Always Cap Your Piling

Always Cap Your Piling

Beautiful dock, but where are the beautiful caps??

Docks and bulkheads are great investments for your property.  You can moor your boat up to them, go fishing off them, and help with loss of property when it comes to erosion.  So you spend some good money getting these items built all made with the finest materials, but then you don't get your pilings caped.  You may ask, what's the big deal?  Well caping piling increases the life of the pole it will also increase the life of your dock and your bulkhead.  Without the piling you will lose your dock and bulkhead and in the future have to replace all of it sooner than you thought all because you decided not to cap the piling.  Piling tend to rot from the inside out, and the biggest way this happens is from the top of the pole where it's not caped.  Water from rain or salty air over time seep down through the top of the pole and will deteriorate the wood from the inside first.  This is because the treated lumber is always most vulnerable from the inside that's because the chemical has the hardest time permeating to the center of the piling. If you ever have to cut one of these piling in half you can see where the treated chemical did not reach, and it is dead smack in the center.  The good news is there is many ways to cap your piling that will prolong the life of your dock and bulkhead and I will go over the types that we have used in the past. 

Read More