Can I Use Landscape Timbers for Fence Posts?

[Bard's Rock!]

I don't know about the l;andscape timbers. I bought some last year to use as a border and when I cut one or two it looked like they had just been soaked in the treatment and not pressure treated. Unless it had a tag on the end that says it is pressure treated for ground contact I think it would be false economy to use them. The new ones like I bought, anyway.

 

[eggsforsale]

My run is only about 15x12. Only raise 8 chickens. We used pressure treated posts at the ends and t posts in between. I've put up poultry wire and then the rigid 16 ft.hog panels over that. It may be a bit over built but the livestock can't push it around, there is a tough, rigid, top and bottom wire that you can attach netting to for the top and bury at the bottom to keep dogs out, and supports the flimsy chicken wire. My experience with so called cheap landscape timbers is what everyone else is saying...warp, rot, twist, ....garbage. (Not a real landscape timber.)

 

[cmjust0]

Quote:
I try to go more t-posts than wood posts, just because t-posts are so much faster and easier.. It's not about laziness, though... No sir... It's 100% about being efficient! (

)

I actually paid a guy $5 a pop to come out and put 60 wood posts in the ground with his tractor mounted post driver.. I really, really didn't think he'd have much luck in our rocky, heavy clay soil, but he said it wasn't too much of a problem...

He was right..

Each time he dropped the hammer on the posts, they'd sink another 3"-4" in the ground. They arrived at about 7am and were gone by around 10am, with about a 15min snack break in between.

When you consider I'd have had to drop $3 worth of concrete in each hole to get the same holding strength, it really only cost me $120...but it saved me probably a WEEK of backbreaking work.

I won't work for $120/week...best $300 I ever spent.

 

[cmjust0]

Quote:
Bingo.. The only thing worse than building new fence is tearing out old fence. The thought of building a fence only to have to tear it out and build it again is scary enough for me to plan, plan, plan, and to make sure I have the right tools, equipment, and materials for the job.

So far I've wound up with a tractor mounted post hole auger, fence stretchers, come-a-longs, three or four pairs of fence pliers, and all kinds of hi-tensile tools like a crimper, tensioners, wire twisting tools, a spinning jenny, on and on and on..

I can't find half of it when I need it, but by golly I've got it!

 

[cmjust0]

Quote:
Something to consider...welded wire fence doesn't flex vertically. At all. I've tried. It's futile.

To illustrate, take a sheet of printer paper and hold it up sideways like a fence.. Now, try to fence across your mouse. If you pull the ends down, it wants to try to lean in or out or contort and all sorts of interesting stuff at the top.. Likewise, you can't pull welded wire down into a valley without it warping and torqueing all over the place, which means you may have a problem with gaps..

If your fence line is perfectly flat and level, though, you're gold.. If not, I'd personally stay away from it.. I've already wasted that money for ya -- no need for you to throw your good money after my bad money!


Oh..I've never done electric netting before, so I can't offer anything there. Sorry.

 

[Raven1]

So we are fairly level but not dead level no one is what fencing would you suggest if not that?

 

[cmjust0]

When welded wire didn't work for me, I bought this stuff for the dog yard..

In case that link doesn't work, it's a 2"x2" mesh woven wire in 16ga galv steel. It's really flexible, plus it's lightweight and fairly easy to manage. My local lowes has 48"x50' rolls for $52.

That's a bit more expensive, and it's only 4', but the mesh is smaller so you might get a little better protection.. Plus, if you've got subtle humps and drops (like we all do), you'll get better coverage out of knotted woven wire by virtue of being able to sorta 'mold' it flush to the grade..

The nuclear option would be 60" no-climb horse fence, which is nice and heavy, very tightly woven, and flexible...but superduper expensive.

 

[Raven1]

I will only do 6ft we have used other sizes and it is a pain I may just eat it and go with chainlink 6ft. for the perimeter and cut cost on the interior you can put up chainlink on wood and t-post cant you?

 

[cmjust0]

I've never worked with chainlink, so I can't really speak on experience as to whether it would or wouldn't work with wood and t-posts..

What I do know about chainlink, though is that every chainlink fence I've ever seen has a top rail between line posts.. The top rail provides horizontal support, the need for which -- as far as I can tell -- is unique to chainlink. I suspect it's required because chainlink is so daggone heavy.

If I had to hazard a guess....I'd speculate that no matter how tight you stretched it, a chainlink fence would be prone to sagging without that top rail, else they wouldn't put one on.

But, again, I've never worked with it, so I don't actually know!

 

[Raven1]

Well Poop!