This guide shows you how to easily erect your own fence. This guide might look like its from the 80s, but the advice is still sound and you can't beat those white overalls!
String line better at the back of the post so it doesn’t get in the way not too close to the ground so it doesn’t get it the way of digging the hole , don’t dig all your holes first if your a bit out with One you’ll probably be out with the rest, too much post over the top of the panels, use a piece of timber (usually timber post) the same length as your concrete post so you can drop the wooden post into the hole to get the right height against the first panel a wooden post is much easier to lift in and out of the hole than a concrete post until you have the right depth. Use a 6’ batten ( the length of the gravel board) laid on the ground to give you the position of your next hole Mix your concrete in a wheel barrow and wheel it to the hole , no mess, post mix is good but expensive ! You won’t find many professionals using post mix due to the cost . Any movement of the gravel board in the slotted post can be ‘plugged ‘ with a bit of concrete pushed into the gap between the gravel board and post at the back using a small trowel. Buy the right tool for the job , a fencers graft a small headed shovel with a long handle (all steel) you can easily dig a 2’ deep (or more) hole without getting on your knees ! Small diameter hole too.
I like the way the posts were set out on the ground first to mark out where to dig the holes... We can all learn something even if we think we know it all...
I've noticed in various videos that no one does what my contractor did. He explained to me, the concrete posts are quite heavy and all the weight is localised into a 4 or 5 inch square, and if the soil is not hard and compacted the post will deform the soil and sink slightly, there for you will have different heights of the finished posts. He overcame this by putting part of a broken paving slab into the bottom of the hole and setting the level. The slab spreads the weight, therefore does not sink.
Unless that ground is bang on the level I would still check to see if the gravel boards are level and the gaps between the posts and top of the panels are abit big I would recommend feather edge fencing all the way with the concrete posts though done all my back garden in it
And how they laid posts on the ground ready for you to trip over and to generally be in the way. Get your first post in the ground then use measure template as and when needed
Have you got any advice for people who don’t have any friends to help lift the posts and boards. Not the case for me but I’m just interested hypothetically.
I would not sink a post without using hard core.. In my opinion this post is liable to movement along with all the other post if fitted in the same way without a means to stop movement within the hole itself. Hardcore such as old bricks or bits of concrete stops the movement and allows you to get the post stable enough to shovel concrete in. 2) Polystyrene shaped post legs EXACTLY the same dimension as the posts could be put into the holes and pile in the concrete. When you go back the following day you burn away the polystyrene and then drop the posts into the moulds already formed?? Then put concrete around the top? Just a thought.
I've cut and used polystyrene in the past roughly in the shape of the post. Put into the hole and put ballast and concrete around it. When dry burn off the bot of polystyrene or remove it and then drop the post in. I am sure the environmentalists wouldn't like that method. Finish off with concrete mix when the posts are in.
John, thinking about which order that should be done. Would you recommend 1. with post in the hole, pour the water in with Postcrete and mix and then place the bricks in around the post? or 2. with the post in the hole, place the bricks in around the post and then pour the water in with postcrete and mix?
Im not sure where the idea of pouring water comes from? The easiest method is using polystyrene shaped to size of post or just slightly over . If using postcrete / concrete a mixture of sand portland cement and ballast mixed either wet or semi dry depending on weather. Use string on the top of post lightly tacked to show they're level.
I thought I had made a reply to this, but it hasn't shown? I don't know what you mean by "pour water' in with postcrete ? I must be missing something? If postcrete is some Americanism, then i am unfamiliar with it. When I say '"concrete", I mean a mixture of Sand, Portland Cement and Ballast which would consist of small stones or other form of gravel. Once the post is in the hole. Place 'broken bricks' or even whole ones or pieces of broken concrete. Start shoveling in the 'Postcrete / 'Concrete on top of the 'Hardcore' Using a small piece of wood LIGHTLY tamp the Postcrete/ Concrete to fill any spaces there may be in the Hardcore. . It can be a semi-dry mix or wet, depending on the weather. . .
I don't fancy putting the wood panels in until the concrete's set. Wind could easily move your posts with a big area to blow on and it doesn't need to be a gale.
If you use post crete its fine, i do a bay and a post then leave it for 5 minutes braced with a lump of 4x2 with a nail in yhe top that sits over the top of the panel and supported at the bottom, works a treat, i dont know why people still use mixed concrete, takes too long to dry
Surely by doing the lot is the best thing as you can't brace concrete posts and the while fence is more stable instead of just leaving the posts to set?
A few mistakes with this video, there's nothing holding the gravel board in place, so the fence will become wonky in no time. At work we will drill a hole into the post and use a metal pin to keep the gravel board in place. Also the concrete is way too wet, I've been doing fencing for 6 years and when you get a wet hole its a pretty tough task to keep everything upright and square, so a semi dry mix is much preferred and holds a lot better. A matter of aesthetics but the posts look hideous when that high above the panel, if it's a 6 foot fence, we would drill at 185cm allowing 5cm for capping. Lastly don't use cheap fencing panels like that's, even off the ground with a gravel board, they rot like hell, it might be more expensive, but real treated featheredge will last 20 years+.
Aren't the gravel boards (and panels) held in place by the fact that they're slotted into the sides of each post? As long as the posts are stable and firmly set in the ground...don't understand why you need a pin? Is there another video showing what you mean?
hahahahahhahahahahhahahaha! Wow your incredibly funny, Clearly you have nothing better to do than go back to January 2015 just to point out that i was using Caps Lock on the comment made. You go Alexplorer! you are seriously hardcore! I want to add you as a friend but think it would ruin what we have going now. god speed Alexplorer you mad one!
Very bad way to put up a fence I always use a dry mix and once the posts are level add water. It saves you time and effort every time the wind blows the post out of level because you used a wet mix 👎
