Problem: Old wood post, bedded in concrete. I need to replace the post.
Is there any way to do this that's easier than breaking up the concrete and replacing the whole mess? Putting a metal foot on the post and putting that into concrete has a great deal of appeal, as I'd like to die of old age before I'm called upon to do it again (at least with that post).
Bolt a metal plate to concrete and weld on a metal post to the plate?
Is the concrete just for the wood post or is it more like a floor with a wooden post embedded in the floor. If it is like a post embedded in concrete for a fence post or mailbox, I would use some chain and a jack and just pull the concrete out with the post. And use pressure treated wood or metal pipe for the replacement post. Pressure treated wood rated for ground contact ought to be good for 25 to 30 years. Longer if you use somo torch down roofing around the post.
Dan
It's pressure treated concrete post, with concrete around the post. It lasted a bit over ten years, and the post is rotted away broken off, and lying on the ground.
What part of the country do you live in that a pressure treated post in concrete lives for 30 years?
(I'm planning on replacing it with a metal socket in concrete, that'll accept a wood post).
These would be fast if not strong.
The way I installed my mailbox was to pour concrete, set a steel post in it, and I mounted/welded everything to that steel post. No more wood, thank you very much./
iTim Wescott fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:
I'm in Florida, where wood posts in the ground stay wet continually. I'm in an area called "flatwoods", where the mean water table is within a couple of feet of the surface. So even poles inside my barn have wet feet.
My barn is just now requiring some ten of the 48 posts to be replaced -- all of them at the eaves, where the drip gets to them. Fresh application of water rinses out the protective chemicals. It's not _being_ wet, but being _rinsed_ frequently that causes the problems.
There are another two that look like they'll need attention in four or five years, and the remaining 36 are as sound as they day they were planted.
-- in 1969 -- 'course, back then we treated the soil in each hole with chlordane, which is both an insecticide and an anti-fungal. And we painted the bottom 4' of each pole with 'blackjack' before planting it.
LLoyd
Mine are that old. Still solid...here in the desert.
That will work. Just punch holes in the flange so water will run out..or tar the snot out of it before installing in the socket.
Gunner
I have had pretty good success pulling/washing the rotted post out of the concrete and fitting a new post in it's place. 7 out of 8 4X4 cedar posts on my rear deck pulled out andI dropped new ones in place with no trouble. The eighth one split the concrete so I had to pull it and repour. I just dropped the post in and poured a half bag of SackCrete into the hole around itand poured a couple cups of water on it to get it started, and it drew enough moisture out of the surrounding ground to hydrate it and harden the concrete within days.
I'm kinda questioning now whether the post in question was pressure treated, and if so how well.
My problem is that the post is already broken off, and I don't see a way to get a purchase on the stump down inside the concrete to pull it out.
Or drive one of those in and weld a plate to it to bolt to the concrete for even better stability.
Get a big auger bit and bore a few holes down the post - to the bottom, then collapse the post into the hole. You should be able to get 4 or 5 holes over 1 1/4 inch in diameter, leaving little wood to worry about.
There are a couple ways to get it out. The easy way is to drill it out with wood bits, then using a long chisel you can make from bar or rod stock...bust out the bits of leftover
The other way..is to burn it out after drilling multiple holes in it.
Id strongly suggest #1
Gunner
On May 19, 8:35 pm, Tim Wescott wrote: And use pressure treated
According to this web site
Dan
I installed a mail box on a pressure treated post in 1975 and it was still good in 2008. Probably still be good, I just have not been by to see it.
Dan
Only people with too many tools would suggest multiple holes with a $50 auger, so make sure you use an offsize bit you don't care about tearing up. The concrete is kinda hard on the flutes, KWIM,V?
Twenty years ago I made a "temporary" repair to my redwood fence so I could sell the house.
Two adjacent 4"x4" posts had rotted at the soil line and were flapping in the breeze. I drove a 2" round fence posts 2 feet into the ground and lag-bolted them to the existing redwood posts. A couple of years ago I had occasion to visit the house where the repair was done. It was still solid.
About a month ago I had to repair two posts on my present house. This time there were concrete footings that had to be broken up before I could pound the post in. The concrete was pretty easy to get out.
Tim Wescott wrote:
Could be the modern "environmentally friendly" treatment that is just not very good.. The good old poisons lasted a long time with heavy metals, chromated copper arsenate etc. in them..
Just like modern paints.. They are just not even nearly as good as the paints that were available 20 years ago. The old paints had the heavy metals like lead, chromium etc. in them, preventing anything eating the paint, and were otherwise better too because of solvents used. Now there are not heavy metals and they are water based, no good.
I'm getting old. I'm talking about the good old days. :)
More like 5 usd for the cheap auger bit good enough to make the holes..
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