Leaning gate post

[camerart]

Hi,

Back in time a car knocked down the centre gate post between two properties. It was re-built but the footing had been broken, so over the years, the post has subsided.

What it the best remedy for this? I'm thinking about jacking the post over with a lorry jack or similar, then pour concrete in the gap, and try to add some metal rods if possible.

The alternative is to rebuild the whole thing including footing, but this might be expensive. If any one could give an estimate, this would help us decide.

Any suggestions please?

Camerart.

 

[loply]

How big's the post?

I rebuilt one a couple years ago almost exactly in this situation, 2x2 bricks, 5ft high, took about 2 hours. Never laid a brick before in my life before that day. Turned out fine.

Can't imagine any kind of bodge repair working out well. If you tip it over it might well crack along some of the mortar beds.

 

[camerart]

Photo added.

 

[themiddleagedun]

I can't see you moving it with a jack, with it being tarmaced all round , and even if you did you'd just lift off the footing...

Take it down to ground level and rebuild, put a proper coping on it whilst you're at it

 

[ree]

Definitely as above - rebuild.

OP, you could create a safety hazard by jacking and attempting to pack the footings - what if, undermined by rain, it toppled on a child?

 

[loply]

Agreed on the rebuild.

I can't imagine any possible way you can jack that up without it breaking anyway, it's too heavy. A smaller column could possibly be manipulated in some way but not that big thing.

Rebuilding it will take very little time. You just need a little fast jack hammer gun thing to help clean the mortar off the bricks.

 

[camerart]

I could have a go at jacking it myself, but re-building would have to be done by a builder. If a builder did all that, plus a new footing across both entrances. Any idea how much it would cost?

(If I change the coping it would match the rest of the road)

C.

 

[loply]

I would encourage you to have a go at rebuilding that yourself, it really ain't difficult, and it's a useful skill to have.

If you do plan to, I'm sure loads of people will chime in with advice about novice mistakes.

I would have thought the laying of the bricks is probably half a day or most of a days work, there's some labour in knocking it down and cleaning the bricks up too mind (you could do that yourself though?). Unless you want new bricks (30p-£1 each depending). If you can find someone really cheap maybe £150 for labour on laying, maybe others would quote £300 or so? All guesswork really... one way to find out though.

 

[camerart]

I would encourage you to have a go at rebuilding that yourself, it really ain't difficult, and it's a useful skill to have.

If you do plan to, I'm sure loads of people will chime in with advice about novice mistakes.

I would have thought the laying of the bricks is probably half a day or most of a days work, there's some labour in knocking it down and cleaning the bricks up too mind (you could do that yourself though?). Unless you want new bricks (30p-£1 each depending). If you can find someone really cheap maybe £150 for labour on laying, maybe others would quote £300 or so? All guesswork really... one way to find out though.

Hi Loply,

Just seen your reply

I could do the job myself, but I've got to the stage of life where I'm reluctant, so if it is done, it will most likely be someone else that does it, while I labour for them. (And the cost would be shared with my neighbour)

Thanks, Camerart.

 

[camerart]

My neighbour turned up with a jack the other day, so we thought we'd have a go at jacking. As you can see by the photo it worked. I used my old shed as packing We burrowed under it like rabbits, and packed concrete and rubble under it. We then packed cement into the slot left by lifting.

The cause of the problem is next doors paved garden, making the water run to that area.

Thanks for you suggestions, Camerart.