Mystery of the garden gate footings

[trotter]

My front garden is missing a gate !!! Moved in a few months ago and want to replace it.

It has the gate opening obviously, and it has footings for posts either side, the opening is 3 feet.

However I'm struggling to find the posts that would slot in the footings.

They are like metpost footings, square, about 7cm across, anchored into the concrete path. They have thin runners that the post would have to fit onto.

Any ideas?

 

[JohnD]

can you put up a photo?

Is there a square steel socket in the hole, or is it cast into the concrete?

How deep (when you scrape out the mud)?

What do you find at the bottom of the hole?

How old would you guess it is?

 

[trotter]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v217/andrewrobs/Postpic.jpg

Here is a pic...hope that helps

Approx 2 1/4 inches square...

Not dug out the junk from the bottom of it yet.

If you look quite hard to the right of the socket, there are two runners...

 

[breezer]

you have answered your own question.

they are metposts (or at least theyare the sockets you bang ther wooden post into.

I would also suggest that if you do have one either side you put in one across the top for stability (joining each post)

 

[Thermo]

i would suggest you rip them out and concrete posts in.

 

[breezer]

but would you not agree they are metposts?

and not being that stable is why i suggested a bar on the top

 

[Thermo]

agree absolutley they are met post, and a bar across the top will make them a bit more stable, in that they will both sway in unison. metpost are a ****e invention, that give a ****e result.

 

[breezer]

well yes, but people only find out the hard way

 

[JohnD]

yep...

they are metposts, and metposts are rubbish.

Is there a wall you can bolt a post to?

 

[trotter]

Agree on the metpost thing, they are indeed rubbish.

There is a wall, it's about 3 inches gap either side from the metpost sockets. You can see it to the right of the metpost on the pic. Rubbish wall too I'm afraid - single skin of brick done narrow ways. So about 4 or 5 inch thick I guess.

Doesn't leave much room to bracket either side of any posts.

My dad works in a steel factory, might get him to make me up a bracket of some kind so I can bolt to the wall for the time being until the whole thing is redone...


ps thanks very much for the replies.

 

[JohnD]

dig a holeand put in concrete repair spurs if you like, you can bolt wooden posts to them without touching the ground,so they last a long time. You can masonry-paint the spurs to match the wooden posts.

A tip: When putting in gateposts, if you cast a concrete step or threshhold monolithic with the post hole concrete, it will prevent the posts leaning together from the weight of the gate.

Not a lot of people know that.

 

[Deluks]

If these have already been concreted in then they will do the job just fine. Stop trying to create work for the poor guy!

 

[Thermo]

no they wont. the posts will sit in the met post and they will wobble and move. with the extra weight of the gate opening the post holding the gate will start to bend inwards. As i said they are a pile of ****e. for the sake of doing it properly once it will save him doing it again and again

 

[Deluks]

no they wont. the posts will sit in the met post and they will wobble and move. with the extra weight of the gate opening the post holding the gate will start to bend inwards. As i said they are a pile of s***te. for the sake of doing it properly once it will save him doing it again and again

My experience has proved otherwise, an 800x900 metal gate on a 3" post. Metpost sitting in a bag of postmix.
It's all down to the height and weight of the gate. He did say this was a front garden gate so it won't sit very high.

 

[W_Axl_Rose]

so it won't sit very high.

......or very long.

'Assumption is the mother of all f*** ups.'

Bin the met posts Trotter and do it right once. Keep them and you may as well set a countdown for the day that you swear, kick the cat and head off to buy the materials to do the job properly (for the second time)