DIY Fence Repair

I recently repaired a fence for a customer that was six feet high and leaning. After looking it over, it was easy to see what was going on: the 4×4 posts that were holding the fence had rotted out where the post met the ground.

So what to do? The key question is: does the 4×4 post have concrete around it underground or is it just the post? If there is no concrete around the 4×4 post in the ground you can buy brackets to pound into the ground and secure to the 4×4 above ground. You could also replace the 4×4 post with a new one. If you live in a place that gets as cold as Wisconsin, then to get below the frost line you need to dig down at least four feet before setting posts. Please remember too, whenever digging down that deep it is a good idea to call the Diggers Hotline to locate anything that might be in the ground.

For the project that I was working on, there was concrete around the 4×4 post so I would not be able to use traditional brackets and would need to either replace the entire post or utilize a specialized bracket. In this case, I was looking for something fast that would be able to support the heavy load of the fence. Specifically, I needed a heavy duty L bracket system that sticks out past the concrete and gets anchored with new concrete.

The first step was to dig a new hole in line with the three posts that had rotted. I had to dig down about two feet with a shovel and post hole digger.

Next I mixed up concrete and with brackets in place, poured it into each hole until it was just above ground level. I made sure the L brackets were level both horizontally and vertically.

After letting the concrete harden for twenty-four hours I was able to attach the L brackets to the fence post. With the provided screws, I screwed the L brackets to the 4×4 post.

Tip: If you don’t have a powerful enough drill for screwing in the screws. You could use a socket set instead.

The end result was a nice level fence that will last for many more years!

So now you know some of what is involved in doing fence repairs. If you need help with this or larger fence repairs, contact me!

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