New Fence Challenge

 After serving 20years of my Arqiva sentence for crimes against communications technology, I was awarded a long service payment, which has gone almost in its entirety on the cost of materials for replacing the 30ft run of fencing alongside the patio.

I wont go into the rigmarole of actually purchasing the materials, but suffice to say i was rather miffed to be told that Wickes wouldnt deliver them because 'they are heavy', yeah no shit!

So after roping my brother in law Chris and his van into the job, im now armed with around a tonne of concrete posts, gravel boards, postcrete and fence panels.

And so the build begins! The first task, was to remove the old fence. This was made from pallet wood nailed to 3x3 posts attached to those gawd awful 'metpost' fence spikes. Most of this was rotten, so it was just case of pulling it all to bits. This was when I discovered that the previous job had been done by Randolf Scott on a rare day off, or at least by some other bloody cowboy. The post spikes had been concreted in!

Most of yesterday was used up in hammering, chiseling, pick-axing etc the block for the first post of the run. To make the job much more technically challenging, the fence runs in a narrow raised  area between a single thickness retaining wall, and a lower, panel fence owned by my neighbour - neither can risk being damaged! On top of this, the first post needed to go right at the side of the house wall.

Having eventually removed the concrete block and the post spike, and dug the hole to the required 2ft depth, the next task was to transfer, on my own, a 45kg 8ft concrete post from the drive, around the corner, down a step, to the hole. Knowing I couldnt lift the post entirely by myself, I eased it up one end at a time onto a barrow! It was then slid directly off the barrow and into the hole.

Because of the location of the house wall, I have no easy access to the other side of this post! So, the first pour of postcrete was done with the post leaning out at 45 degrees and held up on the shaft of the pickaxe. As soon as the concrete mix was in, one of the old timber posts was positioned on the other side, one on the nearside, and the concrete post pushed up into position, checked for level and plumb, and the timbers adjusted to support it.

This post will need another pour of concrete at some point, and some of the old fence planks have been cut down and placed in the hole to act as shuttering for the next pour to prevent the excessive sized hole taking up too much concrete. Exactly how im going to get it around the back, behind a 6ft high post next to a 10ft high wall, in a space only accessible from next-doors garden and then only if I remove some of their fence, well, i'll improvise that job later!

And so today, with one post in place, the job continues, in the intermittent rain, of removing the rest of these bloody awful post spikes and the concrete surrounding them!