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My grandpa said to always soak cedar posts in a bucket of water for a full day before setting them.
He was a fence guy for forty years, so I listened. Last spring I had a big job putting in a 200-foot cedar fence for a client. I soaked every single post in a big plastic tub for 24 hours like he said. The ground was pretty dry. When I went back a year later to fix a gate, I pulled on one of those posts and it felt like it was set in concrete. The wood had swollen up tight in the hole and there was zero wobble. My grandpa passed last winter, but his old-school trick saved me a ton of callbacks. I've heard some guys say it's a waste of time, but seeing is believing. Does anyone else use this method, or is there a better prep trick for different wood types?
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jesse_barnes3716d ago
That trick works great for green pressure-treated lumber too.
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alexlewis16d ago
Had to let my deck boards dry for a week before they'd stay put.
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