Fence post in problem ground

[Cal]

When I were a lad, so ancient history, we laid a fence. Dad being Dad made us dig yard for yard, so a 6ft post was 12ft long, went down 6ft and stood 6ft clear. My mate Pete's Dad was a 2/3 down 1/3 clear chap.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\it were all fields then\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

 

[Mark 5]

Problem with post create is people assume 1 post=1bag which isn't always appropriate!

The trick is to have enough mass...just like the way a skyscraper is built!

I agree, 1 bag is not enough.

That was my first thought. I've recently re done some fences and I was using 2.5 bags of post Crete minimum for the 8' posts and even the 6' posts were getting 2 bags each.

Same here 2.5 to 3 bags per post.

Couple of years ago I replaced 47 9ft posts around my property and still got another 25-30 to do.

Got a good deal on posts and krete online but was short of 2 posts, shot down to my local TP merchants to get them, those two are already eroding, rebar showing, don't know whether to replace or get creative with cement and cover.

The rest of the posts required, I'm going to make myself.

 

[m_c]

See this all the time when bags of ready mixed postcrete has been used, the posts start rocking in the wind and turn it back into powder...cant beat real mixed concrete for posts...rough sand,cement and 12mm stone.

Postcrete is fine as long as there is enough moisture in the ground to cure it quickly.
Any used this year that hasn't had enough water added is likely to fail as you mention, due to lack of moisture to cure it.

The bigger issue is fencers who don't know what they're doing. Post holes should be wider at the bottom than the top, not parallel or tapered the other way. That way as the soil settles around the hole, it helps anchor the post, and any movement won't cause the post to start working it's way up and out the hole.

(My brother does quite a bit of railway fencing work, and often gets high profile jobs where they want the job done right and not just thrown up as quickly/cheaply as possible)

 

[brightspark]

i just put one bag of postcrete in each to set them then fill them up with a proper mix of concrete if its deep enough just widen the hole and fill then it cant rock round

 

[Mark 5]

i just put one bag of postcrete in each to set them then fill them up with a proper mix of concrete if its deep enough just widen the hole and fill then it cant rock round

That's as good, might do that for the rest of mine.

 

[Migmac]

When I were a lad, so ancient history, we laid a fence. Dad being Dad made us dig yard for yard, so a 6ft post was 12ft long, went down 6ft and stood 6ft clear. My mate Pete's Dad was a 2/3 down 1/3 clear chap.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\it were all fields then\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

That’s what we do for strainers

 

[Onthespotwelding]

My fence posts never budge.

1.6 meters deep. 3 cube of concrete just in that hole.

 

[Agrismith]

See this all the time when bags of ready mixed postcrete has been used, the posts start rocking in the wind and turn it back into powder...cant beat real mixed concrete for posts...rough sand,cement and 12mm stone.

A lot of the problem with post mix is how it's mixed. If you mix it with water in the hole you will never get it 100% mixed. Mix it with water in a barrow and it will be considerably better.
Mix cement sand and shingle dry and dump it in the hole dry and you will get exactly the same scenario.

 

[Cal]

That’s what we do for strainers

Dad?

 

[Migmac]

Dad?

Possibly