Our original fence lasted 34 years, thanks to the storm last winter, we have to replace with a new one. We have great neighbor and we decided to share the cost of replacing it. Instead of hiring people to do it, I did it for both of us. Here is the transformation of our fence.
The important parts of the fence are how the posts installed: how straight and sturdy they are referenced to the ground. Our old posts already had the cement blocks under them when they’re installed, the water and pests eaten through the core of the wood. The hardest part is to remove all of these wood base out of the cement holes. Knocking down the whole fence did take lot of effort.
Remove the rotten posts.
Try to preserve the left over posts (where they broke off), the goal is to remove the whole posts out instead of breaking them to pieces inside the cement holes. Use something pointy to hammer to the posts and lift them up slowly (rock side to side and use screw drivers to loosen the edges of the post and the cement if necessary). After the post root is removed, use hands to remove all broken wood pieces and clean off all the dirt of the cements hole.
If the post broke at the ground surface and we don’t have room to dig an area lower to have an anchor, hammer a metal fence post all the way down to the wood post part, use a floor jack and a crow bar to lift the post up slowly, it will come up, at least in our case.
For the ones we couldn’t get all the wood post out of the cement hole, we use the metal fence post anchors to put in the cement holes, make sure it has plenty of room for cement and flush with the ground.
I did prepare the post bottom with treatment to make sure these posts will last a long time from water and insects.
We bought fence post cement and redwood already made panels. Now, we’re suppose to just fill the hole up with cement and pour water onto it, but the best way we think is pour some water first, fill with cement and mix them up at the bottom, then slowly again to the top, make sure there’s NO dry cement trapped in between. The best is to mix the cement with the water in a bucket before dispense them together to the hole. Our posts are very solid, while it’s still wet, adjust the post to make sure it’s straight again before the cement cured. The original 4×4 hole did help the alignment of the post a lot.
When the first post is done, use it to align the next post and the next one until all posts are done. Slowly but surely.
Measure the posts lengths and the design of the fence and cut them off accordingly. Next is to just place the fence and screw them in straight. Our neighbor cement floor is much higher than our ground, we did have to cut some of the panels to fit them correctly.
Start with the cement ground first.
For the gate frames, the regular nails were used to secure the wall frame, which wasn’t efficient, we removed the nails, covered them up and use anchor bolts to secure the frame.
Cheers,
dognmonkey
3 Comments
Excellent job with the fence. Clear and constructive instructions on how to. Just too much to absorb for this simple mind. Got a headache trying to read and remember all of it. Can you just come and do it for me instead????
j.n