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Why does nobody talk about cedar posts splitting after a single season in dry climates?
I mean, I had a whole line of them in a Phoenix job last fall start cracking by spring, so now I'm switching to pressure-treated pine for anything out there and wondering if anyone else has a better fix.
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val3232mo ago
Yeah, it's the brutal dry heat. Cedar shrinks so fast out there it just tears itself apart. Pressure-treated is the move for that climate, holds moisture way better. I've seen guys try to seal the ends of cedar posts, but that's a band-aid on a bigger problem. Sometimes the right material for the job just isn't the pretty one.
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bettym892mo ago
Oh man, that reminds me of my uncle's deck back in Arizona... he insisted on redwood for the look, and within two years the railings had splits you could fit a coin into. He ended up wrapping the whole thing in that synthetic decking stuff, which just felt weird and plasticky in the sun.
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robert_jones9h ago
Man, I gotta say @val323 nailed it with the pressure-treated point. People get so caught up in looks they forget what works. Cedar's great for a fence in a rainy spot but out there it's a nightmare. I've seen posts crack before the concrete even sets proper. End sealing helps a tiny bit but it's like putting a bandaid on a broken leg, you know? Sometimes you just gotta accept the ugly stuff works better.
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