Hello guys I'm James. Welcome to my channel mountain fencing home and gardens.
It's another glorious day in the uk today, but in this video i'm going to show you
how to correctly install a concrete fence post. I've also made another video on
how to correctly install a wooden fence post, which is slightly different method.
I'll put a link just up here somewhere that you can go and have a look at and that will
tell you how to correctly install wooden fence posts, that'll last and will prevent rot.
So today we're installing concrete fence posts, with pre-fabricated panels and
a six inch concrete gravel board. Now this is a really strong type of fencing and
one of the easiest fencing styles to install, especially if you're doing it by yourself.
Okay so the first key thing when installing a concrete fence post is making sure you're
digging the fence post hole in the correct place. Now we've got our string line in
which is gonna make sure that all our posts are perfectly in line and then what you need to do
is measure the distance for the next post along, from your starting point, or first post that you've
put in. Now the panels are 183 centimeters wide but you need to count the thickness of the post
as well so, each hole that you're going to be digging is on a 186 centimeter centers.
Before you start digging any holes though it's important to be sure that there aren't
any electrical cables or pipes in the vicinity but if you are going to be digging lots of holes
it's going to be beneficial for you to get a few simple digging tools, like this graft which is
great for breaking up soil, or a post hole digger which is great for digging deep narrow holes.
Also a digging bar which is great for breaking up the soil and also getting through roots
which is what i have to get through at the moment because i'm right next to this tree.
These are all fiberglass handle tools so if you do hit an electrical cable it's not going to
electrocute you so they're very safe. I'll leave a link in the description box below for you to go to
if you want to have a look at them yourself. When digging a hole you want to be digging the hole
wider at the bottom than you do at the top so, when you fill it up with concrete it's going to have
most of the concrete weight right at the bottom, which is going to anchor the post into place. Work
from the outside in as you can see i'm doing here as this will prevent you from digging the hole
wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. So, whatever height fence you're installing whether
that be a six foot high fence or four foot high fence, depending on ground conditions you should
always have the hole at least 30 centimeters wide and at least two foot deep. What you're
aiming for when you're digging the width of the hole is to have at least two inches of concrete
around the perimeter of the post, which is going to prevent cracking the concrete. Offer the fence post
up to the line leaving around a millimeter from the line and then level on both axis.
By now you should already have the previous panel and gravel board into place so you can
just prop the fence post up against this, but if not just prop the fence post up with bars
or pieces of timber to just hold it in position for the time being.
Once you've got the post perfectly level we're ready to concrete it
in. Fill the hole a third with water, we're going to be using post mix which is a ready mix
fast setting concrete. One and a half bags, to two bags per post.
You want to try and evenly distribute the concrete around all sides and then you want
to just top up with a little bit more water at the end, so you haven't got any dry powder showing
and then it's a good idea to just mix everything up with
a bar. That'll just ensure that all the water has gotten to the bottom of the
post hole and you're not going to be left with any dry powder
in the concrete. Once you've put your postmix in the hole it's good practice to just check
the levels again on the post, make sure it's still level, which it is and then you just want to leave
that leave the props in place for around 10-15 minutes, just until the mix goes off enough and
then you can take those away. So, once the concrete is all completely set you can then backfill with
the with the soil that's left over that you've dug out the hole and this step is almost as important
as the concrete itself. Ideally you'd have the post hole completely full of concrete, depending on the
width for the hole that you've dug and everything but if you haven't filled it right up to the top,
or if you've got a grass that you want to grow around the bottom of the post, you need to backfill
with soil and it you really need to make sure that this is compacted in around the bottom of the post
and that will just give it a lot more support than if you didn't.
Just heal it in with your foot
and then you can also use something just to really get it compact around the outside of that post.
Thank you guys for watching, if this video has helped you at all please give it a like
and subscribe on the link below and i'll see you next time.