Have you been wondering if you should put post caps on your fence? The short answer is yes! While most people just like the way the post cap makes the fence look, it is more important to cap the posts than just for looks. The flat end of the post has a cut across it that exposes the inside of the post to the elements. This simply means that both water and insects have easy access into the wood from the top.
Once water gets into the center of the post and it freezes, it expands thus damaging the core structure of the wood. With every freeze and thaw, if water has soaked into the grain of the wood, a little more damage is done. Insects are also a great destroyer of posts and can easily penetrate the wood through the cut. While you can never fully protect your wood posts from these types of intruders, you can greatly reduce the exposure by treating the wood with an organic sealer and topping your posts with a good snug post cap. Because there is always one person in the family that insists on “the look”, there are many styles of post caps including the popular copper post caps. They are all good for your fence and deck posts.