Treating Wood

Many people ask the same question, how should I treat timber in contact with the ground such as fence posts?

Since the ban on domestic sales of creosote based products we have been left with only water based products which are more akin to a paint and repel water from a surface such as timber cladding or roofing and are not for use with timber in constant contact with wet areas such as fence posts which are sunken into the ground, so what do we do?

We make our own and we immerse any timber into the solution for as long as we possibly can so our solution has time to penetrate our timber and be absorbed into it, unlike water based products which sit on the surface, and we can make a range of solutions from waste products, my recipe is so simple it defies belief and recycles a waste product at the same time, and one which is difficult to dispose of.

Take one part old oil, this can be any oil such as old engine or gear oil.
Get another part of diesel, if you lnow a local farmer he will sell you red diesel at a much lower price than pump diesel.

Mix them together in equal quantities so you have one part old oil to one part diesel and stir until they are thoroughly mixed together.

You now need a container to stand them in, if you have an old 5 gallon drum (25 litres) you cut off the top and stand your posts or timber to be treated into the container and tie around the top with string to hold them together as a bundle, you then put some of your treatment into the container by pouring it in slowly onto the posts past half their height so at least half the post is treated, cover the timber and container over to prevent water getting to your treatment or onto your timber. Every 2-3 weeks you undo the string and turn your timber over so the other end is also treated and pour your treatment over the post so it is all treated along its entire length, and continue with this for as long as possible. You will have fully treated timber which will last for years.

Once your posts are fully treated you take them out of your treatment and stand them in another container and let them drip dry, if you can fit a raised mesh into the bottom they can be stood on this to allow any dripping treatment to drip through the mesh and into the container, you can leave them to dry.
Isn't this toxic? Yes, but its much less toxic than creosote or commercial processes such as tannalisation and we can deal with this very simply.

When we come to use our posts we dig our holes slightly deeper than needed and put clay or concrete into the bottom and we can use either clay or concrete to secure them into the ground. Before we put our posts into the ground we wrap them. If we work out the height of post which is to be sunk into the ground, we can cut a length of cling film and stand our post into the middle of it, we tuck our short sides up the side of our posts, and then bring up our long sides and fold them around our post, we repeat this by turning our post at 90 degrees and repeating the process so all sides of our post are wrapped. We then spiral wrap our post from the bottom, up, and this covers the existing cling film for a waterproof covering which holds our treatment inside the wood, and the water out, we install into our hole and we have fully treated posts which are further sealed by back filling our hole with clay or concrete.