Fence Post Near House

One of my fences was blown down by a strong wind storm.

I have dug out all the broken post except the one next to the house. I have been told there is most likely an electrical line, a TV cable and a telephone line close to that post.

I have decided to leave that post alone and dig a new hole about a foot away from it.

Can anyone foresee a problem if I dig that hole that far away from my house?

Thanks,

Reply to
Freckles
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Around here, you call the the locater service before you dig anywhere in the vicinity of buried utility lines. Here you dial 811 to request that the buried services be marked. It's a possible $10,000 fine if you don't contact them. If you hit a line away from their markers, you're not at fault. I found the number on the inside back cover of the AT&T Yellow Pages.

TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

Yes, if you hit those lines there can be a big problem. OTOH, a foot away is a large gap. Find out where the lines are. Most states have a free service, such as Dig Safe, paid for by the utility company.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Not sure what kind of problem you're anticipating, but regarding possible buried wires, I just did the hole with a small hand shovel, very carefully. >

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Reply to
RBM

If you call the utilities they will come to your house and mark their lines or pipes at no charge to you.

Reply to
Sanity

You lose the ability to anchor the post to the house. In fact, you need not dig a hole at all. Simply bolt the (shortened) post to the building and carry on.

Reply to
HeyBub

"Told"? If it is right near your house, there should be some hints-- like that's where they enter your house.

Any guarantee that *that* isn't the exact route that one of those utilities takes?

Your fence won't reach the house? IMO that is a good thing- but I'm not one for decorative fences. OTOH- if you're trying to keep livestock in, you might want the fence to make it to the house.

If it was mine I'd be done already. Dig with a hand shovel & dig carefully. It's a post hole, right? It shouldn't take 2 hours with a hand trowel.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

A foot away is not much distance from where a burried line "should" be. Often the margin of error on these kinds of locations is + or - a couple of feet.

Reply to
Caesar Romano

Any line that close to your house is bound to be your personal property, so if you cut it, you'll only hurt yourself.

The only lines I would look for in that area are telephone, cable, and sprinkler controls. The line locator people will mark all the others. Dig carefully for the first couple of feet.

Reply to
SteveBell

Why bother digging it up? Savvy farrners and ranchers simply put a chain around the post and pull it up with a post jack; or in your case, an old bumper jack from a wrecking yard ($5) would work just fine. With this technique you can have 10 or 15 posts laying on the ground in an hour. Don't overcomplicate the job. Do it the easy way and have time for a brew after.

Joe

Reply to
Joe

If there's a post already there, that's a great place for a new post. Use a jack or some progressive levering to pull the old post. Dig around it carefully, if need be.

What type of post do you have and was there anything about the other posts that might make things complicated for the one near the house?

Reply to
mike

You should sell your house. Move to where any wires are overhead.

Reply to
StepfanKing

I lived in such an area before I moved here.

I reported three fires caused by those overhead electrical lines becoming frayed by tree limbs rubbing against them during strong winds.

I've never seen any lawns catch on fire due to buried wires where I now live.

Reply to
Freckles
54 years in a neighborhood with overhead lines and many trees and I've never seen a fire due to tree limbs on the wires. A Transformers exploded once, but those can happen with buried wires as well. Probably poor maintenance by the utility company in your area.
Reply to
Mark

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