Garden fence down - post questions

Saalor

Active Member
4 segments of my garden fence blew down. The wood posts just broke right at the ground I guess they partly rotted. We had a terrible wind storm. Insurance company claims $4,270 to repair (sink 4 new posts, re-attach the wood panels to them). It seems a ridiculous sum.

Anyway I understand the best way to sink a post is to dig 24 inches and pour concrete. But where the soil is clay and your average dirt, pretty firm, is it an option to just sink the post that deep and pack the dirt down around it without concrete?
 
I'd say no. Over time the clay will expand when wet and contract when dry.
We have clay about a foot or less below the top soil and I always set posts in concrete or cement. One easy way to do it set your post in the 2 ft hole you've dug, plumb it up and pour a bag or two of quickcrete around it then pour your water into it mixing it well around the post.
I have posts that have done well for over 30 years setting them this way.
 
Pour in about six inches of dry quikcrete. Set post and fill with pre mixed crete.
Taper the cement above ground level away from the post base to prevent standing water at the base.
 
^^^ This is what a master carpenter/builder told me. Dry concrete mix will slowly absorb water from the soil and set up over time. It's actually stronger this way.

One way to prevent it getting loose and rocking back and forth over time is to make a fairly narrow hole all the way down but flare out the top so there's a wider disc of concrete several inches thick at the top.
 
For really miserable soil it may be worth it to rent an auger, and even sometimes that may not get it, you may need to do it the hard way with a digging bar etc.
 
Thanks. It's wierd because I have dug down about 6 inches along the side of the portion of the post still in the ground and find no concrete there. Getting the old concrete out is going to be the most work, assuming it is down there.
 
May not be set in concrete, some people consider that "optional"

If it is, it's fun work digging it out. Last house I owned there was a cyclone fence along the back of the property line that had been removed at some point in time because the neighbors next street over had built a nice wooden fence, but the posts remained. Whoever installed that fence built it to last though, the posts were sunk in 36" - 40" of cement and all of NoVA is red clay pretty much. So I got to dig those all out, fill the holes (fortunately I had tons of fill, that's another story for another time) and then run all those posts to the dump. Good times, good times.

The one post that was physically in the driveway I just cut off with a sawzall and filled it with cold patch. Forget digging that out, that wasn't going to happen.
 
Lots of ways to pull out an old fence post, if it's not set in concrete. Google "how to remove old fence post" and look at images. If you don't use the word 'fence' you'll get a lot of advice on removing facebook posts. LOL

I have a 6-ft metal T-post that was at the end of a firewood pile and some tree removal guys pounded it into the ground until only about 9" is sticking up. Why, I have no idea. It was not in that deep, they could have pulled it out. I'm debating whether to cut it off at the surface or try some means to pull it.
 
4 segments of my garden fence blew down. The wood posts just broke right at the ground I guess they partly rotted. We had a terrible wind storm. Insurance company claims $4,270 to repair (sink 4 new posts, re-attach the wood panels to them). It seems a ridiculous sum.

Anyway I understand the best way to sink a post is to dig 24 inches and pour concrete. But where the soil is clay and your average dirt, pretty firm, is it an option to just sink the post that deep and pack the dirt down around it without concrete?

Good luck on the repair.

This happened to us years ago. When we replaced our fence we went with steel posts sunk in concrete with wood facade boxes built around them.

They will never blow over or rot.

The guy who replaced the fence said you should not use wood in concrete...ever.
 
Last time I replaced 4x4 posts I used pieces of concrete tube forms and had the concrete actually a couple of inches above ground when finished. Also used the mentioned concrete sloped away from the post.
 
Instead of what the guy said, do you have any useful information to back up the claim?
Agreed.
If using regular 4x4s a good coat of paint would be good but they sell pressure treated 4x4s also and those would be fine set in concrete too.
Also, having grown up on a cattle ranch,every bona fied fence post I've ever dealt with was soaked in creosote or pressure treated and did very well in concrete.
 
Instead of what the guy said, do you have any useful information to back up the claim?
Experience.

My wood posts were both rotted and eaten by termites.

EVERY wood post mailbox that is one our street also rotted and fell over. Some neighbors have replaced them with steel posts.

Why would someone use wood? It is not a long term solution.
 
Experience.

My wood posts were both rotted and eaten by termites.

EVERY wood post mailbox that is one our street also rotted and fell over. Some neighbors have replaced them with steel posts.

Why would someone use wood? It is not a long term solution.

Your above explanation is certainly more credible than some guy only saying to never use wood and cement.
I don't agree with what the guy said.

Treated or painted wood can keep the termites away. Yes, the occasional maintenance is required, but it's minimal.
Just a little preventative maintenance will give you a lifetime of durability if you like wood posts. :)
 
There are CCA treated 4x4 posts set into concrete holding up my second story deck. My house was built in 1989. Steel probably would have rusted in our wet climate at least as fast as the wood is rotting. So there's exactly one data point for you.
 
4 segments of my garden fence blew down. The wood posts just broke right at the ground I guess they partly rotted. We had a terrible wind storm. Insurance company claims $4,270 to repair (sink 4 new posts, re-attach the wood panels to them). It seems a ridiculous sum.

Anyway I understand the best way to sink a post is to dig 24 inches and pour concrete. But where the soil is clay and your average dirt, pretty firm, is it an option to just sink the post that deep and pack the dirt down around it without concrete?

I wouldn't. Clay will hold water against your post for extended periods. I'd do a hole 18 - 24 inches deep and large enough to have 2" of clear space around it, put some pea gravel in the hole to promote drainage and use concrete.
 
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