David WE Roberts wrote:
Out, in, out, in, then you hit the gin.........

Started on the fence replacement project and the old shortish concrete
posts which had wooden posts bolted to them are proving a bu**er to get
out.

They have a lot of concrete below ground and to get them out I need to
dig around a bit, then rock the post until it will tilt, and then
gradually drag the whole sorry thing out.
The posts with the concrete added weigh a significant amount and I am
ending up dragging them along the ground (more of them later).

This leaves an ugly hole about a foot deep and very wide.
What I want in the same location is an 8" wide hole 18" deep, to take
the new post and the concrete around it.

At the moment all I can see to do is fill the hole in, with much tamping
down, then dig the 8" hole in the middle of the newly filled in larger
shallower hole.

Does anyone have a better way to do this?

[I thought of shuttering some of the hole and using a little extra post
fix (at under £4 a bag this is not an expensive option compared to using
half a day filling in and digging out) but I am not sure that the last
bit of the narrower hole (perhaps 6") will be enough to hold the new
post upright until everything has set, when I can remove the shuttering
and back fill the hole.]



Why not use the old posts?
Well, they are not very straight.
In fact some are leaning over at quite an angle.
Given the amount of concrete around the base of the one I have taken out
it makes me wonder how robust the new posts will be.
The old post (once I had removed a few inches of soil around it) rocked
about alarmingly easily.
Also note that some of the old posts are leaning over already.

I am starting to wonder if I should hire an engine hoist to lift the old
posts out - with a strong lift they should come out like a rotten tooth.
This would also reduce the size of the hole from the extraction.

Any advice gratefully received.


Mini digger. Dig around them , use th bucket to push a bit and work
loose, then a strap around and use the bucket to hoick out and the
digger can then drag.

I pulled out tree stumps all over an acre of land using a digger. Mind
you stumps are shallow and broad - the key was to dig around and snap
all the lateral roots. The odd one needed an axe on it.

And a digger makes light work of re-modelling teh landscape too. You can
redistribute soil, and use the front blade to more or less level it.

No garden should be without one. Also good for making new flowerbeds.
And destroying moles habitats




Cheers

Dave R