Fence Posts

I have just been given some half log type fence posts. I am trying to contain a manic dog to one area of our garden. Now I need to dig the holes but haven't a clue how I get them to stay in the ground. Is there some sort of redimix concrete that I could put in to pack it down with.

Sorry if it seems a dumb ? but DIY isn't my thing.

Any advice is appreciated thanks Roy

Reply to
Roy Lynch
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Hit the dog on the head first then add the concrete :-)

Reply to
G&M

Thats what this ng is for, if you are putting 6` fence posts up you really should have 2 ft underground ( ie you get 8` posts for a 6` fence.) So you dig a 2` hole and place post in it. You can buy bags of redimix concrete from B&Q you just mix with water but this is quite pricey. You can also buy ballast which is a sand and gravel mix in a bag and you add cement to this to get concrete. The mix should be 5-1 ballast to cement.You dont even need water, just mix it well with a shovel and put into hole ( this is called a dry mix ) around the fence post. I assume you will be using chain link fence for your dog run ? I would leave the posts 2 days and then fix your fence to the posts. Good luck.

Reply to
Wheelbarrowbob

Thanks for the info. I am doing 7 posts, I have dug the first one already, they are aprox 5 foot the posts and I am digging down 2 foot so only 3 foot of fencing is showing. I don't want it to be too tall as its only a small dog. I looked at the hole tonight, then looked at the dog, then looked at my wife who said "don't even think about it" Cant say I didn't try !! Little bugger is costing me a fortune, and the dog is too. OK off to B&Q when they open once again MANY THANKS Roy

Reply to
Roy Lynch

On Mon, 12 Apr 2004 23:46:45 +0100, in uk.d-i-y "Roy Lynch" strung together this:

Just one more thing, make sure the bits of the post that are going to be buried are treated with wood preservative or similar before putting them in the ground.

Reply to
Lurch

For a quicker job use postfix which is available in bags from the likes of B&Q Warehouse. This is a very quick setting concrete. Dig hole, place post in and support straight, mix postfix with water and pour into hole. 5 minutes later it's solid!

It's expensive (more than concrete) but I use it as a instant fixer around the bottom of posts and then fill the hole with bog standard concrete after it's set. That way you don't have to worry about the posts falling to a slant (usually with the help of kids!) while it all sets off.

Reply to
PJ

If this is to contain the dog, I'd think again about height. We had a smallish collie type dog and it managed to get over 5ft high fencing.

Francis

Reply to
Ziggy

I Now I need to dig the holes but haven't a clue how I get them to stay in the ground. >

My holes normally stay exactly where I put them, but if you think they may wander, try weighing them down by filling them in with soil.

ZD

Reply to
Zipadee Doodar

"Roy Lynch" wrote in news:c5f3un$10n4b$ snipped-for-privacy@ID-228410.news.uni-berlin.de:

Assuming that you do use concrete, I have always understood it to be sensible to put a little gravel (of almost any sort) at the bottom of the hole, then place the post and fill up with concrete. The idea being that any water that goes into the gap between the post and the concrete can drain out of the bottom.

Reply to
Rod Hewitt

I put them in today 7 in total. I bought some ballast and cement. I mixed 2 small "handi" bags of ballast to half a "handi" bag of cement. Mixed it well together and packed it into the ground. I then added some water. I did this at 2pm its now 12.50 (sad eh!) and I can still move the posts. it doesnt look like it has set :( Have I done something wrong? Should I make a mix of just cement and put sme of that in? Help Thanks once again Roy

Reply to
Roy Lynch

What's in these handi bags? When you say ballast, do you mean purely aggregate, or a mix of sharp sand and aggregate? If it is not fast setting stuff, the posts need support at least for 24 hours ideally. Also, are you saying that you only used 2 bags (+ 1/2 a bag) to fix 7 posts?

Alex

Reply to
Alex

I think they are half size of the normal builders bags so normal peeps can cart them around. They are a mix of sharp sand and aggregate. Altogether I have used 4 bags of ballast and 1 full bag of cement. I did the 2 bags and a half bag cement as I couldn't mix the full lot so split it accordingly. So used the 2 bags ballast to half bag cement on 3 posts and a small amount in the forth, then mixed some more and filled in the rest

Reply to
Roy Lynch

Ok, when you say 'half the size of normal builders bags', are you referring to half the size of builder's bags, as in ones from most builder's merchants, which are 35 or 40kg, as opposed to half the size of 25kg bags available from the diy sheds? The cement will be no larger than 25kg in any case.

Assuming you meant you are using 25kg bags, you'll have 125kg of concrete holding up 7 shortish posts, which should just about be ok depending on the soil surrounding them.

If your problem is simply that the concrete mix hasn't gone off yet, there is nothing to worry about, just give it some time. If your problem is that the post, complete with concrete ball stuck to it, is moving around, then it is a case of further compacting the surrounding soil, or increasing the volume of concrete.

As a reference, when erecting 9' concrete posts with 6' panels in loamy soil, I have had to use around 50kg of concrete per post, plus hardcore underneath and beside the bottom of the post.

Alex

Reply to
Alex

When I used it, you poured it into the hole and then added water. Much easier.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

In article , Christian McArdle writes

For further variety, my bag of it said to fill the hole with water then pour in the stuff. That was Blue Circle PostCrete.

Reply to
Tim Mitchell

Um, I think you will have problems. We have an idiot neighbour whose side gate (hinge side) was attached to a post planted next to our gable wall.

You might think that the banging of an unlatched gate would only reverberate through the latching side but we regularly had to get up at night to latch the fecking thing and it *wasn't* even attached to our wall.

In short, if it is attached to your wall, you will get transmitted noise/vibration. It might not be a problem though if they are careful about closing it.

Tim

Reply to
Tim

I'm trying to imagine this and I'm a little puzzled - but bear with me, I get puzzled very easily.

First, I come out in hives when I see the words "fence" and "football" in the same sentence because I know from very bitter experience that anything short of absolutely the strongest fence you can imagine will gradually (or not very gradually) fall apart whilst providing the kicker-against with wonderfully satisfying sound effects.

I'm also confused about this neighbour's gate. Are you saying that it already slams against a gatepost and you hope the fence will screen some of the noise out or do you mean that when the fence goes in the neighbour's gate will slam against that?

Any chance of a few snapshots of the problem (you could post them to tinypic.com or any other photosharing site) so we can better visualise what's going on and what you want to achieve?

Nick

Reply to
Nick Odell

If you understand that noise is vibration, and know wood is slightly springy, you'll know you can come up with any number of suitable arrangements, depending on the small details of the situation.

One exampe is to create C shaped bits and mount the post to the middle of them. The flat strip of the C shape acts like a cartspring.

NT

Reply to
NT

Hi there

Thanks to everyone for their replies / advice. Just to offer a bit more info regarding this diy problem -

We got a fencing contractor in, when we moved in 4 years ago, and they did a great job installling a 6ft (double slatted) fence right around the whole back garden.

The only part they didnt do was the 1.2mt wide section that is between my gable end and the neighbours driveway.

The neighbours driveway & house sits about 3-4ft higher than our house and our properties are separated by a retaining wall etc.

The fencing contractor installed our fence just behind the coping stones on said retaining wall.

When the fence was initially installed, there was a gap at each side, as my side was a pain in the ar*e to do and my neighbours side was a path to their back garden (which they've now put a gate onto etc etc)

Normally i would have just sunk the posts into the ground, but due to drainage pipes (that serve the back garden, as the garden is quite steep) i cant do this.

My plan was to sink the posts in and leave a 50mm gap between the post and my house wall, then i wouldnt get any noise.

So, at the moment, i have a 6ft fence right around my property and a gap at the side which i want to close off.

(for the record, it was agreed between the fencing contractor and myself that they would leave this - looking back he probably knew it would be hassle. They wanted to attach the posts to the house but i said no, so we left the gap etc)

Dont get me wrong, my neighbours are great, and its only occassionaly the gate slams or a ball gets knocked against the fence, but dont want to be sitting there and here the "thud / thud" noise.

I was going to buy those post clamps that you screw down but then i would need to prepare a solid concrete "plinth" for these to be bolted to, and the ground is just gravel so it would take a bit of work.

However, i have thought of something, rather than connecting the whole structure, i could do the following -

  1. Install a post to the gable of my house (using screws or bolts etc)
  2. Install the 2nd post to the retaining wall (as above)
  3. Then fit rails and boards, but do not connect anything to the fence thats existing.

(i could leave a gap of even 20mm) The fence would be solid as it would be supported by the side of the house and a sold 3-4ft retaining wall.

Surely this solves my problem???

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. And sorry for rambling on about this!

G
Reply to
Gordon1111

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