Fence Post Repair

[Walter R.]

I have a 4' tall chainlink fence held up by 20 wooden fenceposts. The chainlink is as good as new. The 4x4 wooden posts are set in concrete. They are about 20 years old and many, especially in damp areas, have rotted through just above the concrete footing.

I have bought a bunch of heavy duty metal fenceposts at the HD. They are 6' tall and have a "spade" at the bottom. They have nail holes so they could be nailed to the upper part of the wooden posts.

The problem is how to get them 2' into the ground next to the old fencepost. The concrete footing is in the way. I have tried a sledge hammer but can't get them in.

Anybody know how to cope with wooden fenceposts that are rotted out at the base??

Thanks

Walter The Happy Iconoclast

-

[Nehmo Sergheyev]

- Walter R -

- Nehmo - You can't hammer the metal posts into the concrete. You need to replace the fence. But if you want to shore the existing posts up as a sloppy temporary measure, hammer your metal posts, one on each side of each rotten wood post, into the ground perpendicular to the run of the fence and diagonally to the vertical. Screw the diagonal posts to the existing rotten posts.

Another way is to pound your metal posts vertically into the ground mid-way between the old posts. Attach the chain link to the new posts. It'll help.

[JimmySchmittsLovesChocolateMil]

Cut off the wood posts, and clean out the remaining wood inside the concrete, drop the new post into the existing hole and fill the rest of the hole back up with more concrete (assuming your new posts have a smaller diameter than the old wood posts)

[Bob S.]

concrete. They

rotted

Break or cut off all the wooden posts-they're not worth saving. Drive your new posts a couple of inches to the side of the concrete. If you like the look of the wood posts, swap your metal ones for wood and put them in the same place you would have drove the metal ones. Bob S.

[meirman]

In alt.home.repair on Tue, 1 Feb 2005 09:26:26 -0500 "JimmySchmittsLovesChocolateMilk" posted:

This is a good suggestion, as are the others, but in this case, I would start with one post (before cutting off the others) and see how hard it is to clean out the remaining wood. It might be rotten or it might be sound, and iiuc it might go two feet into the ground (or more?) I haven't tried to clean out an old post, but a lot of things I have tried to clean out have been a lot of work (drilling holes, hammering, chiseling, etc.)

The remaining posts might be easier and/or harder than the first one one tries.

Meirman

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