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Shoutout to the guy who showed me the right way to set a corner post
I was putting up a split rail fence for a client in Springfield last month, and I kept having trouble with the corner posts leaning after a few weeks. I was using the same method I always did, just tamping the dirt around the post after setting it in the hole. Then this older contractor I know stopped by the supply yard and saw me loading up. He asked about my job and told me to try the 'concrete collar' method instead. He said to dig the hole a bit wider at the bottom, set the post, then pour a 10-inch thick collar of concrete just around the base, but keep the rest of the hole filled with dirt and gravel. I tried it on that job, and those corner posts are rock solid. The concrete locks the base in place but the dirt fill still lets water drain away so the wood doesn't rot as fast. Has anyone else switched to a method like this for wood posts, or do you have a different trick?
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the_ryan1mo ago
Tamping dirt works fine" - until it rains for a week straight and your corner post is suddenly doing the limbo. That concrete collar method sounds like a solid middle ground. I've seen guys go all in with concrete all the way up and then curse six months later when the post rots off at ground level because water just sits there. Your buddy's trick of leaving dirt and gravel on top lets the wood breathe a little. I'd probably add a couple inches of pea gravel on top of the concrete before the dirt just to give it extra drainage.
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pipera503mo ago
Wait, you were just tamping dirt for a corner post before? That's wild, no wonder they were leaning.
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