Concrete post depth advice

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chris29

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Hi all,

I'm looking to replace my rotten timber fence with concrete posts/gravel boards + some close board/feather edge panels.

I'm looking to put in a 6' total height fence, and I've found this site which has 7'9" posts, https://www.garden-fence-panels.co....-length-7ft-9-for-overall-fence-height-6-foot

Their site is suggesting 1' 9" is enough of a depth to set the posts in. Other places I've read around online seem to suggest 2' for a 6' height fence is better. I won't be able to get 2' depth for all posts due to some drains running beneath the areas I'll be digging, but I wanted to get some thoughts from more experienced people. I've put plenty of timber fence posts up in the past, but I'm slightly concerned about concrete + the weight of them as I've not installed any before. it's a 23m length - and some parts of it are fairly exposed - around feb we do get some fairly strong gusts of wind where I live.

Similarly, this site sells some post mix (which seems to be for metal/timber posts, rather than concrete) - are the various postcrete / post fix bags good enough for concrete posts? I was thinking of using 2 bags per post, ideally.

Thanks for any thoughts/advice in advance!
 
Did ours recently with similar dimensions. All OK, would recommend using Postcrete though it makes the job so much easier
 
I used 9' post on our fence, neighbours fences fell down in high winds. They all asked me why mind didn't, I told them that was because I fitted it.

Andy
 
If you are digging out the old concrete from the wooden posts then you may end up with a bigger hole than you think and so perhaps need more than two bags of postcrete per post. See what others think
 
You need to dig your holes and assess the ground before you decide.
 
Thanks all

I will only have to dig one post foundation out, the rest are on different centres (thankfully). The ground is easily accessible apart from 2 (one near drain services, so I think I'll only be able to get about a foot and a half - I plan to increase the diameter of the hole I dig and pour in plenty of concrete/postcrete for this post.


am I right in thinking that 2' would be the recommended approach rather than 1' 9" that the above website recommends then? :)
 
Ordinary concrete is cheaper and stronger (though not so fast to set).

If you are using concrete gravel boards, you can sink them into the ground a little, and the concrete at the post, and they can add rigidity and wind resistance. The 12" boards are better for this (though I find them very heavy)

You will need to provide separate hedgehog highways.
 
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