Posts for lanterns

Posts for lanterns are one of the details most people don’t want to have to think about, yet they make a huge difference to the final look of a property. The height of the post on a residential property can generally vary from 6’8” – 7’8” depending on the topography and distance from the house or driveway. The style of the post should work with the style of the home and can be a simple square post with chamfered sides or a square base with fluted column and capital. We recommend posts with a separate tenon of pressure, treated wood, bored out with electrical hole, and buried 3” below grade. The posts are made of clear cedar and fit on the pressure treated tenon at grade level. We have seen a lot of substandard quality posts that may be cedar, but riddled with knots that prove irritating to clients when they need to be replaced in short time.

A recent question was raised for setting the post. Two methods are commonly used; cement or dirt. Curiously enough, the cement set method had valid concerns of potentially trapping water causing the wood to rot sooner than the dirt packed method. Any thoughts or experience from the field?