On 03/11/2014 17:53, MM wrote:
On Sat, 01 Nov 2014 10:50:49 +0000, stuart noble
wrote:



I had my fence replaced professionally.

The technique they used (with concrete posts, but same with wood) was:

Dig hole, as tight as possible with a post shovel (long and thin).

Drop post in and position.

Fill with *damp* (not wet) concrete mix. It should be only just damp.

Ram damp mix down whilst holding post vertical and in place.

When you've rammed it the post will stand by itself, which it will not
do if the concrete is wet.

+1 to all that.
Also worth mentioning the approach of using a very weak cement/gravel
mix. Strong enough to keep the post upright but weak enough to break up
when it needs replacing

My post shovel arrived today already, so I can go back to the
post-fixing job tomorrow.

Re your comment about "very weak cement/gravel
mix", is the ready-mixed post-fix cement mixture in bags sold at DIY
outlets suitable?

Or should I just buy some plain cement and some gravel? What
proportion should the mix of these be, do you reckon?

MM


Yes, buy the cement and (fine) gravel separately. I've never used it for
posts, but it was on this group I first saw it mentioned. My guess would
be around 8 gravel: 1 cement by volume. A quick Google suggests just pea
gravel alone could work if rammed down sufficiently. Any farmers out there?