My friend put a 4 inch treated wood gate post in the ground and we filled the hole with concrete. A neighbor built a fence around the same time, using similar-looking posts. Six years later, the post rotted out but the fence is still going strong. Did we do something wrong?
Why did a gate post rot after just 6 years
fencepost
Related Solutions
Don't attach the fence to the house. Aside from putting holes in your siding (not a good thing), your fence and your house will most likely move differentially. The attachment could result in a tear of the siding, which would be a bad thing.
Place the fence post close to the house, then run the fencing top and bottom supports up to within an inch or so of the siding (do leave a little gap, for that differential movement). Place the slats on the supports, allowing the slats to get just a bit closer to the siding.
You could even install a flexible membrane, similar to a product used to seal the bottom of a garage door at the floor, between the fencing and siding.
My first thought is a guy wire from the top corner of the post, with a turnbuckle in the middle to tension it up and pull out that lean in the post. It seems that if you don't do something like this, the only alternative IS to reset the posts, which is a lot of work. Hope this helps.
This is what a turnbuckle looks like:
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Best Answer
The most common failure with posts in concrete is "collar rot", where the post rots right at the point where it exits the concrete at the ground line. This can be easily avoided if the concrete is slightly above ground grade and domed or tapered away from the post so water doesn't lay against the wood. Drainage is the key, keep standing water away from the posts and they will last a lot longer.