Garden fence posts

[Mortimer]

I common with many others I expect, my garden fence posts have rotted at ground level and snapped.Over the years I have tried various things such as hammering angle iron as close as possible into ground next to posts and screwing good section to those. Also tried meta-posts in a couple of places - work for some months then next high winds and everything is moving around again. The posts were originally set into quite large concrete blocks/balls so my next idea is to remove the posts and panels,clear the tops of the concrete and using a kango hammer open up the square hole in the concrete where the post has rotted away to about twice its' size now.When holes opened up will drop in new posts - will modern pressure treated ones be resistant to rot? Fill in the gap with new concrete ensuring posts are vertical and job done! Will a kango hammer be OK for this kind of job? I presume I can hire one for a weekend. This plan is an alternative to having the whole job done professionally as that could be expensive.

[usenet]

I think one of the fundamental problems is that wooden posts set in concrete are not a good idea. It's much better to simply drive a treated wooden post direct into the ground. Our round wooden posts driven into the ground this way have lasted six years so far and seem good for several years more. If you need more strength against the wind then use longer posts, don't try and improve things with lumps of concrete.

[Mortimer]

The thing is that the concrete is well established at each place there is a fence post, I don't fancy having to excavate it all out hence my idea of enlarging the exsisting hole and re-using the solid ballast of the concrete to support a new post.If I use well treated posts and keep then free of loose soil they should last OK shouldn't they?

[Parish]

Why not use the existing posts (after cutting of the rotten bottoms) with concrete repair spurs, which are made specifically for this purpose, set into the enlarged holes in the concrete?

[Guy Dawson]

...

What size are the existing holes? We had a fence made up of 3" posts set into concrete with pannels between. When one of the posts rotted and fell over in a high wind I obviously needed to do a repair.

I found the easy option was to dig out the rotten post from the concrete and hammer a new post in its place. Took less than half an hour...

Guy

-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Guy Dawson I.T. Manager Crossflight Ltd [e-mail]

[Jerry Built]

I doubt you'll be able to do this, not to any depth, anyway. It would be an b- of a job. I should think you'd be best advised to:

Dig out or smash up the old concrete. Remove it.

Ram (sub) soil down hard into the holes left using a baulk of timber as a rammer. Put a little soil in, ram down, repeat 'till full.

Re-do the hole using a graft (a long narrow spade) or a border spade.

Insert new concrete post (slotted or TZ depending on fence type) OR onsert concrete stub.

Fill in around post (or stub) with weak concrete. Bolt on new timber posts if you've used concrete stubs.

Re-construct fence.

Apply weathering compound to concrete post if necessary.

It's not a hard job to re-do, but be prepared to take a little time over it, and you'll get a good job.

J.B.

[mark]

Did this myself along with concrete gravel boards, no more worrying about rot. The digging out part is a bugger but you've only to do it once after all. ;-)

Mark S.

[Pete C]

Hi,

Before installing wooden fence posts it's best to soak the end that will be buried plus about 12" above that in a copper napthanate preserver such as Cupriol Green, following the recommended rate for below ground use.

Most pressure treated wood is treated while the wood is still 'green' so the treatment doesn't penetrate much further than the surface. Plus pressure vessels don't come cheap so the wood doesn't stay in for long. This which is why they recommend treating the ends of cut wood.

If you're lucky you might get away with reusing the concrete for the new posts as they are. I reckon concrete is a bit OTT, all you need is to spread the load from the post to the surrounding soil so large and small rubble would work just as well, even with metposts.

h>I common with many others I expect, my garden fence posts have rotted

[Huge]

[15 lines snipped]

Indeed. After all, they only last 25 or 30 years.

[stuart noble]

And then they only fail at ground level where soil builds up around the base.