Fences are great for privacy and for keeping strangers and animals out of your property, but what happens if you get a broken fence pole all of the sudden? The fence may still be standing and leaning over much more, but you only have a matter of time to support it or completely fix it before it falls over. It may take other sections with it or even fall on to your neighbors property. You probably would want to protect yourself from damaging your neighbor’s stuff right?
There are a few options you have to choose from when it comes to a cracked or broken fence post. Hopefully, if this happens to you, it is nice outside and not 11 degrees out in the middle of winter, like it did for me. The best case scenerio is the weather damaged your fence and a post fell over taking a couple of sections with it. This should be covered under your home owner’s insurance. All you need to do is file a claim and the insurance company is responsible for replacing the fence sections that were damaged from the storm. You may even get a whole new fence from the claim! Don’t forget about the deductible that is due when you file the claim. Many times it is not really worth it to file the claim and pay the deductible.
In that case, the next option would be to support the fence post until you figure out what you want to do. You can use a long sturdy stick and some clothesline. Make sure you use something strong and able to hold without snapping. Pound the stick into the ground with a hammer about 18 inches away from the fence post. Then tie the clothesline around the fence post with double knots. Take the clothesline and wrap it around the stick several times while holding the fence post straight up and down. Make sure there isn’t any slack and it is as tight as you can get it. Then finish tieing a double knot on the stick. This should hold the fence and keep it in place.
Another option you have is to find or buy a steel corner piece that is atleast 3 feet long and has a few holes along it. You can pound it in the ground directly along the fence post and secure it to the fence post with galvanized roofing nails. This should make it very secure and could actually hold up the broken post for a very long time if done correctly and securely.
Of course, your last option would be to actually fix the whole thing and replace the broken post. You need to unscrew the 6 foot sections of fence attached to the post that you are replacing. Then, you need to remove the upper portion of the post by breaking it off. The bottom portion of the post is the hard part because you have to dig 3 or 4 feet below the surface and around the remaining post piece underground while concrete and stones are in your way. Once you discard all of that, you can place the new post in there making it level and pouring in atleast a full bag of concrete mixed up well.
