Wrong Peg in a a square hole!

[RosscoFence]

Hello DIY masters!

I've been replacing my garden fence, 90% successful so far.

Im stuck at the final post. When removing the existing fence i pulled out a post which had the metal spike shoe, unfortunately the square shoe of the spike seperated from the cruciform profile spike, leaving the spike stuck in the ground.

Not only is that annoying but the spike has been rammed into a square hole in a previous concrete footing.. I've whacked it with a mallot, i've ground a masonry drill bit down all the sides but I cant get the spike out of the square hole.

Any tips? I cant get levarage on the spike and i'm reluctant to remove the concrete lump as it is 6 inch from the house wall I dont want to be exposing victorian foundations..

I tried pouring water down the hole, I even tried WD40!

There is a tiny amount of lateral wiggle but no vertical wiggle...

Untitled

• RosscoFence
• 4 Apr 2011
• 1

Untitled

• RosscoFence
• 4 Apr 2011
• 1

Untitled

• RosscoFence
• 4 Apr 2011
• 1

 

[Burnerman]

Yon device is called a Metpost, and the square bit thats broken away holds the timber fence post that was hammered in.
It needs to come out, ideally - so maybe hire a tough masonry drill with bits to drill down the sides and weaken it?
You'll have to break the old concrete out anyway to provide a sound footing for the new post.
John

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Why not drill a hole through it and stick a metal bar in the hole and lever it out?

 

[LooPrEvil]

John has the right idea, but I would use a kango drill to break the concrete. A lump hammer and cold chisel are the only other real option you have, but watch your knuckles!

It is a trade off between hiring equipment or using basic hand tools and the time that will take.

You could try drilling and levering as per FMTs suggestion, or better still welding a steel bar and levering - theses ides may work, but you are still left with the issue of the concrete.

 

[i_am_fubar]

Drill hole through metal. Attach chain (with D-shackle), use brick as a pivot and large metal bar as a second order lever to pull the chain up.

 

[RosscoFence]

Cheer's for the advice.

I've borrowed an SDS hammer drill and will dig round the concrete and break the whole thing up.

Last time I pulled out a lump of concrete with the bottom of a fence post I was left with a massive hole and as the soil is very powdery I felt I had to fill the hole entirely with concrete. Will it be possible to some how partialy refill the hole in a sound way, or should I just got for more conc!

 

[LooPrEvil]

Fingers crossed you will not end up with a hole any bigger than that for the original post, but if you do you could mix some of the old concrete pieces into the new mix to 'pack it out a bit' and save on new concrete..