concrete posts moving

snuggly61

last year i had a 6ft fence put up concrete posts ,gravel boards overlap fencing boards slotted in my fence is about 140ft long and about 50ft along the back. i live in a rual location so the winds are quite strong. well after storm doris most of the concrete posts are out of alignment and some you can wobble as they are so loose in the ground. i have rang the fence man up the other day who said he would come round with his sprit level to check the posts. but you dont need a spirit level to see some of the posts leaning. now i don't want fobbing off when he does come back ,he has already said we dont usually get storms like doris that often. but to me ok if a fence panel had popped out,but the concrete posts have moved and my fence now looks like a donkeys hind leg.
how would be the best way to straighten the posts and to make them stronger against strong winds

Aylesbury_Duck

They will need to be dug in and secured more strongly in the ground. I would think the only way of doing it is to remove them and replace them more securely. In a particularly exposed location, a hit-and-miss fence is a better bet, to allow wind to pass through to an extent. A solid fence in an exposed location in winds like we had the other day is bound to have been damaged.

Winds such as those the other day are unusual, so my advice would be that if it's not too long a run, you can physically manage it and don't mind the temporary lack of security/privacy, remove the panels ahead of the storms and replace them when it's passed.

snuggly61

i cant take the panels out because both me and my neighbours have dogs. but the reason i had solid panels was for privacy issues. plus when there was a picket fence there my neigbour never cut his grass and i got all his weeds and long grass growing through to my side.
i did tell the fence guy we got strong winds . but i noticed when telling him the fence had moved out of alignment he dropped it into the conversation that his work was guarenteed but not against weather.
i did have a idea,ok its drastic but i thought about drilling holes to let the wind through to cut down on the resistance. ok i would loose some privacy if the neighbours used them as spy holes .
thing is i have only before storm doris given this fence guy the job of putting the same type fence the other side of my garden. but seeing whats happened to this fence i want it fixing first then look at different panels for the other side.

Aylesbury_Duck

In fairness to the guy, no one could guarantee a fence for all weathers. You've seen the damage this week's storm and others before it have done to much stronger structures than your fence. Even if he whole thing in an extra foot, strong winds might just have snapped/bent the concrete uprights if the panels weren't destroyed first.

I see your problem with the dogs, but in an exposed location, I think you have to compromise. It's either a slatted fence and lose some privacy, or accept that once in a while, a storm means you have to replace/fix posts and panels.

snuggly61

yes guess your right when u see huge trees up rooted. but the last time the posts had to be dug up and reset after my vile neighbour pushed and lent on every panel/post just 30 minutes after my fence was put up.it cost me another £1000 . so thats why i was hoping there was a way of putting it right without digging them up

Aylesbury_Duck

snuggly61 wrote: »

yes guess your right when u see huge trees up rooted. but the last time the posts had to be dug up and reset after my vile neighbour pushed and lent on every panel/post just 30 minutes after my fence was put up.it cost me another £1000 . so thats why i was hoping there was a way of putting it right without digging them up

I can see why you want privacy. What an a**e your neighbour sounds. Did you report it as criminal damage?

snuggly61

i forgot to mention that after all the posts was dug up,concrete knocked off and new holes dug etc after my vile neighbour pushed and lent on every panel 30 minutes after workmen left. a week later about he then started cutting his lawn and everytime he went close by my fence he kept stopping and looked very much like he was again sneakly leaning on it.police viewed my cctv footage but said as my cctv couldnt pick up actual contact and u couldnt see the fence moving nothing they could do. but take in account he was doing this every week from about june through to about september is it possible that this could had caused the damage during the storm as it could had already moved the posts a bit in the ground. i know i asked my fence guy about it and he said yes in time if he was sneakliy leaning on it it could cause damage. one more question if i dug a big hole out around the post straightened them then added alot more postcrete would this help.

GDB2222

snuggly61 wrote: »

i forgot to mention that after all the posts was dug up,concrete knocked off and new holes dug etc after my vile neighbour pushed and lent on every panel 30 minutes after workmen left. a week later about he then started cutting his lawn and everytime he went close by my fence he kept stopping and looked very much like he was again sneakly leaning on it.police viewed my cctv footage but said as my cctv couldnt pick up actual contact and u couldnt see the fence moving nothing they could do. but take in account he was doing this every week from about june through to about september is it possible that this could had caused the damage during the storm as it could had already moved the posts a bit in the ground. i know i asked my fence guy about it and he said yes in time if he was sneakliy leaning on it it could cause damage. one more question if i dug a big hole out around the post straightened them then added alot more postcrete would this help.

What sort of soil is it? I'm betting it's pretty sandy? Clay isn't much good for gardening, but it's the dog's whotsits for holding fence posts up. Sandy is the other way around.

And the next question is whether the fence posts are long enough? You need over 8 foot posts for a six foot fence, with well over 2 foot buried in the ground. I'd bet that he's used 8 foot posts, with a bit of post showing above the fence panels. Bearing in mind the gravel boards, the posts might only be 15 inches into the ground, which is far too little, especially for an exposed position.

If I'm right about that, the whole fence needs to be re-done. New, longer posts, deeper holes.

A bit of extra postcrete, as you suggested, is just a sticking plaster. It won't fix the problem long term.