rotten fence posts

[crackerjak]

Good evening all.

I am planning ahead for the spring when I need to replace some 22 panels and posts on my back garden. Most of them should be simple enough to do but theres 2 posts that I am unsure on how to tackle.

One of the posts had rotted badly and snapped off in the high winds. However the previous owners of my house fitted the post in a concrete path which adjoins the neighbours land. I cannot remove their red brick path nor can I really start taking up my concrete path.

I would like to replace the wooden post with concrete, if I manage to scrape out the majority of the old post, what are my chances of using the same hole and pouring in some postcrete? Or am I better to use a metal post repair spur and stick with wooden posts down the garden.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Jak

 

[JohnD]

if you are really, really lucky the stump might come out.

I had a similar one and attacked it with an extra-long drill, thinking to break it up and fish out the fragments. To my surprise it rattled loose and I was able to pluck it out on the end of the drill. I guess it had been damp when cast in and had shrunk a bit as it dried out when I was trying to remove it in summer.

I subsequently slid a 3" x 4' concrete repair spur into the hole, and bolted a wooden post to that.

I like concrete because it doesn't rot.

Perhaps you are now in the right frame of mind to vow that you will never use wooden posts again. If not, you will be if you have to dig yours out.

The spiked Metposts are rubbish.

You can however get cast-in or bolt-down metal feet. They do not have much lateral support so your post will lean and wobble unless you can brace it. They are quite good for sheds which are more rigid.

 

[deandiy61]

evening crackerjack. Same as JohnD. and use a Henry to get the wood flakes out. Then hammer the new post down the " concrete hole".Sometimes a little shaving off before it goes in ok.

 

[crackerjak]

Evening folks.

Thanks for the replies - greatly appreciated. Its the first time iv done a fence (apart from many years ago when I "helped" my dad) so it will be interesting how well the removal and fitting goes. I suppose if the worst happens and I cannot remove enough/all the old post (also thinking the morons who fitted them didnt go deep enough). I shall have to go for a metal repair spur and pour fresh cement down the hole to make It as firm as can be.

No doubt more questions to follow before I start the job in spring.

Thanks

Jak

 

[Lower]

Good evening all.

I am planning ahead for the spring when I need to replace some 22 panels and posts on my back garden. Most of them should be simple enough to do but theres 2 posts that I am unsure on how to tackle.

One of the posts had rotted badly and snapped off in the high winds. However the previous owners of my house fitted the post in a concrete path which adjoins the neighbours land. I cannot remove their red brick path nor can I really start taking up my concrete path.

I would like to replace the wooden post with concrete, if I manage to scrape out the majority of the old post, what are my chances of using the same hole and pouring in some postcrete? Or am I better to use a metal post repair spur and stick with wooden posts down the garden.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Jak

Wooden posts tend to rot at ground level, not below. So the post below ground will probably be quite solid.

Prepare yourself to break out the hole around it on your side to get the post out.

 

[Corazones]

One afterthought to all this as I was faced with a similar, if not identical, problem. Several fence posts, set in large lumps of concrete, had come loose - concrete and all, thanks to a sandy soil. Thumping in a metal repair post (not the spiked type, but angled) around the sides of the old post wouldn't have worked because the whole assembly would still have been loose. Also, I tried breaking into the concrete but it was too massive to deal with.
As the problem was in a flower bed where the repair could be disguised among the shrubs, I ordered a dozen heavy angle irons cut to length with a point at the bottom, which I primed and painted. I then hammered these about 800mm down into the soft soil - and just far enough out from the fence post (about 200mm) to miss the concrete. A hole drilled in the top enabled a heavy duty galvanised strap bend (Toolstation ref 77295 or 49585) to be securely bolted to it. The angled end of this strap was then coach-screwed to the post.
These have successfully withstood a couple of real gales since then and they are as firm as ever.
Alec.