Corner Posts

5live

A quick question for you.

I am getting a rock breaker later in the week, hopefully, to dig out a few holes for corner posts. Should i put these in concrete or would it be possible to fill the hole with earth and then drive the corner post? Would the posts stay straight with just earth around it? I was just going to dig a 3' deep hole and about 2' in diameter for earth or 1' diameter if i am putting in concrete.

Thanks in advance:)

Username John

5live wrote: »

A quick question for you.

I am getting a rock breaker later in the week, hopefully, to dig out a few holes for corner posts. Should i put these in concrete or would it be possible to fill the hole with earth and then drive the corner post? Would the posts stay straight with just earth around it? I was just going to dig a 3' deep hole and about 2' in diameter for earth or 1' diameter if i am putting in concrete.

Thanks in advance:)

If it was me - I would dig the hole, put in the post, and then pack in stoney / gravely stuff back in around it. Make sure to pack it down well every few inches of stuff you add.
If you fill the hole, then put in the post - I think the post would move too much when the strain comes on it. IMO

Wouldnt use concrete, posts dont seem to to last as long in concrete, plus (and this is really the main reason) cos I am tight - and concrete costs money, whereas a few stones are free

pakalasa

Packed gravel also works well for timber posts. It allows the water to drain away.
You will have a great straining concrete post set in concrete. As said already, concrete doesnt work well with timber posts.
It all depends on how permanent the posts will be.
The best job of all are concrete posts, with concrete stays, all set into the one concrete foundation. You could strain anything off it. I've done this for the corner posts on a site for a house.

Rovi

Are these corner posts for 'ordinary' farm livestock fencing, or something more elaborate? Or are they going into really stony ground?

I ask because I've never heard of someone using a rockbreaker to go fencing :eek:

Perhaps I've been pampered with my lovely soft mineral (boggy!) soil, but we've always been able to drive 7 and 8 foot strainer posts with a tractor mounted stake driver, and we never have problems with them moving or pulling up.

We have plenty of tanalised (??? the green pressure treated stuff) stakes and strainers about the place here, and they're still in perfect working order at 20+ years.

5live

Rovi wrote: »

Are these corner posts for 'ordinary' farm livestock fencing, or something more elaborate? Or are they going into really stony ground?

I ask because I've never heard of someone using a rockbreaker to go fencing :eek:

Perhaps I've been pampered with my lovely soft mineral (boggy!) soil, but we've always been able to drive 7 and 8 foot strainer posts with a tractor mounted stake driver, and we never have problems with them moving or pulling up.

We have plenty of tanalised (??? the green pressure treated stuff) stakes and strainers about the place here, and they're still in perfect working order at 20+ years.

We have rock, solid 50N limestone, within 6 inches of the grass on most of the farm. I often have to move 10 feet from where i want to put a strainer just to get enough depth. And i have SFP maps that look like i was being artistic with pigtail posts across one or two fields:D.

So just ordinary 7' corner posts.

Interesting what you said about concrete, Username John. I might use the rock from the hole to shore up the post and failing that, the gravel.

I will give the concrete posts a miss, i'd say, Pakalasa. 65 euro a piece, the last time i checked, and i already have the corner posts.

Thanks all . Plenty of food for thought there:)

Username John

5live wrote: »

We have rock, solid 50N limestone, within 6 inches of the grass on most of the farm. I often have to move 10 feet from where i want to put a strainer just to get enough depth. And i have SFP maps that look like i was being artistic with pigtail posts across one or two fields:D.

So just ordinary 7' corner posts.

Interesting what you said about concrete, Username John. I might use the rock from the hole to shore up the post and failing that, the gravel.

I will give the concrete posts a miss, i'd say, Pakalasa. 65 euro a piece, the last time i checked, and i already have the corner posts.

Thanks all . Plenty of food for thought there:)

I wouldnt bother getting gravel. (Jesus, am coming across right 'mane' today)
If you have a rock breaker, you will have plenty of small bits of stones - put them in, and throw in a bit of earth to fill the gaps, pack it down. I usually pack it down with the top of a 3-4 inch stake, or the handle of the pick-axe.
I have found that its better to pack it more and often, as pulling sheep wire on it, when its not packed in much, will move the post a bit. Which is especially sickening, if its a post that it used to close a gate, which then means the gate doesnt stay closed!

Rovi

Any way of using the rockbreaker to pack the ballast back in around the post?
Some sort of flat ended tool on the rockbreaker would do a mighty job of that, I'd be thinking.

blue5000

Hey 5live thought you were in Kerry not the burren?

One of the fencing contractors I get has a crowbar about 4' long and 3 or 4 inches diameter, he drives it down through the rock(s) first with the post driver. Not sure if it would work in your situation.

What you could use is old tractor tyres, fill them with concrete and set a bar/box iron/old concrete half slat or whatever you have in the concrete wheel.

caseman

5live wrote: »

A quick question for you.

I am getting a rock breaker later in the week, hopefully, to dig out a few holes for corner posts. Should i put these in concrete or would it be possible to fill the hole with earth and then drive the corner post? Would the posts stay straight with just earth around it? I was just going to dig a 3' deep hole and about 2' in diameter for earth or 1' diameter if i am putting in concrete.

Thanks in advance:)

An our rocky ground we drive 2 inch soild steel bar 8 foot lenghts.
It normanly goes in at different angles but you can plumed the 4 foot left above the ground with the digger.
Also weld bits where you think the wire will be to stop it slipping an the bar.

5live

blue5000 wrote: »

Hey 5live thought you were in Kerry not the burren?

One of the fencing contractors I get has a crowbar about 4' long and 3 or 4 inches diameter, he drives it down through the rock(s) first with the post driver. Not sure if it would work in your situation.

What you could use is old tractor tyres, fill them with concrete and set a bar/box iron/old concrete half slat or whatever you have in the concrete wheel.

Thanks Blue. I have a collection of concrete-filled super singles around the yard that need to be disposed of because the posts broke just at the top of the concrete but they are handy for jobs like waiting to do the wire properly.

I dont use any metal for end posts because they always seemed to short out. And one particular tractor driver with the silage outfit i get seems to make it his lifes work to knock as many corner posts as possible so i would prefer wood as his tractor will be out of action for less time than if he wrapped the tractor around a metal bar

5live

Thanks all. Much appreciated:)

I think i will try Username john and rovis suggestion of packing around the post with the rockbreaker. I guess Username john isnt the only 'mane' farmer out there:D

Belongamick

Hi 5Live,

Based on my experiences:
- Dry ground : Concrete strainer. Why? Lasts (forever) and maybe expensive to do but with the amount of rain we seem to be getting the timber stainers do not seem to be up to the task. I put all timber stainers down about 6 years ago and as each break I am replacing with concrete. Replacement rate is 66% to date. Timber stainers are not cheap either.
- Peaty/bog/wet ground : currently going with the wooden strainer since it would be difficult to 'bed in' a concrete strainer. Seriously considering replaceing these with a water filled IBC. Trying to convince myself that this is not a crazy idea. I expect an IBC filled with up to 1100l of water will take one hell of a strain!

Best of luck with it,
Mick.

Charlie Charolais

Could you fit base plates to your posts & drill anchors into the rock?

CC

5live

Well, finally got the rockbreaker in and dug 15 holes and put in the corner posts. i went cheap and packed in the broken rocks and earth around the posts. I used 7 foot posts and put 3 and a half foot under ground so enough over to put on some sheep wire if i need it in future.

The infill was packed in with the bucket and a bar with a flat piece of iron welded onto it that i was using while the driver was digging other holes.

Very happy with the job and thanks for all the suggestions:)

Muckit

Sounds like a great job 5live. Permanent electric fencing myself this weather. Used a combo of concrete posts and long timber strainers.

Didn't quite need a rockbreaker, but the digger had it all on in certain spots to dig out holes. He used a shoring bucket to just take out what was needed. Few inches of soil, then hard grey daub and huge f**K off rocks, not a rock pan as such to break.

As you did, the posts were back filled with the rocks and daub that came out of the holes. When we were building slatted shed some years ago, we used the daub that came out for the tanks as a base under the silage slab, saved alot on buying in fill.

Muckit

Managed to take a few pics today. Concrete strainers used on part of farm that floods in winter. I know a few of ye were talking about pouring concrete, but I don't have a mixer and wouldn't have the patience to wait for it to set!! So I used two 6" blocks as footings in the direction of the strain. Placed the block on edge for this one, but others were two blocks stacked on the flat Worked a treat on a 300+ metre strain.



Just to give you an idea of the 'daub' I talked about... :rolleyes:


Most other strainers 6' (3' over, 3' under) No footings necessary