Fencing Question - Covering T-Posts

[monicagrace27]

Hi again!

We recently bought a property and the existing fencing was uncovered t-posts with three strands of barbed wire. We’ve already done away with the barbed wire and plan to install electric rope. I would love to do a wooden fence instead, but the budget doesn’t allow that right now as we’ve also been working on getting rid of weeds in the pasture, re-seeding, adding an arena, etc. So, my question is that if I have to stick with t-posts for the time being, what is the best way to cover them on a budget? I would ideally like them to look nice and I’ve looked at sleeves for them, but the cost seems to be 25 for $250 which seems a bit excessive. Has anyone ever used PVC pipe either with holes drilled for the rope or zip ties to cover their posts?

Thanks in advance!

[Tarlo_Farm]

Your local supply store should sell bags of simple caps made to cover the tops of the posts. Unless you mean to cover the whole post? How would you attach wire then?

[monicagrace27]

@Tarlo Farm

Your local supply store should sell bags of simple caps made to cover the tops of the posts. Unless you mean to cover the whole post? How would you attach wire then?

I did look at the caps, but I guess I am a bit picky in that I think the green posts (some of which are old and rusty, honestly) with the small caps looks odd. I was hoping to cover the whole post and I have seen sleeves for them, but they’re very expensive. I thought I had seen someone mention using PVC piping to cover the post with zip ties to hold the rope fencing on a while back, but I can’t find the post now so I was hoping to hear from someone who had done something like this.

[Tarlo_Farm]

Again, if you cover them, how will you attach wire? The usual attachments need the bumps along the length of the post to keep the wire from sliding.

[monicagrace27]

@Tarlo Farm

Again, if you cover them, how will you attach wire? The usual attachments need the bumps along the length of the post to keep the wire from sliding.

My thought was to drill a hole in the PVC pipe to allow a horseguard zip tie to go around and hook into the t-post notch and hold the rope in place.

[poltroon]

Yeah, the caps aren’t super attractive, but you get used to them. As you have noted, any sleeve solution is pretty expensive.

If you use PVC pipe you’re adding some work to make good attachments, and also you’ll want to be sure that your PVC pipe is rated for sunlight exposure. It’s still going to cost some money.

I suggest using the caps, living with the look of the t-posts for now, and saving your money to do it the way you want later. One nice thing about T-posts is that they’re straightforward to move and reuse if you decide you want the fence to go somewhere different.

[Scarlet_Gilia]

Yes, you should use PVC pipe that is UV stabilized. Looking at the Home Depot web site, that type of pipe looks more expensive than posts from Tractor Supply.

https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/f…fence-question may be the thread you remember. Posts # 9 and 12 discuss how people attached the tape.

I supposed you could use white spray paint on the t-posts. Tedious, but cheap.

[Simkie]

These are under $10 a pop, not sure if you can do better than that?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Sure-Fit…5433/205345720

Oh, I guess you can!

$7.49 here: https://www.rammfence.com/fence/horse-fencing-accessories/post-components/2-inch-x-2-inch-x-5-foot-post-sleeves.html

$5.85: https://kencove.com/fence/T-Post+Sleeve+5%26%2339%3B+Plastic_detail_JR1755.php

(Not sure what shipping looks like, though.)

[OTTBs]

How soon might you replace this with wood fencing? Do you really want to spend the money on covers, or start replacing the posts with wood? Idk how the spacing on yours is, my T posts are about 30’ apart. So, for example, I could replace my T posts with wood posts 32’ apart to start the framework for a wood fence. Hmm, I guess you would have to be careful orienting posts if they have a flat side; maybe it’s a crazy idea. Or you could do the most visible posts in wood 8’ apart to start.

[poltroon]

Even at $8 each, that’s perilously close to the price of wood posts.

One possibility is you don’t have to replace them all at once. You can do a few at a time, or only the ones most visible, etc.

[SusanO]

I bought 10 foot PVC pipe, cut it in half to 5 foot lengths, painted it black and used black tape for interior fencing. I bought PVC caps and put it on the pipe and screwed in black plastic insulators. I used this for interior fencing until the smarty pants pony kept crawling through it . It worked pretty well but the horses did break the insulators on a regular basis. I have also used the black plastic T post sleeves. They worked pretty well but the horses kept popping the caps off them and the caps were no where to be found again. I finally put in Centaur fencing which tends to contain the beasts better. One advantage of this type of fence is that if you have a helper and a tractor the t posts can be moved and you can change your fence configuration. I still have one length of this fence dividing one pasture and I need to change the size of the small pasture. Not that hard to do with this type of fence.

Other people have done this with white pipe and tape but white magnifies any unevenness in the fence and black seems to fade into the background. Also any white fence around here turns dirty green due to the rain and humidity.

[Tarlo_Farm]

@monicagrace27

My thought was to drill a hole in the PVC pipe to allow a horseguard zip tie to go around and hook into the t-post notch and hold the rope in place.

You have WAY more time and energy than I do. :D:D:D And I bet regular zip ties are less expensive than anything labeled 'horseguard".

[moving_to_dc]

PVC pipe is a lot cheaper from a plumbing supply company vs. a big box store. You can also get caps to seal off the PVC at the top of the post.

As far as insulators, use wood post insulators with short screws to attach them to the PVC sleeve.

I have also painted T posts white, with white toppers, insulators and tape. The paint has held up for YEARS now. Super easy to paint the posts with spray paint. Attached a few pictures of a short run of cross fencing with painted t-posts.

[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“title”:“white t post 1.jpg”,“data-attachmentid”:10738449}[/ATTACH]

[Weezer]

@moving to dc

PVC pipe is a lot cheaper from a plumbing supply company vs. a big box store. You can also get caps to seal off the PVC at the top of the post.

As far as insulators, use wood post insulators with short screws to attach them to the PVC sleeve.

I have also painted T posts white, with white toppers, insulators and tape. The paint has held up for YEARS now. Super easy to paint the posts with spray paint. Attached a few pictures of a short run of cross fencing with painted t-posts.

[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“title”:“white t post 1.jpg”,“data-attachmentid”:10738449}[/ATTACH]

This looks great, what a good idea!