fence post DIY

[daytonavrs]

Need repairing couple of fence panels that are worse for wear but not down -
pending feedback of availability from a local handyman I might go ahead and do myself, if he doesn't give me a basic rough quote shortly

Already have to remove part of a tree at the boundary myself before it can start and at that point then I'm dependant on their availability.

Starting to think, why not do myself, only reason is I haven't done proper installation before hence. Doesn't stop me from doing other things tho like first clutch job last 12 months!

- need a posthole cutter as I don't have one
- still have large amount left of a concrete bag to mix up I should be able to use? Need to identify a bucket for it though

What is the different between using concrete posts vs timber, you can end up with a bit of shortfall can't you - can you compensate for that somehow ?

Thanks in advance!

[OutInTheShed]

My experience is that digging holes for posts on boundaries can be a nightmare due to the ground having been disturbed before.
Last time I tried, I dug down about 6 inches to find parts of an old wall, about 3 inches off the fence line.
The middle way is some concrete in a hole and a post shoe.

[Mr.Chips]

Personally, I would go for concrete posts and concrete gravel boards every time. Fit and forget. The only thing you will need to do is treat the wooden fence panels every couple of years and they are really easy to slide out of the concrete posts, paint both sides and replace.

[daytonavrs]

Thanks

The sizes aren't equivalent though if you are replacing old posts with concrete ones is that right?

The fence panels are slightly nearer to each other so end up with a gap? I think I have/had 10cm width posts originally

[Crafty_]

Mr.Chips said:

Personally, I would go for concrete posts and concrete gravel boards every time. Fit and forget. The only thing you will need to do is treat the wooden fence panels every couple of years and they are really easy to slide out of the concrete posts, paint both sides and replace.

Agree, once done you shouldn't realistically ever need to replace, if you go wood it will rot out sooner or later. If a panel fails its easy to remove and replace, you go wood you're trying to pull out nails or unscrew rusted screws.

OP, have a dig about Where you can, if you find concrete from previous fence installs you either need to space your posts to avoid or dig it out - consider a cheap breaker from screwfix, I bought one for 170 I think, I was doing a lot of other work too, so this was easier/cheaper than renting one - you could always sell when you're done.

If you look around the suggestion is that you sink roughly a third of the post in the ground. You can of course use concrete, but postcrete makes it very easy - either way make sure you have a way to support the post and keep it upright and level while the concrete/postcrete goes off.

Concrete posts are heavy, the corner ones (if you need them) moreso, you may want another pair of hands just to make life a little easier. Not sure what you mean about shortfall ?

Not sure what you mean about a cutter either, but you can get spades that dig a suitable hole - https://shop.postsaver.com/product/fence-post-spad...

The last fence I did with a friend who had one of these - https://shop.postsaver.com/product/postsaver-post-... very handy to remove soil, you can't really dig with then but it makes it easy to remove material from a small hole.

If you don't finish with a whole panel (quite common) you'll need to cut down a concrete gravel board - disc cutter is easiest.

[JoshSm]

daytonavrs said:

- still have large amount left of a concrete bag to mix up I should be able to use? Need to identify a bucket for it though

Big advantage of buying some postcrete is not having to mix it first, just tip it in with the water.

That and it setting quickly.

Using the spare concrete might save some pennies but doesnt make the job easier.

[daytonavrs]

Sound advice all thanks

What I mean by horizontal gap - lets say I have 10cm posts which I think is the case, there is minimum gap between panels attached by screw or H clipsis 10cm right?
So the most common concrete ones are like 94 mm and I think the panels slide in even closer due to the H so must be more like a 5cm gap per join right?

The fences sit together in the narrowest part of the H closer than wooden don't they ?

Replacing a few thats going to build up the difference, was my thought, so is there some ordering decision for concrete posts or fence panels I am missing?

Bear in mind I ordered a replacement fence panel already was happy with that, and also managed to get a few 6ft / 2ft high concrete gravel boards for FA cost and was planning to utilise when replacing and then hopefully retrofitting to others, at least the ones that had been part replaced so far with concrete boards a few years ago.

Definitely prefer going concrete post for the repair specific areas, but wasn't sure about any additional consideration.
I'm a novice to fencing

[daytonavrs]

"If you don't finish with a whole panel (quite common) you'll need to cut down a concrete gravel board - disc cutter is easiest."

Any pic of this please, I'm guess you have to end up putting down more than expected e.g. two posts in the ground very close to each other? then with your cut down board as mentioned? Cut down part of fence panel too or something made up of lapshed ?

A bit like odd tiling ?

[JoshSm]

I'd expect you to probably have 3"/75mm posts if theyre squared wood? 4"/100mm ones are chunky.

[JoshSm]

daytonavrs said:

"If you don't finish with a whole panel (quite common) you'll need to cut down a concrete gravel board - disc cutter is easiest."

Any pic of this please, I'm guess you have to end up putting down more than expected e.g. two posts in the ground very close to each other? then with your cut down board as mentioned? Cut down part of fence panel too or something made up of lapshed ?

A bit like odd tiling ?

Yes it is something like that - the last post goes wherever it needs to then you cut things down to fit the gap. Hopefully not a silly short bit, if it's ridiculous then use whatever fits.

[daytonavrs]

Nice okay
Its all a bit of a hotch potch as had a few panels down and had them replaced and asked for concrete at the time on basis that later I would expand it.

One of the previous panels had concrete one side and had a post the other and it is/was 10cm and is still standing well as it happens so hasn't rotted out yet.
I guess this is why I've been suggested to just use timber to continue and fix it for now.

I think I'd like to have the simplicity of concreted posts all along longer term, however may need it to fail more along before its worthwhile? The post thats standing doesn't warrant being removed if its proud does it ? Brum "aint broke" saying etc

[megaphone]

The most difficult bit will be removing the old post and concrete, do you have a breaker?

[DavePanda]

Mr.Chips said:

Personally, I would go for concrete posts and concrete gravel boards every time. Fit and forget. The only thing you will need to do is treat the wooden fence panels every couple of years and they are really easy to slide out of the concrete posts, paint both sides and replace.

Have a look at Durapost at Wickes. Galvanised steel, a lot lighter than concrete so easier to put up single handed and a lot cheaper (currently £15 a post cheaper) plus you only need one bag of postmix per post, ideally 1.5-2 bags for a concrete post. Did our entire garden with them, so much easier than concrete posts

[daytonavrs]

Will look into all that, many thanks

[Philvrs]

megaphone said:

The most difficult bit will be removing the old post and concrete, do you have a breaker?

This , i had 5 posts replaced recently, the lad used a titan concrete breaker (screwfix £160) and had to use it for each hole, no way I would have liked to do it without one.

[C-J]

Philvrs said:

megaphone said:

The most difficult bit will be removing the old post and concrete, do you have a breaker?

This , i had 5 posts replaced recently, the lad used a titan concrete breaker (screwfix £160) and had to use it for each hole, no way I would have liked to do it without one.

This too. Can depend on weather and ground conditions. After high winds and rain killed my old panels and snapped some timber posts it took me 2 days just to dig out 8 posts. That was with an electric breaker. The old concrete was the easy bit - the sodden soil, clay etc was the pain. Plus the odd bit where 'just concrete' seemed to include super hard rocks, granite or similar.

Once dug out, putting the new concrete posts up was the fun bit!

[dumfriesdave]

Another vote for Durapost.
After getting sick of renewing rotten wooden posts every couple of years I tried Durapost. Still in perfect condition 4 years later.
So light and easy to work with.

[Pheo]

Agree on durapost being worth a look. So easy to install.

I did a small run of durapost with custom drop in panels; for the rest we had a bit of a weird setup where someone had used post savers for the original fence, so I just unbolted the old fence posts and replaced. Was atleast 20 years old so had worked surprisingly well!

Durapost can be coloured too but are more expensive if you do that.

[K50 DEL]

dumfriesdave said:

Another vote for Durapost.
After getting sick of renewing rotten wooden posts every couple of years I tried Durapost. Still in perfect condition 4 years later.
So light and easy to work with.

Another vote here as well.
I've never done even the slightest bit of fencing before in my life but created a 10m wide featherboard fence using duraposts and their 'gravel boards'
hardest bit was manhandling the bags of postcrete to ensure it ended up in the hole, not spread over the garden!

One tip, if you do use featheredge... the slat need to overlap by about 25mm - I found it really helpful to trim a piece of timber to that size and use it as a template to ensure the correct location.

The whole thing took me a day to do

[AmazingGrace]

Main thing to bear in mind is to ensure you dig deep enough hole - needs to be 2ft (60cm).

Do this for a living and the amount of posts I take out that are only 12-18 inches in the ground.

Also, if you use timber posts, always use 100x100 and use a Postsaver sleeve. Really easy to put on.
Failing that, buy a tin of blackjack creocote and give each post a thorough covering 2inches above ground level and 3 inches below ground level.

Clamping spirit levels to the post whilst you are setting it, saves you a lot of faffing around.