You're drowning good wood.' He explained that with cedar, especially in our damp soil, you want a gravel base for drainage and to only concrete the very top of the hole to lock it in, leaving the bottom foot or so in gravel. I'd been fully concreting every single post for years, which traps moisture and rots them out faster. I tried his method on that job, and it not only used way less concrete, but the posts feel rock solid. Has anyone else switched to this way for cedar, and did you see a difference in how long they last?
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bailey.xena1mo ago
Used to think concrete all the way down was the only right way. Frank's advice about the gravel base for cedar made me realize I was basically building a bathtub for the post to rot in. Switched my method on a fence line three years back and those posts are still perfect. It's a smarter way to build for sure.
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