Wobbly Fence Posts

[Keith1978]

Around 12 months ago we installed a 6" fence along the side of our garden, we used postcrete following the instructions on the pack but the posts have become wobbly over the winter with all the storms and rain. The postcrete has set well around the posts, the problem seems to be with the soft ground around it, in that the lump of concrete around the base of the post moves in the ground when the post is moved.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this? an idea I have that would be quite simple is to dig around the post and put some bricks up each side of the concrete, hopefully to stop it moving in the ground or instead of bricks throw some more concrete around them.

Any help would be appreciated, all I can find online is help for when the posts start to rot.

 

[WabbitPoo]

First of all I presume that it is not a 6" fence, but rather a 6' one.

Secondly, there's no point in chucking anything around the post base if the ground is soft. How deep below ground level are the posts sunk? For an 8' post you should aim for 2' underground if possible. What shape was your hole? A cylinder or a wedge (I bet the latter).

 

[Keith1978]

First of all I presume that it is not a 6" fence, but rather a 6' one.

Secondly, there's no point in chucking anything around the post base if the ground is soft. How deep below ground level are the posts sunk? For an 8' post you should aim for 2' underground if possible. What shape was your hole? A cylinder or a wedge (I bet the latter).

Cylindrical holes dug out with this boring tool that my neighbour hired, dug down to around 1 1/2 foot as recommended on the pack, it said dig to a depth of 1 1/2 shovel heads.

 

[Deluks]

Off the top of my head, I'd suggest some longish lengths of angle iron banged in either side of the concrete with a club/sledge hammer, you can bash these in quite deep, I'd suggest a metre long if the ground's that soft. Once you've done that then dig around the hole and chuck more concrete all around it, concreting in the metal as well.

 

[Keith1978]

Off the top of my head, I'd suggest some longish lengths of angle iron banged in either side of the concrete with a club/sledge hammer, you can bash these in quite deep, I'd suggest a metre long if the ground's that soft. Once you've done that then dig around the hole and chuck more concrete all around it, concreting in the metal as well.

That sounds like a plan, many thanks for your help.

 

[Keith1978]

Had a go at this as I had a couple of lengths of 1"x1" angle iron left from the old chain link fence koncking about, managed to bang it in to around 1.5M with a club hammer with absolutely no problem whatsoever. Shows how soft the ground is, but it seems to be doing the trick!

 

[Deluks]

Nice, let us know if it works

 

[The Weegie]

Off the top of my head, I'd suggest some longish lengths of angle iron banged in either side of the concrete with a club/sledge hammer, you can bash these in quite deep, I'd suggest a metre long if the ground's that soft. Once you've done that then dig around the hole and chuck more concrete all around it, concreting in the metal as well.

I have the same problem with my fence posts. I would love to get them repaired.

You will probably think that i'm daft, but i am struggling to understand how you would repair the posts in this way. Is there any chance of a picture or diagram?

 

[Deluks]

Off the top of my head, I'd suggest some longish lengths of angle iron banged in either side of the concrete with a club/sledge hammer, you can bash these in quite deep, I'd suggest a metre long if the ground's that soft. Once you've done that then dig around the hole and chuck more concrete all around it, concreting in the metal as well.

I have the same problem with my fence posts. I would love to get them repaired.

Picture Keith??

 

[Keith1978]

Can't really take picture as you can't see what i've done as i've buried it all again. Here's a very rough diagram.

I banged the iron right up against the concrete, as it was the concrete moving and not the post. So far i've only done my side of the fence and haven't added any more concrete, but so far the results are promising. I used lengths of iron around 1 meter in length.

 

[The Weegie]

Thanks for the diagram Keith.

I will need to try this out on my concrete.

I was contemplating taking the posts out and digging again. Hopefully i will not need to do this.

I will keep you posted.

Thanks

 

[Deluks]

Nice one Keith, I would've banged 'em in straight down, but your pic shows them going at an angle, causing a wedge effect.
Good job.

 

[Deluks]

I will keep you posted.

 

[crazycanuck]

People like to cut corners ! You can't with a fence.
Put your holes 3Ft. deep, in the bottom put 6 to 8 inch crushed stone for drainage.
place post, secure post with crushed stone in bottom around sides, this lets water around post to drain to bottom
pour post cement to 1 foot from top.
let dry and fill top with dirt.
now you won't have a problem.

Have you noticed powered post hole diggers usually have 3ft augers? its not for 18" to 24" holes.

 

[Keith1978]

People like to cut corners ! You can't with a fence.
Put your holes 3Ft. deep, in the bottom put 6 to 8 inch crushed stone for drainage.
place post, secure post with crushed stone in bottom around sides, this lets water around post to drain to bottom
pour post cement to 1 foot from top.
let dry and fill top with dirt.
now you won't have a problem.

Have you noticed powered post hole diggers usually have 3ft augers? its not for 18" to 24" holes.

All well and good but when you get a bag of postcrete that tells you to dig down a spade and a half, a DIY'er tends to follow those instructions. At my old house we errected a fence using postcrete, followed the instructions and had no problems whatsoever. This one ended up wobbly, although I don't think there was ever any danger of it falling over.