I have a wooden fence in my back yard that is leaning into the neighbor’s yard, and it’s getting worse! My yard is sloped, not flat. The posts, I’m pretty sure, are cemented in the ground. What’s the best way to fix this problem? I know I probably need to replace that whole side of the fence, but can I keep this from happening in the future? The fence is about 10 years old and about 80′ long.
Thanks for your help!
Jeannie
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Replies
If they are leaning downhill, then I suspect the ground is doing what any self respecting plastic material wil do- it is flowing down toward the neighbors at an almost imperceptable rate, but still enough to take the posts with it.
add to thatt he fact that the psots were probably not sunk deeply enough. the butts are maybe two feet or so down so they are locked in place while the surface earth is sliding down and causing the tilt.
The answer is to rebuild the fence by digging deeper and setting the butts closer to four feet deep so they are anchored enough to resist the plastic flow.
But do not use concrete to set them in. That will let the frost and the earth get a better grip on them to throw them up out of the ground. I have worked in four regions of this country and seen more damage to posts set in crete than those set feely in tamped earth.
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Thanks for your advice. How far apart should the posts ideally be?
Jeannie
What are the posts made of? How tall is the fence? What part of the country are you in? Especially since the posts are set in concrete, could they be rotting already?
Around here (Massachusetts), most 6' tall stockade fences have posts spaced 8' o.c. and about 30" deep. No concrete.
Al Mollitor, Sharon MA
Most posts are set about eight feet apart. Here in Maine, we try to dig them four feet down. Did you say where you are?
To resist frost grip on them, you can wrap them with plastic. that is for PT posts only. if cedar posts, you don't want to be holding the moisture tight against them.
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Her fence is falling UPhill.
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow
That would have to be from wind then, which definitely indicates that the posts are not set very deep.
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LOL, her fence is falling UP then!
;)
She misled me by saying it was falling down.
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I guess you are right....it's falling UP hill and OUT of the ground!! Stranger things have happened in Arkansas....And, yes, the dog is big, but not mine. If I'm lucky, the fence will just fall all the way up and the dog will run away!
Jeannie
Just to help you out, I have a big pile of used post holes stacked out behind the shop. I'll let you have them for shipping and handling cost. You'll have to install them yourself though.;)
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What type of fence do you have? Rail? Picket? Solid privacy?
Realize that a solid privacy fence will catch the wnd more than a rail or picket, and that the fence can slowly be blown over in the direction of the prevailing wind.
If you're in a freezing climate, sometimes seasonal heaving can loosen the posts as well.
I've always considered 30-36" to be the minimum post hole depth. For a taller fence or a privacy fence, especially one that might catch the wind, deeper is the way to go.
Hi. My fence is a solid privacy fence, about 6' high. I don't know how deep the posts were set. What's your thoughts about concrete or no concrete? The yard is sloped towards the house (higher in the backyard, and coming down the slope towards the house). However, the fence is leaning over and falling into the neighbors yard.
Thanks for your help.
I've set a fair number of posts in concrete, and am not adverse to doing so in the future.
Still, if using concrete, you want to set the post in the hole, then pack a couple inches of gravel around the base of the post. Then pour your concrete.
This'll give you a "concrete collar" around the post instead of having the entire bottom of the post encased in concrete.
The collar allows any water the makes its way between the post and the collar to drain out the bottom. If the post was simply embedded in concrete, the water would be trapped between the concrete and the post, shortening the life of the post.
A six foot solid privacy can catch a lot of wind.
I'd use 10' posts and bury them deep. that sounds like a horrible task to take on, however...it only takes 5-10 more minutes per hole to dig deep. And if you need to, or want to, you can rent a gas-powered auger.
Still, digging fence posts by hand is one of those jobs I get some sort of perverse pleasure in doing manually. Takes me back to fencing in pasture land when I was a kid. Of course, my elbows didn't ache as much back then.<g>
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Jeannie,
We set posts for cedar privacy fencing no more than 7.5' o.c and strive to stay closer to seven feet. We dig the holes to 36" but the post only goes in the hole around 30", then fill with concrete we batch ourselves, Sakrete is not worth it. On severely sloped lots, we will dig deeper and use longer posts if needed to curb the eventual slide to the neighbors. Posts set in loose fill generally wont hold against a wind, even in concrete. Your best insurance is to go deeper and closer together to provide a tighter subframe for your privacy fence.
Hope this helps.
ColeCole Dean
Dean Contracting
Do you have a really big dog ?
;)
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow