Wood plank falling off fence

How tall are your posts to start with? A 6 foot above ground post should have at least 2 feet in the ground in your area. I would be setting them in concrete so you have a good solid base and good ballast. A metal post in concrete won't rust as long as you dome the top of the concrete so water runs away from the post.

I'll share a clever trick that works well and is very fast. After digging your hole for the post, set one or two bricks in the bottom of the hole to set your post on. You will of course have to adjust for height and plumb the post. Then simply pour an 80 pound bag of Sacrete premixed concrete mix around the post dry, right from the bag. Now just pour apx 2 gallons of water on top of the mix and leave it alone for 24 hours. You will have a solid concrete base for your posts without having to mix concrete. Mixing concrete is good, even better, but this little trick is fast and easy.

Well. It really depends what your application is. In general wood is more aesthetically pleasing whereby metal is generally more functional.

which posts are you thinking of here. because if its t-pieces i think that you want a mesh type fence If you are talking square or round tubing its a more substantial fence. Both would have different outcomes.

The considerations in my head:

• How is your soil type: sandy soils will not hold any post too well. The advantage of metal is that you can re-enforce the pole with welded cross bars knocked into the ground at angles around the base then cemented.
• Are there lots of fires? wooden posts will burn up in the event of a nice strong bush fire
• What distance of fence? in the long run it would probably be more economical to go with the metal bars.
• The Metal T-bars are made for fencing and have notches and holes so that your wire does not slide down or fall out.
• If wood, will you go all wood - it makes little sense going wood if you have metal cross pieces
• If you are thinking of metal tubing, then are you going to put end caps, and are you going to drill holes which will affect the durability of the structure (it will rust from the inside) - which means you will have to ensure that you have galvanized posts.