I finally got that old cedar fence in Boulder to stand straight

The client wanted to keep the original posts, but the ground had shifted so much over 20 years that every single one was leaning a different way. We spent three full days just digging, bracing, and packing concrete to get them plumb again, which was way longer than the one day we thought it would take. Anyone else run into a job where saving the old posts ended up being the hardest part?

4 comments

4 Comments

wendyd261mo ago

Sometimes it's smarter to just start fresh with new posts.

wendym821mo ago

We used a hydraulic jack and gravel to straighten six posts last summer.

kevinw9413d ago

Yeah, that "brutal amount of work" line really hits home. I mean, wrestling with old posts is just a special kind of frustrating. @wendym82, I feel you on the jack and gravel method, but man, even that sounds like a long day. Sometimes the wood fights you every step of the way.

garcia.riley1mo ago

Three days just to save the old posts is wild. Honestly, after the first day of that I would have been ready to give up. I get wanting to keep the original look, but that sounds like a brutal amount of work for something you can't even see once the fence is up. Tbh, I'm with @wendyd26 on this one. Sometimes the old wood is just too far gone and fighting with it costs more in labor than new materials ever would.