driveway gate timber

[wallace]

I have been asked to make some driveway gates and was going to use tantalised posts and machine them to size. Will this timber be ok or should I be using redwood?
thanks
Mark

 

[dickm]

Two probs with tanalised. One, the tanalising material is possibly not good for your health as you machine it and two, the tanalising only penetrates a short distance into the timber, so if you reduce the size of the posts by much, they will lose their protection. Given the work involved, it might be worthwhile to use better timber and treat it appropriately.

 

[carlb40]

If the budget allows? And if they think long term. An exterior timber would be better such as iroko, oak?

 

[katellwood]

Not sure its relevant today but when I was apprenticed in the seventies we used to place the end of the gatepost in a bucket of used engine oil and let capillary action draw it up through the grain prior to setting them in the ground.

However I bet there are environmental issues which negate this method today, just a thought

 

[marcus]

An exterior timber would be better such as iroko, oak?

+1, this really is a case where they need to spend a bit more, if you can't find tanalised in the size you need.

 

[awkwood]

If you would like to make them from good redwood.
Make them up, dry assemble them, when your happy with the fit of all the parts, take them apart and take all the pieces to have them tanalised protimed etc, then when they are dry assemble them, the best long lasting solution i have found, but not the quickest.

 

[marcus]

That's interesting, never thought to do that, where would you go to get them tanalised?

 

[wallace]

Thanks for all the thoughts. I get the impression they are on a budget, so I will explain there options and wait and see
mark

 

[Jelly]

If you used protimthen theres a directory of operators on the Osmose UK website.

Otherwise just google for suppliers of pressure treated timber... there are different presevatives, but they're largely equivalent, the old CCA* preservatives are argubly more durable, but in very limited usage.


* Copper Chrome Arsinate, AKA: "Tanalith". Now restricted by these EU Regs

 

[adzeman]

end of the gatepost in a bucket of used engine oil and let capillary action draw it up

Post go rotten at the junction of soil at ground level so we tarred or black jacked the bottom of the post to a foot above ground. Field gates in our area usually had stone gate posts into which we would lead in a gate crook, scary especially if the clay was a bit damp. Timber posts were in green oak. Just bought a load of path edging its softwood and treated including a load of pegs. The preservative is not tanalised to be honest I don't know what it is, should ask. Its quite reasonable in cost comes in 3 meter lengths @ £2.05 a board plus vat. One thing about tanalised timber you should not use it in wood burners as it gives off toxic fumes.

 

[beech1948]

26 yrs ago I bought 2 off 150x150x2300 gate posts ( they may have been longer). Tanellised softwood
I coated the bottom 3 ft in a rubberised roofing gloop with three coats including the bottom. Looked quite smart.

They have been in the ground cemented in for 26 yrs and show no sign of rot at or below ground level. They were buried such that about 12 inches of the black gloop showed above ground. Plenty of small splits but no rot.

Al

 

[Phil Pascoe]

+1 for rotting at the base - if you concrete posts in, make sure you fleet the concrete away from them so no water holds near them. It also pays to cap the tops with something - most days I pass a pair of oak posts I put in 38 yrs ago, and they are not showing any deterioration. I capped them with sheet alloy the day they went in.