Fence posts - concrete or post crete

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dal

dal

dal

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Hi all, my next project is to put a new fence up. I'm replacing wooden posts with concrete posts/gravel boards & I've got 14 panels to fit. Now if I use concrete to secure the posts & maybe chuck some hardcore in the hole as well how long do you think I would have to wait before putting the gravel board up to the post, would I be able to make it secure enough by wedging bricks around it & carry on with the next gravel board etc.

I know it would probably be easier to use postcrete but as I'll need about 30 bags of post crete I'm considering concrete to save some money.

Cheers
 
When my garden got done it August the chap who I employed to do it swore by Postcrete.
 
When I did this a good few years back as part of a landscaping firm we just used a dry concrete mix, sand cement and stone. Easy enough to mix with a shovel on a big bit of ply board, same result as postcrete but a hell of a lot cheaper!

Dig hole, put post in (for a 6ft fence you want about 3ft of post in the ground), a few bricks round the bottom, some dry mix, tamp it down, level post, more dry mix and a good tamping (usually a 4x2 or 4x4 length of wood). Offer up gravel board, that shows where next hole will be, dig hole....... Rinse and repeat putting the gravel board in place to save time later for as many as you can get done in a day. If it's windy then maybe a few props of wood. At the end of the day just pour some water on top of each hole. Will be set by the morning.
 
Someone I was talking to that fits fences for a living told me to make the hole not much bigger than the post as digging a huge hole as once filled back the ground is much looser and won't hold post as well as it would if left in pre-compacted state.

Also if possible pour in a ^ shape if possible, i.e. more concrete at bottom of post, narrowing to ground level as they said it holds post much better. Postcrete is good stuff but of course more expensive.

Some people advise putting gravel at bottom of hole before filling to allow drainage - no idea if that's a good idea or not but was done on mine and still pefectly fine 10 years on.
 
Thanks kefkef although looking elsewhere on the net most people are saying 1/3rd of fence height should be below ground, making it 2' below ground for 6' fence & the place I am getting it from are saying a 7'9" post for a overall fence height of 6'.
I think I'll order say 6 bags of postcrete & get a few bags of ballast / cement & I'll see how I get on.

One more thing, one end of my fence posts will sit next to my garage ( brick built), I was thinking of maybe fixing the post to the garage but not sure if I'd be able to drill through a concrete fence post, guess I'd prob need to hire a SDS drill, do you think it would be ok to drill through a post.


Thanks
 
Another vote for Postcrete here.

I'm not sure about drilling a concrete fencepost as it will be probably be reinforced concrete so will there will be steel rods in which might make drilling through tricky.

Dave
 
dal said:
Thanks kefkef although looking elsewhere on the net most people are saying 1/3rd of fence height should be below ground, making it 2' below ground for 6' fence & the place I am getting it from are saying a 7'9" post for a overall fence height of 6'.
I think I'll order say 6 bags of postcrete & get a few bags of ballast / cement & I'll see how I get on.

One more thing, one end of my fence posts will sit next to my garage ( brick built), I was thinking of maybe fixing the post to the garage but not sure if I'd be able to drill through a concrete fence post, guess I'd prob need to hire a SDS drill, do you think it would be ok to drill through a post.


Thanks
Click to expand...

When we put our new fence up the first post was drilled and bolted to the wall of the house.
a standard drill will probably go through it but will just take longer, the guys helping me had an SDS drill anyway so we just used that.
 
I've just replaced a 2400x175x175 gate post and used postcrete as the base, let it cure overnight then topped up with normal concrete.

I'd say the postcrete is more than fine, but when your neighbour turns up out of the blue with a load of concrete in one of these - it would have been rude not to use it!

aNDUOa1.jpg
 
kaptainmarc said:
Dry concrete mix and give it a good old tamping in with plenty of cement in the mix. and you'l be golden
Click to expand...

That's what I'm planning on & I'll see how I get on, if it's too much of a pain I'll go post Crete
IT'S mixed 4 parts ballast 1 part cement isn't it ?

Just a side note but obviously I'll want all the panels to sit in a straight line so would you recommend a piece of string fixed at either end of the fence to work to, I'm guessing this is advisable.

Cheers
 
Mixing your own is always going to be cheaper, depends whether you have the time.

A string line would be useful, especially if there is any slope.
 
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