Making an outdoor light post

[Dave Rosner]

I am in need of 2 7 foot poles to hold up string lights on my patio that I can stain. It appears there is nothing on the market even close to this so I'm going to build it myself. Seems easy enough - get 2 8/4 pieces of saepele or similiar, route a 1" deep by 1" wide grove on both pieces and then glue together. To prevent rot I'm thinking of pouring a small concrete base and mounting the wood on top of that so no ground contact.

Sound like im on the right track? Seems too easy and I'll discover something I'm not considering....

[John K Jordan]

I am in need of 2 7 foot poles to hold up string lights on my patio that I can stain. It appears there is nothing on the market even close to this so I'm going to build it myself. Seems easy enough - get 2 8/4 pieces of saepele or similiar, route a 1" deep by 1" wide grove on both pieces and then glue together. To prevent rot I'm thinking of pouring a small concrete base and mounting the wood on top of that so no ground contact.

Sound like im on the right track? Seems too easy and I'll discover something I'm not considering....

How would you mount for strength? I like to put pressure treated posts in concrete but I don't know how that would work with sapele. BTW, a post should never be set in a "pocket" of concrete but go through a collar of concrete and allowed to rest on a layer of gravel above a punch pad to permit drainage. Again, this is with pressure treated lumber. Or slide the wood post over a strong piece of steel pipe set in the concrete, or perhaps rout a channel and slide over a piece of heavy wall square steel tubing to keep the post from twisting.

I did build a multi-story deck with at least 16 4x6 PT posts set on top of concrete pads. I poured the pad, drilled a 1/2" hole and used a short piece of rebar in a hole in the bottom of the post to keep it in position. Worked well - no rot after 40+ years.

Could you build the structural part from something else (PT lumber, steel post?) mounted in concrete and face it above ground on four sides with the pretty wood?

JKJ

[Jim Becker]

I assume you're planning on using a metal mounting method that keeps the wood off the concrete and feel that's a great idea...I did the same for our mailbox, although it's not as "elegant" as your light post will likely be. If you choose the right metal mount, things should be strong and nice looking, especially if you paint the metal to blend in.

[Bradley Gray]

+1 to what Jim said. Might want to add a piece of conduit to cover the wire in the space left by the metal base.

[Dave Rosner]

I was thinking of anchoring the post to the concrete above ground using something like this...Simpson strong tie..

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001B1CHO4...a-319649083629

i may have to dust off my college physics books to determine loads and such. However the posts are only to hold the end of a string light which isn't too heavy.

Im still not clear how the wires will exit the top to allow me to replace the string lights in the future. I'm sure to be code compliant I may have to create room for a weath r tight box at the top.

[Wayne Lomman]

Set a piece of 1" square tube in the concrete about 2' high. Run the cable through this and slip the post over it. Solid as a brick s...house. Cheers

[John K Jordan]

Dave,

I have never used one of those to hold up a free-standing post. I worry that even a relatively small sideways force on the post (wind, branch, someone leaning on it) might distort the bracket and/or overstress the fasteners in the wood or the wood itself. I understood those anchors were intended to support the bottom end of a structural member (for example holding up a deck) and hold it in place while keeping it away from direct contact with the concrete and any moisture there.

Maybe someone here has experience in trying these for free-standing posts. If you'd like, I can ask a professional architect (such as my middle son) what he would spec.

JKJ

I was thinking of anchoring the post to the concrete above ground using something like this...Simpson strong tie..

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001B1CHO4...a-319649083629

i may have to dust off my college physics books to determine loads and such. However the posts are only to hold the end of a string light which isn't too heavy.

Im still not clear how the wires will exit the top to allow me to replace the string lights in the future. I'm sure to be code compliant I may have to create room for a weath r tight box at the top.

[Paul Girouard]

That post base will not hold a a lone post.
We use metal light posts , set in about 18" of concrete .
If you had to see a wood post I rout grooves in the wood , and set a 1" galv. Steel post 5' long , 18" or 24" into the ground , then I'd take the two half's of the wood post that you grooved and attach them around the steel post. The steel post could be the conduit that the wire is run thru as it comes from under ground and then runs up the wood post groove to the light fixture.

If the wood ever did rot you could easily make a new wood sleeve to cover the structural steel post.

[Jamie Buxton]

A slightly different approach is to put pressure-treated 4x4 into the ground. You can put the 4x4 directly in the dirt, or you can use concrete. Then you run romex up one face, and clad the whole thing with pretty wood. You can clad it directly, or make a slip-on sleeve. A good thing about the sleeve is that you fasten it to only one face of the 4x4, and the 4x4 can shrink without stressing the cladding. (PT in my area is sold soaking wet, so it will shrink.) The difference between this all-wood approach and the steel post approach is that wood is easier to work with. You can easily cut it, and you can easily fasten stuff to it, like the cladding and the romex.

[Bill Dufour]

I would use metal pipe at least one inch pipe. The full length of the post and several feet below. Mount a tee about 18" below grade for the wires to enter. The other ideas here are good but I think folks have forgotten that the wires have to be included in the base mount. I have seen wires cut as the post moves relative to the ground.
I think that I would use a big pipe, like 2", and case it in wood.
Bill

[Dave Richards]

Years ago I was going to make a wooden light post to put on our deck. I was going to use a method used for making hollow masts and spars with birdsmouth v-grooves cut into one edge of each stave. I ended up building a sailboat instead. Be careful to stay on task.

[Jerry Miner]

Years ago I was going to make a wooden light post to put on our deck. I was going to use a method used for making hollow masts and spars with birdsmouth v-grooves cut into one edge of each stave. I ended up building a sailboat instead. Be careful to stay on task.

LOL. If you end up with a sailboat with a lighted mast, be sure to get a REALLLLLLLLY long extension cord!!

[Jim Becker]

I was thinking of anchoring the post to the concrete above ground using something like this...Simpson strong tie..

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001B1CHO4...a-319649083629

i may have to dust off my college physics books to determine loads and such. However the posts are only to hold the end of a string light which isn't too heavy.

Im still not clear how the wires will exit the top to allow me to replace the string lights in the future. I'm sure to be code compliant I may have to create room for a weath r tight box at the top.

There is a much stronger product made by Simpson you may want to look at...Amazon displayed it after I viewed your link, thinking it was something I was interested in.

[scott vroom]

https://www.strongtie.com/standoffpo...epb_base/p/epb

[Wade Lippman]

No comment on your engineering... just wondering how you planned on staining sapele? Consider white oak.