DIY Home Improvement Forum banner

Clearing rotted wood from posthole

1K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  WestofLongBeach 
#1 ·
I have taken down a fence with only two posts, which were set in concrete originally. I now find that there is a quantity of rotted, termite-damaged wood in one. Other one is OK.

I have struggled for half a day trying to clear out the wood. As long as it's there, I can't sink a new post deep enough to be safe or advisable.

I have tried auger bits of a couple sizes (mounting the square auger in my electric drill chuck is less than satisfactory, you may believe, but doable) but success is limited. I now have a central pyramid of relatively strong wood about four inches tall by two inches or less wide, which I am trying to conquer. The top of the remaining wood is about six inches down, in a 3 1/2" square hole, so access is getting worse, not better.

Any ideas as to how to do this, please? I'm thinking of a long hand drill shaft with a small circular-saw-type bit, mounted on the end of the shaft to cut it sideways, but have never seen such an animal.

Thanks.
 
#2 ·
I've used a post hole digger to grab the part in the hole. If it is stuck( no wiggle) use the post hole digger to excavate around the sides of the post.
If that doesn't loosen it up I pound(or drill a hole if it's solid) a rebar into the middle of the post and use that for leverage to get the post loose enough to grab with the post hole digger.
 
#3 ·
I have used a long fat lag bolt, a short chain and a t-post puller with success a time or two. A farm or bumper jack can replace the t-post pull but isn't quite as safe.

Picture of one if you have never seen one: harborfreight.com/t-post-lifter-38444.html
 
#6 ·
The lag bolt gets screwed into the top of the broken post after the lag bolt is place through a link of the chain.

If you have 3-4" of above grade post any bolt will work by drilling through the post.
 
#9 ·
Remaining, weakened but not all that weak, wood is about six inches below grade. I've run a long bladed power saw around all four sides.

Top of the formation is a sort of a spire-shape, not something I can drill into readily, as it doesn't present a surface.

I'm beginning to think your notions of this are helping me formulate something: I can probably get down to the bottom with some sort of hook-shape or L-shape and begin to apply upward pressure enough to move SOMETHING lol.
 
#7 ·
This all seems like an awful lot of research and effort to avoid 15 min with a shovel to get the concrete blob out of the way and properly set a new post. I doesn't sound like OP is trying to pluck this out of a finished slab, even if so cutting the concrete out of the way to excavate the hole, set a new post and then patch the slab is the only correct way to do it imo..
 
#8 · (Edited)
Kwikfish is probably right, thanks, but our neighbor has set a newer concrete block fence on top of most of the surround of the hole.

So I am left with a less than optimum situation with little experience. Cutting concrete? This city boy?

Except I know:

The existing hole works

Is undamaged

Is the correct size

Is placed exactly correctly

Is probably the correct depth because the other is correct (18" here)

And if I can get the darned wood out of the way, I'll be in hog heaven because the rest is stuff I've done before. Probably will end up using something like concrete to set the new posts in the old holes, whatever that may entail.
 
#10 ·
You must remove the existing concrete. New post is not likely to slip in and you will be shaving off from the new post and then after all that work, the post will be wobbly.
I forget the name for it, but there is a compound that mixed with water and poured into a hole, expands enough to break concrete. Also, if you dig away the dirt about 6" and hit the top with a sledge hammer, the concrete may break in half or so. Wear eye protection.
For fun, you can try gasoline to burn out the stump.:laughing:
 
#11 ·
LOL! When I was in basic training, a 2nd Lt. came to the company, new as the day he was born, and on maneuvers found himself with the task of getting some of us to clean the spilled gas off a trailer flatbed.

He took a page from your book :)laughing:) and told the guys to stand back while he applied his lighter to the task.

It WAS pretty. He's probably a general today.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top