How To Remove Fence Posts Set In Concrete

Removing an old contend post can exist a pain in the ass – especially if the post has rotted and fallen off. That'south considering contend posts are ready in a physical footing that is unremarkably at least two feet deep in the footing.

You could dig information technology out, only that takes as well long. Have you ever dug a ii pes deep hole earlier? If yous have hard-packed or rocky soil, even excavation down half dozen″ challenges most people.

Only, luckily for you, you aren't the starting time person to come across such a claiming.

Maybe you lot are looking to replace the fence post with a new ane (most common). If then, then consider using this method to simply repair the broken post. It will salve you a lot of time and effort.

Or, perhaps y'all are merely looking to get rid of a fence all together. Either fashion, the process to remove that old post and physical footing is exactly the aforementioned – and in this post, I'll bear witness yous exactly how to practice it the like shooting fish in a barrel way.

The following method is my favorite because it:

requires very little digging
doesn't crave super expensive tools
works everywhere, and in any blazon of soil.

Tools for Removing Debate Post Footings

Fence post removal tools

Shovel
48″ Loftier-Lift Jack (This is amend than any fence postal service jack you'll find)
Steel Concatenation (three′-vi′ in length) (Become at local hardware store)
Skid claw (for the chain) (Get at local hardware store)
Grab claw (also for the chain) (Get at local hardware shop)
Steel digging bar (only needed if you take hard packed or rocky soil)

Pace #1 – Dig effectually the post until six inches of the concrete footing is exposed

Start out by digging a whole most two to three anxiety in diameter around the post. Often, you'll find the wider the pigsty you make the easier the rest of the process will be – even the digging will be easier.

Getting the soil wet first tin brand this much easier.

You don't need to dig downwards far, just plenty so you tin can wrap a chain around the concrete basis. Usually that's about 6″ deep.

Step #ii – Wrap a concatenation around the concrete footing of the fence post

At present, take your steel chain and wrap it effectually the concrete, using the slip hook to connect the concatenation. You'll also want to pull the chain so information technology sits snug around the concrete.

You should at present have a "tail" on the end of the chain of about 12 inches in length with the grab hook on the terminate of it. If non, you lot either need a longer chain, or you need to adjust the length of the one you take past moving the skid hook to some other link.

Step #three – Connect the chain to the Loftier-Elevator Jack

At present, wrap the tail of the chain around the olfactory organ of the high elevator jack. Then, use the grab claw to latch the concatenation to itself and lock it around the high-lift jack.

Y'all'll want to push the concatenation as close to the base of the jack equally possible and then it doesn't pull the jack frontward or slip off once you start jacking it up.

Step #4 – Crank the lever on the high-lift jack to elevator the physical out of the ground

Fence post jack

Use ane hand to keep the jack upright and stable, and the other hand to operate the lever. Equally you start to put tension on the concatenation, you lot'll notice the jack wanting to lean forward toward the post. That's ok, but you lot'll want to try and limit this as much as possible. If it leans too far forward, you might demand to reset it, adapt your jack a bit, and try again – potentially from a different angle.

In most cases the post will pop right out. If you're in very hard or rocky soil, then consider using a hose to go the soil wet. This will let the mail service to exist extracted quite a bit easier.

Another do good of this method is that y'all will have a nice sized pre-dug whole when you are set to pour concrete for the new fence mail.

And that's information technology!

I've personally used this method to remove at least 30 different contend posts in my area where nosotros have extremely rocky and hard packed soil. It's ever prissy to know I have a fail proof method that works with footling digging and basic tools.

If yous enjoyed this, you lot may also like the post-obit tutorials.

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