[miamicuse]

I have a section of fence that leans into my property. The 4x4 post is loose.

Now this is not my fence, it's my neighbor's. However he is away diving for ship wreck in Indonesia for the last 4 months and so I am going to try to fix the pole.

In poking around the surrounding dirt, it does not appear to be embedded in concrete, although some of the other posts are.

The pole is leaning onto my side. If you look at the picture below, the green line indicates how much it was leaning.

So for now I pushed it back then put a brace on it against the ground, and drove a few 1x2 wedges into the ground.

However I need a more permanent solution.

Should I:

(1) Buy one of those $10 Simpson fence mender? It's a metal thing you pound into the ground then nail/screw into the post. That is probably the least effort but I don't know if that would work or how it would look.

(2) With it braced, excavate around the existing post to say 12-16" deep all around, then put in some concrete and let it set.

(3) Leave the post alone, excavate a hole next to it and put in a new post set in concrete, once the new post is set, attach the leaning post to the new post.

Which way is the best?

 

[joed]

If the post is not broken then it was set too shallow.
The proper fix is to remove it and set a new one at the proper depth. Anything else is temporary in my mind.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Just tear down and dispose of the fence, then convince him that he never had a fence when he comes home.

Just kidding!

Trim the heck out of that shrub that is pushing the fence into your property. Rake up and dispose of the leaves. Leave no evidence. In most jurisdictions you can legally trim if the shrub goes into your yard. It would be a shame if some Roundup got spilled accidentally on that shrub, just saying.

I'd then get a steel fence post like one of these:

Drive it into the ground as far as you can, pushing against the post and leaning into the other yard a bit. Put a short screw through it into the post near the top. That should hold it nice and straight.

 

[miamicuse]

OK so I did some additional digging.

and about 5"-6" down, I found concrete. The section of the post above the concrete is rotted. I don't know why they embedd the post in concrete so low, then put 6" of soil on top of that. You can see the line where ground was.

I cannot drive anything into the concrete to reinforce it with it rotted like this. So what I did I bought a new 8' PT post, and dug a new hole next to the rotted pole, as close as I can get to it without hitting the bug chunk of concrete below.

I then compacted the bottom, poured in about 4" of crushed stones, set the new pole in, and braced it to the old fence for now.

I am going to widen the hole a bit tomorrow, then pour in new concrete.

The question now is what do I do with the old post? I can't remove it since it's attached to the two fence panels. Should I just attach it to the new post, then cut off the rotted bottom and let it hang in the air? Or should I leave the bottom in, and when I pour concrete, pour some in it too and fill it to the ground level?

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,.... Tie 'em together, with blockin' 'n screws 'n leave the old post alone,....

Even rotted, it's holdin' the ends together,...

 

[IslandGuy]

Here's a better idea- it's not your fence. Tell the owner to fix it.