How to remove remains of wooden fence post from hole - Updated: DIY Win!

1984ReturnsForReal_2

Drill a few holes in the top & pour lighter fluid or petrol (if you are careful) over the wood.

Light it.

If you want the concrete out you should tip a bucket of cold water over it after a few hours when its nearly done & the concrete will crack. If you want the concrete still there you should just leave it alone to burn out & cool down on its own.

When its burnt out & cooled down you can use whatever you want to break it up. Its easy.

Dave_C_2

andrew-b wrote: »

I'd be tempted to use one of these: http://www.wickes.co.uk/repair-metal-spike-for-fencing/invt/542505/ ...


i.e cut off the remaining post to be level with ground, leave the rest in and whack in the repair spike into the top (use an offcut of old fence post to avoid damage to metal spike rather than spending out on the "drive-in tool"), then put in new post.

I'll second that - works a treat!

keystone

Dave_C wrote: »

I'll second that - works a treat!

and if the post remaining in the concrete is still nice and solid and not at all rotten? Oh and what happens if there's only a few inches of post in the concrete? Just a thought or two.

Cheers

keystone

andrew-b wrote: »

Just a thought..but "Ideal to use for repairing damaged fence posts which have broken off at ground level but are in a sound concrete base"..am i missing something? It's designed for the job. If it doesn't do what it says on the tin i daresay Wickes would refund..and if they don't it's hardly going to break the bank is it.

Dont have a problem with what you are saying Andrew in relation to the suppliers marketing spiel BUT please see my two very practical questions above. What are you going to do if the timber is so tough you can't actually drive the wretched thing in more than ½" and what if it only goes in two inches before it hits concrete?

Cheers

pinkteapot

:rotfl:

Thanks all - you've cheered me up no end.

The mouth of our street has a problem with people parking as we're opposite a large hospital. The section of road where they park is on the opposite side to ours and comes down to halfway across our drive, so turning can be tight during visiting hours. Might be just the time to bring out the monster truck. Two birds with one stone and all that.

We think (we only bought the house last August) that the concrete drive was actually poured after the fence was erected, so the concrete was poured around the fence post. That's probably not helping things!

This is the front of the house:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6933633&l=414becf4a9&id=593489072

Since this photo was taken, we have removed the fence that runs across the front of that picture to make it easier to park on the right hand side of the drive. You can just about see the little fence this thread is about which remains, and runs between ours and our neighbour's drive.

We think this fence is original, but when the house was built the drive only ran in front of the garage, and the house would have had a front garden. Someone in the past has extended the drive to cover the whole front of house.

We could of course just give up on the fence, which serves little purpose, and drive a monster truck over the whole thing.

Blobby8_2

pinkteapot wrote: »

:rotfl:


We could of course just give up on the fence, which serves little purpose,

I'd say it was a bl00dy nuisance. Blocks a parking space.
Get the old man to saw it odd level, it will rot away in due course.

pinkteapot

Blobby8 wrote: »

I'd say it was a bl00dy nuisance. Blocks a parking space.
Get the old man to saw it odd level, it will rot away in due course.

We've already removed the fence you're talking about. The one in front of the drive. Been taken out since this photo was taken. The offending fence is the one between us and the neighbour.

Dave_C_2

keystone wrote: »

and if the post remaining in the concrete is still nice and solid and not at all rotten? Oh and what happens if there's only a few inches of post in the concrete? Just a thought or two.

Cheers

1) The post remaining in the concrete is normally nice and solid, that's why it's a bit of a sod to dig out. The repair spikewill drive into the wood, steel being harder than wood, you just need a big hammer.

2) The OP said that the concrete was poured after the post was set in the ground, so there will be a square hole through the concrete. This can easily be checked by trying with a long drill - in the wood.

Dave

pinkteapot

With thanks to all who suggested the drill! I've always made fun of hubby's box filled with more drill bits than anyone could ever need, but I found a 25mm wood boring bit in there and the post remains were destroyed in about 15 minutes.

The Wickes post thing wouldn't have worked because the old post hadn't snapped off clean - there were only bits of it left for the first few inches, if that makes sense.

Before/after photos here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=344918&id=593489072&l=96b2cf33ec

Now to see if MrTeapot notices when he gets home.