How to Fix Leaning Fence Posts

this fence posts i like this fence post i really like this fence post i don't like this fence post hello there welcome to proper diy and today i'm going to be showing you how to sort out fence posts that you don't like i don't like you so there can be a number of reasons why a fence post lanes like this firstly if it's an old fence you may find that the post is rotten just above the foundation it's actually snapped and now if that's the case the only thing you can do is take down this section of fence take out the foundation and put a new post in that i don't think is what i've got in this case because this fence is only a couple of years old all the timber is still pretty sound so i think i've got more of a foundation problem than a fence post rotting through now if i could get this vertical then maybe i could get a stake down there and pin it to the stake and hold it in a vertical position but irrespective of how much force i put on it i can't actually get it into a vertical position so i think the only way i'm going to find out what i've got is to dig a hole around this foundation and see what's happening i have two or three of these posts around my garden currently leaning which really makes the fence look pretty rubbish so it's important to me now that i get to the bottom of this problem and get these fixed before the summer [Music] so i'm now digging with my pointing trowel because my garden trowel that i bought a couple of weeks ago for jobs just like this that have been sitting in the garage for the last couple of weeks i now cannot find i mean i just cannot believe it you buy these things they sit there day in and day out ready to be used and when you actually want to use it when you actually have a use for it you can't bloody find the thing [Music] so i found the foundation finally it's very very deep and i think i found out what the problem is because this is a very very small lightweight foundation for such a big post and the big fence so come and have a look at this there's the top of the foundation maybe 200 mil lower than the grass and you can see that it's just shifting because of the size of post and the wind loading on the size of fence this is just not nearly enough i think it's just too small for the size of post so i think the only way i'm going to really fix that is to break this foundation out and cast a new one [Music] this is a perfect example of a job around the house and garden where it's handy if not essential to have an sds drill like this titan drill from screwfix to help break out small amounts of concrete [Music] i ended up taking off the adjustable handle just to get another few inches deeper down into this hole this drill is definitely not a jackhammer and wouldn't cope with breaking out any high strength concrete or large volumes but using the hammer only setting together with a chisel that it comes supplied with means you can nibble away at small amounts of concrete and eventually remove them so i think that is about as far as i'm gonna go because i can't get my arm any further also if i take it down to underneath the post then this won't have anything to bear on and potentially this part of the fence is going to sag so i think i'm going to leave it like that because at least vertically it's still being supported so what i need to do now is set up a couple of string lines so i can line this between the other posts both bottom and top i can then gonna compact the earth that's left in there then i think we'll be ready for some concrete [Music] i set up a string line but offset it from the post by using a piece of 12 mil ply it's always a good idea to have an offset as if i didn't once the line touches the post then i don't know if i've gone too far obviously now i've offset it i'm looking for a 12 mil gap between the post and the string line [Music] in that whole foundation for this hundred mil eight foot post is just this amount of concrete which isn't nearly enough to support it successfully no wonder it was falling over as well so i'm going to dump this and get rid of this rubble and i think we'll find the concrete i'm going to replace it with is probably going to be about three times as much [Music] to brace the post so i could concrete it in i made this temporary a-frame arrangement pinned into the lawn at one end which holds and supports it in the right position both top and bottom not only while i place the concrete but while the concrete cures and gains strength over the next 24 to 48 hours with the string line set up and the nails already pinned into one side of this temporary board it's easy to see where the post needs to be and to fix it in the right position aiming for that 12 mil gap between the two i'm not a fan of the mix in the hole post creek type products for fencing as they rely heavily on mixing properly which you really can't tell if it has been or not because it's now in a hole i therefore always hand batch a standard concrete mix of cement and ballast for fence posts which i can tell is fully mixed and with the right water content before it goes in the hole if you want some tips on hand mixing concrete i've recently posted a two minute tips video on this very subject click in the link above or in the description below [Applause] this hole took two bags of ballast with cement in total i made sure the concrete was well compacted in the hole and around the back of the post just by using a piece of timber and then floated off the surface with a fall away from the post to make sure that future rain water doesn't pond next to the timber and reduce its life [Music] i left the a-frame in place for two days to get some good strength on the concrete before dismantling it and filling in the hole you know these days i look at you in a completely different light let's put the past behind us shall we well i hope you've enjoyed this video if you have please check out the other ones on my channel which are projects around the house and garden if you're feeling really brave please subscribe so from a lot straight offense i'll see you next time [Music] you

Channel: Proper DIY

Views: 544,207

Rating: 4.8996482 out of 5

Keywords: Leaning fence post, how to fencing, fix a fence post, install a fence post, fix fencing, fencing DIY

Id: 3yN6-M6LwsU

Length: 8min 32sec (512 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 26 2021