Garden Fences - Anyone know rough costs?

[Pabs]

Hey all,

Has anyone had a company do some work on their garden fences recently?

Basically the end of our garden has now got no fence at all due to the bad weather recently, and our fences are in a pretty cr*ppy state in general.

I want concrete posts (I think it's about 7 posts, and 1 corner post) and new panels (I think it's 8 panels and a 1/2 panel).

Now I've done a bit of searching and it seems that the posts can be purchased for about £20-30 each, and panels about the same, but my question is really to do with the labour costs.

I could probably do it myself, but didn't really know if it was worth the hassle... lol

So anyone had anything similar done recently, and got approx costs involved?

Thanks

[brettjones]

i am a fencer do not use con post they will brake at ground level after a short time as there is no give in the strong winds use 4x4 wood post give my company a ring mate we are fair and offer a good after service k.j.b we are in chichester 01243 774003 ask for kriss and tell him brett said club members get discount;)

[Pabs]

hmmm, well I'm not too sure on wooden posts purely because all of the neighbours have concrete posts, and that includes the LHS of our garden where the neighbour has changed the fence recently (before we moved in here)

Ideally we wanted to match what they have so the fence is the same all around.

Do you really think concrete posts are that bad? I think the main reason ours all got damaged is because whoever put them up mounted the fence on top of a small brick wall, where obviously the post mounts just ripped straight out of the brickwork, and the panels were quite old so they've just fallen apart.

[Pabs]

incidentally - I'm thinking about removing sections of the wall to mount the posts properly, or maybe removing the wall altogether. It's only about 1.5foot high, and there is no real reason for it to be there......

[brettjones]

i probably spend 20% of the working year replacing concrete post we do sell and erect them as some customers like yourself are keeping all bounderies looking the same were your panels sitting on the wall you would normally have a con gravel board

[brettjones]

you are looking at 9ft post 2.6ft in the ground 6" gravel boards for a long life

[Conrad]

Personally I've never had any trouble with concrete posts, I'm a builder and always use these.

Our house is in a very exposed place, we're up on a hill surrounded by fields and a lake. We get wind worse than anyone else around here, it'll knock you off your feet.

We have fencing with concrete posts all around our house, which I put in. None of these have broke.

IIRC, 8ft posts are about £7.50, gravel boards about £5 and the 5ft fence panels about £10.

[Pabs]

I didn't know anything about gravel boards..... I'll have to look these up!

With the Concrete posts, you still have to concrete them into the ground, right?

[brettjones]

you concrete the post in 1" below ground level and the concrete g/b sits on that so it can't drop

[Conrad]

I didn't know anything about gravel boards..... I'll have to look these up!

With the Concrete posts, you still have to concrete them into the ground, right?

Gravel boards are better as the actual fence panel is up off the ground. This way the panel won't get wet on the ground and rot.

Yeah you need to concrete the posts in too. I just use a dry (or slightly damp) cement/sand & gravel mix.

[Pabs]

Hmmm, sounds easy enough then. Dad has a cement mixer so could employ him for a weekend to help out ;)

The neighbours all have G/b's come to think of it, as their gardens are on a slope. Ours isn't really on the same incline, so could go without - but I think I'd use them all around anyway for the reasons you've already mentioned.

[Conrad]

Yeah have a go yourself mate, it's not difficult tbh.

I'd def use a dry mix in this weather though, just compact it around the posts and it'll go off within 24 hrs.

Getting a post to set level in a wet mix will be a PITA.

[brettjones]

don't make the con to wet as the post will move as your put the g/b and panel in
1 dig hole
2 post in and con
3 g/b in post and level
4 panel on g/b
5 post in hole push into panel and g/b and con
when it comes to the cut down bay put the last post in first and use a disc cutter for the g/b

[Pabs]

sounds logical to me :)

When you say dry mix - any particular ratio of water/sand/cement?

[Conrad]

Just use a 3 and 1 mix (3 shovels of Ballast for every 1 shovel of cement)

Just add very little water if you like to help it mix. A 'stiffer' mix the better imo.