Fence post: PostCrete recommended?

[mike004]

A fence post has blown over in the recent gales in Northern England last week. The post is concereted in, so I'll have to dog out and replace.

* The post is 1.6 m high above ground (it has a 5ft panel). Will a 2.1 m post be OK?
* I plan to use PostCrete. Is this a good idea? Will one bag be enough?

 

[tilerman]

500 mm below ground is plenty. One bag of Postcrete would not be enough and personally i would go buy some ballast and cement and make my own mix, cheaper aswell. Drying time is longer, i would leave for around 3 days before fixing panel. If cost is not an issue, go ahead and use Postcrete, quick drying and you would need around 3 bags to make for a decent footing.

 

[r896neo]

Your problem will be that in trying to remove the post base you will disturb the ground and therefore when you go to refix a new post it will not be as strong.

So try and get it out by lifting it straight up vertically. This can be done by drilling a hole or cutting a notch near the bottom and levering it out with a pick axe. Does that make sense? This way you don't disturb as much ground.

Also since it has blown over and not just snapped, the base obviously wasn't up to the job anyway so best bet would be to dig down a bit further if possible.

Post holes are best when dug narrow and deep.