Thank you all for all this good and valuable feedback. In north Texas, my dirt is sand and with the winds of tornado weather, it's impossible to not install posts in concrete. My fence sections will be 8-ft H by 8-ft L. So because of wind, sand and weight of fence sections (9 in back, 9 on one side and 6 on the other), my posts MUST be set in concrete, 42"-46" deep. My city REQUIRES that I either use metal posts (which I hate and so do my neighbors) or CEDAR posts. Was told pressure treated are out of the question. I plan to install board-on-boards sections - within the posts, not against them. Plan to use Simpson post brackets to hold the horizontal 2x4's. So re: the posts and wanting to choose a "green" way to preserve them as long as possible, I am looking at wrapping the portion of the posts that will be against the concrete in the ground with some sort of product (roofing cement or waterproofing membranes, or spray-on or brush-on bed liner for trucks, or even using a product called plasti-sleeve for the posts and plasti-skirt for the horizontally placed pressure-treated 2x6's covering the front and back of the bottom of the cedar planks. This will go an inch or two above the ground and concrete to prevent rot at grade-level. So, back to the posts: with this plan, the top and sides will be protected but because of need for moisture to come off the bottom of the posts, what can I choose for that part of the post? This 60-yr old woman from Switzerland thanks you for all your suggestions/opinions.

Hi John, Sorry to keep dragging this thread on, but I want to get this right. I went to one of the box stores, and the guy who knows about fences agreed about the copper flashing. They stock it, for that reason. But he also suggested this design: not putting the cedar into the concrete at all, but use a nickel plated fastening system, "J-Bolt" plus connecting hardware to the cedar posts. Here's my drawing: http://users.tellurian.net/tom/fence/J_Bolt_post.htm Your comments are most valued. Thanks In Advance tf

I think you will say its awesome.. :-) I have to go down 42" to get below the frost line here in northern illinois.. the concrete would be poured around the sleeve first.. so once that sets up you can drop the post into the sleeve.. really I could fill have the sleeve with gravel after that point.. as the post only goes down that far to deal with the frost line.. so I could drop another 10in of gravel into the sleeve and drop the post on top of that.. there would still be 32" of post in the ground.. also whats the harm it in overflowing? seems to me that would take a lot of water.. it would have to soak down to 42inches of soil then fill all the back up assuming it doesn't just keep soaking down in the soil underneath the gravel.. wouldn't all that water just get soaked up by the concrete anyway or pour in through the gap between the post and the concrete at grade.. and the concrete would hold it against the post while the sleeve allows it to drain and or/dry....with the sleeve going all the way down at least the water would have somewhere easy to drain to and the ribs allow for air/drying.. it's not my idea.. these two companies came up with it.. this is the link to the company that sells this product.. http://www.postshieldusa.com/cs/ or this other one.. http://www.postprotector.com/.. i'm just not planning to buy their sleeves but use the pvc sleeves just laying around lowes instead.. i am looking for better alternatives besides dont use ceder and dont use concrete.. seems to me that if any alternative is going to end up with rot eventually why not just make it easier to repair.. i also like the idea of the copper because I intend to use copper on the post caps.. and if it works and looks cool that would be great.. but if that just marginally improves the longevity of the post but you still end up having it rot out and need to remove the concrete then why not make that part easier.. don't know.. these companies at least have me convinced but like they say a sucker is born every minute.. so maybe im that sucker.. I'm here hoping somebody can save me from a dumb idea but it at least seems logical to me.. the post prevents post to soil and post the cement contact which from what i hear are the two things that kill the post..

I use the process in the article referenced by " pretty_saab"with a slight variation/s. I dome the, vinyl ad-mix, concrete at the posts to prevent the affect of ponding which van occur from soil subsidence, wash the posts with vinegar, prime, using a string line mount the brackets. The field posts are sleeved/enclosed with 1x and 2x for posts where gates are installed. There are any number of capitols available for the post tops, or you can fashion your own.