New fence on the way

[rosstified]

So thanks to Melbourne winds, a project I was deferring has taken the top spot...replacing the front fence. I got some quotes which were outlandish, so did the maths on materials (and buying a nail gun) and with a couple friends - doing it for about 1/3 the price.

Any hints / tips (aside be prepared for a lot of digging and a sore back!)? Planning on levering the old posts out by screwing on some temporary blocks and put some wood sleepera in the middle, and me on the other end, imagine a see-saw with a bloke at one end, the fence post at the other.

Only concern is hopefully the old posts are not too rotten. At least one has snapped off in the ground when the fence fell down - anyone have and ideas to get that out?

I'll post update pictures as we go!

[Jason]

Good luck with the project @rosstified. I'm looking forward to seeing some photos. 

Jason

[Kermit]

How much of the snapped off post remains @rosstified? 

Could you screw a long eye-bolt into it and yank or winch it out? Or if its in bad shape, could you drill some holes down the middle and split it, just removing the pieces?

[rosstified]

Well this is the end of day one of the fence work, got 1/2 the posts out and shoveled 2 cubic metres of soil out of the veggie garden to dismantle it and get to the fence properly, 3 posts to go, hopefully one a night after work. Thanks @Kermit -they were fully rotted out and snapped off, dug enough to get a rope around the cement footings then use a garden sleeper (+2 people) to lever it out of the ground with a lot of effort..had to loosen the soil a lot as the clay soil was effectively creating suction preventing the concrete coming up.

The before...

Post one...the easy one since the post was attached still, can see one of the concrete bases without a post as well to the left.

Temporary fence up, and holes covered over. It's stronger than the old fence was!

Getting the wood delivered from the wood yard this week, hopefully all done by end next weekend. Plus I get to buy a nail gun

[Yonnee]

Looking good.

It's always a bonus when you factor in a new tool for a job and it still works out cheaper than paying someone else.  

[rosstified]

Well here are some updates. Old posts out, new posts are in. Had to hire a jackhammer to get a couple of them out, they were under the driveway, and didn't want to damage the drive trying to they them out.

Started putting the rails in, cutting the notches was time consuming, getting faster with it though. Hoping to knock off a few rails each night this week, and pickets on the weekend.

Also an excuse to get some nice new grass - as you can see, the yard quickly became a war zone! So thats another job to add to the list...