Hardy Tropicals UK

i know this is an exotic plants forum but i'm having difficulty finding out how i can remove slotted concrete fence posts. i wondered if anybody on here has actually removed them before? i know they weigh a ton and require two people to lift them but is there a way of somehow getting them out i.e pulling them out or something? we have a 6ft panel fence with these posts and they are solid, wont budge except one of them got cracked quite badly when my mum had our big trees cut down in the garden, a thick piece of trunk fell and bashed the top of the post which has resulted most of the top crumbling off revealing 4 metal rods and a huge split all the way down the post.

we'll have to replace this post but how on earth can we get the cracked one out safely and quickly?

They have what I call a 'concrete rootball' so if you've seen Kris' Dicksonia antarctica removal farce on video you'll know that a bit of digging round the foot of the posts will make life much easier.

After that just push, or pull, them over and turn through 90 degrees on the floor (like a clock hand going from 12 to 3, not rolling the post) and they'll be completely out.

If you have a large tree nearby you could hire a little winch to make life easier.

Shame I don't live closer cos I'd soon whip it out for you! ( the post that is )

Being a fencer for a living I break these out on a regular basis but I do have the tools for the job. A metal breaking bar can do the job but depending on how much concrete was used to put them in you may need to hire a concrete breaker from a local hire centre.
I dig down one side of the concrete and then use a breaker bar close to the post to break the concrete down the side of the post. The dug out area gives the concrete somewhere to move as it's broken.
It does depend on what the ground is like (stony, sandy, clay etc) as to how I go about it so it's a bit difficult to advise without being there.

Goggles right too if it's possible but I've been to jobs where the "concrete rootball" is way too large to lift once you have got it out of the hole. Sometimes there is hardly any concrete, it's a case of every job is different depending on who has done the work!

GoggleboxUK wrote:They have what I call a 'concrete rootball' so if you've seen Kris' Dicksonia antarctica removal farce on video you'll know that a bit of digging round the foot of the posts will make life much easier.

After that just push, or pull, them over and turn through 90 degrees on the floor (like a clock hand going from 12 to 3, not rolling the post) and they'll be completely out.

If you have a large tree nearby you could hire a little winch to make life easier.

Yes it was a farce but the digging got things moving very quickly

Yorkshire Kris wrote:

GoggleboxUK wrote:They have what I call a 'concrete rootball' so if you've seen Kris' Dicksonia antarctica removal farce on video you'll know that a bit of digging round the foot of the posts will make life much easier.

After that just push, or pull, them over and turn through 90 degrees on the floor (like a clock hand going from 12 to 3, not rolling the post) and they'll be completely out.

If you have a large tree nearby you could hire a little winch to make life easier.

Yes it was a farce but the digging got things moving very quickly

No offence intended Kris, I meant farce in a Benny Hill kind of way rather than being critical.

Yorkshire Kris wrote:

GoggleboxUK wrote:They have what I call a 'concrete rootball' so if you've seen Kris' Dicksonia antarctica removal farce on video you'll know that a bit of digging round the foot of the posts will make life much easier.

After that just push, or pull, them over and turn through 90 degrees on the floor (like a clock hand going from 12 to 3, not rolling the post) and they'll be completely out.

If you have a large tree nearby you could hire a little winch to make life easier.

Yes it was a farce but the digging got things moving very quickly

REALLY!! Moving quickly?!!! I must have watched a different video!

Honestly no offence taken

It was meant to be funny in the end!

good luck ........I cut them off to just below ground level and left them in mine......unless you can get a mini digger in.

If it's only damaged at the top you might want to consider keeping it, if it still works.

If not then dig around the base, your spade will soon tell you where the concrete stops. You'll need to dig a massive crater of earth out, bigger than the volume of concrete used to set the post. and you'll need to go at least 2 feet down.

Once you've excavated a crater of soil then the concrete post can be rocked loose, but it will be heavy and you might need to smash it to pieces in order to make it light enough to lift out.

This tool is excellent for digging holes:

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Hand+To ... 669/p89523

You could also consider repairing it.

Find a local manufacturer and ask them to make you a piece from the mould. It's a simple job for them to pack out the parts that aren't needed to be cast. Once you've got that replacement piece just Stihl Saw the top off your old post and make a cardboard template with a hole in to line up drill holes in the top of the existing piece and the underside of the new pice. Add a short mrtal bar and put the pices together before rendering the join.

If the post already has metal bars running through it as strengtheners then leave it in and cut the old post around it to a lower point.

Sod that, I've dug out by hand too many to suggest using a spade. Springys right, if you've got the tools its easier. Seeing its just to replace it I'd rather repair like gogg said. The re-bar in the post will help with the profile, just mix up coarse sand and cement and copy the other posts. Loads of info on google if you've never picked up a trowel before
Of course this is just my suggestion, cos I hate, loathe and detest digging

We use a long handled tool called a post hole graft. It's like a thin scaffold pole with a small spade shaped end. The other tool is a post hole digger. We call them "spoons" as it looks like two spoons placed face to face. This tool is used to remove the soil that has been loosened by the graft.
I'd never dig a post hole or a large planting hole just using a normal spade, that is hard work!! Using the tools described above makes digging a post hole easy! ( unless you've got bedrock to go through)!

Springy wrote:We use a long handled tool called a post hole graft. It's like a thin scaffold pole with a small spade shaped end. The other tool is a post hole digger. We call them "spoons" as it looks like two spoons placed face to face. This tool is used to remove the soil that has been loosened by the graft.
I'd never dig a post hole or a large planting hole just using a normal spade, that is hard work!! Using the tools described above makes digging a post hole easy! ( unless you've got bedrock to go through)!

or a bad back

Depending on available equipment I would pull the old post out vertically. Either hydraulic lifting arms on the back of a tractor, or a JCB back-hoe bucket - and a good chain. Either of those shouldn't need much loosening beforehand, but any that you can do will help, and reduce the collateral damage when the post parts-company with the ground.

But that assumes that you have something that can "pull" and you can get it near the job.