Replacing wood fence posts set in concrete

[CDP45]

AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh the first one was such a pain in the ass.  I went to harbor freight and bought a sledge and frost bar to break up the concrete because it was such a pain to bend over and chip out soggy wood and then vacuum with the shop vac, but then I had to mix and pour concrete. Ugh, any better ideas??

Situation - wood fence post rotted and snapped at ground level where the concrete ends. Soggy 2ft of 4x4 is lodged in concrete

Method 1) While bent over on ground, use larger drill bit to drill, then use straight bar to chip at wood and then use shop vac to suck up water-soaked wood. It's really impossible to get all of it out but I got the replacement post about 18in deep and did have to shave a bit off the new post using skill saw.

Method 2) Dig all around concrete lump and Pound 20lbs pointed frost bar to chip concrete and then finish breaking with sledgehammer. Use 8in form to pour new 60lbs of concrete 2ft deep. It was a huge mess digging to the depth and width.

Any better ideas for the next THREE to replace?? (other than selling the house..)

[AlexK]

Could you jack it out of the ground using a handyman jack and a 4x6 piece of lumber and a chain? That's how I did it once. It was still very hard.

[Nords]

Any better ideas for the next THREE to replace?? (other than selling the house..)

Family Handyman:  http://www.familyhandyman.com/garden-structures/fences/fence-post-repair/view-all

Electric jackhammer?  No need for a 90-pound pneumatic behemoth.  You may be able to do it with a 45-pound model.

The Family Handyman article suggests mounting the wooden post in the concrete, but we took a different approach:  we sunk metal brackets into the concrete and then bolted the 4"x4" fenceposts to the brackets.  The brackets extend high enough out of the concrete to keep the wood from touching the ground.

[Boz86]

Electric jackhammer?  No need for a 90-pound pneumatic behemoth.  You may be able to do it with a 45-pound model.

Plus one on the electric jackhammer. Our local rental place had one, made quick work of rerouting a drain line under a concrete slab.

[zolotiyeruki]

Next time, instead of putting raw wood in the concrete, consider inserting a plastic sleeve (like the kind used for composite decks) into the hole, and then pouring the concrete around it.  Your post then slides nicely into the sleeve, and if you ever have to do this again, it's a piece of cake to replace!

[phred]

can part of the fence be a shorter span such as a gate or whatever?  This way new fence posts can be two or three +- feet over from old fence posts

[CDP45]

Thanks guys, I will definitely look into the electric jackhammer next time, good idea. I just used the frost bar but I also bought a post hole digger. I was just using a regular shovel but that took way more time and effort as I had to make a bigger hole, so the post hole shovel really went quicker and I don't have to buy the paper 8in form, im just pouring it in there. Well I had a nice 4th doing this, yay for being an adult homeowner.

I am concerned about the metal brackets having enough support on the axis perpendicular to the fence line. Also there are pound in brackets that sold for this application but it seems like driving a bracket into wood mush below ground level wouldn't really do a good job.

[Nords]

I am concerned about the metal brackets having enough support on the axis perpendicular to the fence line. Also there are pound in brackets that sold for this application but it seems like driving a bracket into wood mush below ground level wouldn't really do a good job.

Your concern might be excessively conservative but hey, you're the guy digging the holes.

We replaced our original wood fence with this new metal-bracket version 22 years ago after Hurricane Iniki.  We've done absolutely nothing to the fence since then, and so far so good. 

[worms]

I've used these. Work a treat and you can often salvage the original post to hammer back into the repair spur.

[Rural]

Cut off the broken posts at ground-level and make new holes next to them for the new posts.

[Exflyboy]

Cut off the broken posts at ground-level and make new holes next to them for the new posts.

^^^^^ this.

Or rent a small backhoe for 4 hours (overnight deals are great.. usually round here you can pick them up at 3pm and have them back by 8am the next day)

Frank