GATE POST ????? !!!!!

6" square oak gatepost, put in 60 years ago when house was built.

Rotted off at ground level.

How do I get the stump out of the ground but without exhausting my repertoire of swear words and profanities?

(BTW, Common or garden swear wors are not profane; profanity must have a religious connotation)

Reply to
gareth
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big screws/rawl bolts to attach to the top and lever it out

Reply to
Bob Minchin

My technique is to use the hydraulic three-point lift on my little Iseki tractor. I have three foot long screws that I screw into the stump of the post left in the ground and them hook some chain around them to the tractor lift.

Reply to
cl

Go down to the hire shop and hire a big electric breaker. (Assuming it is set in concrete)

You will need to set the new post in concrete. Get a pressurised post and give it a good dose of additional preservative.

Reply to
harryagain

Get somebody else to do it is my approach to this, or used to be. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Dig down the sides with a narrow spade. Lever out with a scaffold pole. Works for tree roots too. You might get away with just smashing it to bits with a big hammer and a cold chisel if it is completely rotten.

Usually though just the bit that sees the air goes and the deeper anaerobic though sodden wood is sound and may go down quite a way.

Levers are wonderful things but mind your fingers in the nip!

Reply to
Martin Brown

I tried that when my similarly sized gatepost rotted off. It didn't work.

The only solution was to dig it out.

Reply to
Huge

I drilled a load of holes with an 18" sds bit, then chopped the rest with a long cold chisel. Took an hour though

Reply to
stuart noble

60 years ago? Unlikely.

Drivel.

With 60 years from the last 6" oak post I'd go for oak again, straight into the ground. Properly set posts do not need concrete which traps moisture around the post, leading to premature failure.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Shove a spade down each side as far as possible to break any "bond" between post and ground. The provide a straight vertical pull to lift it out with as little distubance to the ground as possible. Drop new oak post into hole and heavyly tamp down around the post. Job done. B-)

Can you get access with a machine with the abilty to lift hydraulically, digger, front loader, WHY? Can you slip a tenner to the owner of said machine to come over with some strops/chain and 18" of >1" iron bar?

Drill horizontal hole for asnug fit of iron bar through post far enough down to have a couple of inches of good timber above hole. Thread bar through, attach strops from bar to machine and lift.

Failing that two long bars or bits of steel scaff pole >5' long. Thick bit(s) of wood to act as pivot points and > 3/4" thick planks a foot or more long to spread load from above bits. Loosen stump with spade as before. Notch/drill side of stump to take end of bar, lever up, and hold. Cut notch for second bar lever up, hold and repeat. Might be better to use opposite sides of stump, have two people. Drill big enough to take end of bar with a bit of slop.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Strange that you should suggest that, for this morning the water board turned up to replace the faulty stop c*ck in the pavement, and their hole butted right up against one of the posts.

But my gast was never so much flabbered by the depth to which the post had been sunk into the ground, estimated at 3 feet.

Reply to
gareth

Used a cold chisel to interface between post and scaffold pole.

Result - one bent cold chisel :-(

Reply to
gareth

A generous rule of thumb for amount of post in ground to be stable and not get pulled over is 1/3 total length.

3' is a bit excessive for a gate post 4' out of the ground but if it's got a heavy gate hanging of it it needs a decent depth so as not to move over time.
Reply to
Dave Liquorice

After much deliberation, a very simple solution presented itself ...

... get the wife to do it!

Reply to
gareth

In my parents property build in the 1930s the oak garden fence posts were tapered underground. 4 x 4 inch above ground but tapered on one side to be around 8 inches at the bottom. Fitted in a fairly light loam soil with only earth packing.

Reply to
alan_m

Must have cost a few bob

Reply to
stuart noble

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