# Forum Home Renovation Sub Flooring  Steel posts for Deck

## adam.baxter

Hi All,  
I am in the process of building a deck 6x6 on the south side of Brisbane. I have the usual 75x75x4 posts but wanted to get them hot dipped. do you think it would be OK if i only got the part that sticks out of the ground galvanized?  
I think it would speed things up a bit, I would weld on the top plates for the posts which would be longer than necessary then cut them to length once they come back and weld on the bottom plate and concrete in place. 
failing that, I would just roughly measure each one and have the top and bottom plate welded on. 
Thoughts? 
Regards, 
Adam Baxter

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## ringtail

You wont have a choice how much of the post gets galvanised as it goes in a bath. Just measure right and dig the hole deeper if necessary leaving at least 200 mm below the post to the bottom of the hole. Proably easier to just order the posts through one of the many suppliers around like scotts or brisbane posts and beams. Your post should be 600 min into the concrete and more is better.

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## adam.baxter

I didnt make myself clear sorry, I ordered all the posts longer than i needed, i am in the process of making up the top plates and welding them on but was unsure whether its OK to get just the top plate and the longer than needed post galvanized. once its back then sit them in the hole, measure, cut off excess and weld on the bottom plate. then just hit the welded section with some gold gal that will go into the concrete. 
regards,

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## ringtail

Oh right. No problem at all with doing that. Most if not all house columns are just supagal with MS plates covered in zinc primer. You should still bitumen paint the part of the steel post that will sit in the concrete. Grind the gal off the weld site or you will get horrible porosity in the weld and dont get near the weld plume.

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## stevoh741

If doing that I'd just buy gal tube, do the welds then cold gal the welds. Cutting and grinding kind of defeats the purpose of HDG in the first place + it is expensive.

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## stevoh741

opps, I see you already have them. If you want the HDG, I'd pour the footings then work out your post heights, weld base plates and chemset as hold down bolds to footing.

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