Cracks in concrete fence post: ignore, repair, or ...?

Jan 14, 2022 Last reply: 4 years ago 9 Replies

One of a few "SupremeLite" concrete slotted fence posts bought in 2007 has developed vertical cracks up to 3mm wide and (as best I can measure)



10~20mm deep. Are these best (a) ignored, (b) repaired or (c) given something else entirely?

If repaired, with cement/SBR/fine sand slurry or what?


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The posts should have steel bars inside. These should stop them totally breaking. You could try a mix of mortar with a bonding agent.

Probably the reinforcing rod(s) rusting and expanding due, I suspect, poor quality porous concrete letting in moisture. Don't know what you can do about it, but it's doomed and will fail completely, eventually, but it may take several decades. Similar posts across the bottom of my garden failed like that over about fifty years and eventually just fell to pieces.

To be fair to the makers, these were lightweight posts (bought as I had no free help available at the time); and I never expected the lifespan of traditional posts; and the others show no problems so far.

In which case, I suggest painting them with a suitable masonry paint, to keep the moisture out.

Too late. That's the reinforcement in a crap post rusting out

Depends on whether you are worried cosmetically, I have some garden gate posts where you can touch the metal inside them through the cracks. They were like that in 1960, and still are very much the same. They can be patched up, but this tends not to adhere well to older concrete which may well move due to moisture and heat of course. Brian

When you have dry weather .... wire brush crud out and repair with concrete repair powder, mix it thick and paint it in.

Otherwise water will get to reinforcing rods and eventually corrosion will cause concrete to burst

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