Metpost fence post holders.

[GrahamGKD]

Saw these (on Gibraltar) and thought of this thread - looks like they are fabricated from box with a plate on the bottom and (guessing) a stout pin underneath.

View attachment 64159

 

[liammcl]

Resurrected

Just wondering why the ones which you bolt into concrete, are no good?
Is it the thinness of the metal of the base plate , which causes them to wobble?

I want to have a fence which I can pull out easily by hand, so I can get my car in the back yard for a bit of welding..

I am wary of the spike ones, as I don't know what lies under the border between the yard and the entry.

My cunning plan, was to get an sds drill to drill into the concrete,
and use some anchor bolts
http://www.diy.com/departments/nail...-plugs/heavy-duty-metal-anchors/DIY580731.cat

My cunning plan would be to have two bolts on the tread,
so tightening the bottom one, would expand the anchor bolt in the concrete, making it rock solid...but also leaving some of the thread above, which I could attach the metpost base to , with another bolt on the top.
The idea being, that I really had to, I could undo the top bolts,
and remove the whole "bolt on" metpost for strengthening etc
without weakening the bolt in the concrete.

I could? maybe, even strengthening the base plate of the "bolt down" by welding another plate onto it.

pics here
http://s103.photobucket.com/user/liammcl_2006/library/Yard Fence gone - 10 Mar 2017

ps the bottom bit of the old concrete posts are still in there

I'm not looking for them to last forever and a day, as the wooden posts and the metposts are cheap enough... even diy making and welding some from spare metal..

Any comments / ideas?
Liam

 

[liammcl]

Pair of Bi-fold or Tri-fold gates?

Cheers ,
Good idea....something like

Cheers
Liam

 

[Agrismith]

Rather than buying new posts use existing ones and bolt down to a concrete pad will last much longer with softwood posts as the post is nowhere near the ground
If not i think jsl engineering have some fairly industrial repair spikes

 

[liammcl]

Rather than buying new posts use existing ones and bolt down to a concrete pad will last much longer with softwood posts as the post is nowhere near the ground
If not i think jsl engineering have some fairly industrial repair spikes

Thanks , the existing posts have been severed at ground level, so are about 2 foot shorter than they were...
the concrete they were in, are still there, as is the bottom 2 foot of the post.

I was thinking, as a botchit, of drilling straight into the remaining concrete blob,
and using a bolt down metpost, for the wooden posts.

I have the concrete, bits, but they weigh 7 to 9 stone each, and I nearly did myself a mischief lifting them

A wooden post seems more moveable friendly ..
Is that what you meant?

Cheers
Liam

 

[Agrismith]

Thanks , the existing posts have been severed at ground level, so are about 2 foot shorter than they were...
the concrete they were in, are still there, as is the bottom 2 foot of the post.

I was thinking, as a botchit, of drilling straight into the remaining concrete blob,
and using a bolt down metpost, for the wooden posts.

I have the concrete, bits, but they weigh 7 to 9 stone each, and I nearly did myself a mischief lifting them

A wooden post seems more moveable friendly ..
Is that what you meant?

Cheers
Liam

Yeah saves buying new posts and if there is concrete there already makes sense and would be quite quick although id be tempeted to make the the post holder seeing or find a defferent brand seeing that split
And sould last years with the wood out the ground

 

[liammcl]

Thats what I was thinking, you could even stick screening of some sort on the back to keep prying eyes out, or timber clad them to make them less "industrial looking"
Also it would make getting the car in and out a lot easier and make it easy enough to keep it in off the street if you wanted.

Yes, that is a great idea...
Just push and they are out of the way, flush against the interior walls.
The weight being taken, mainly by the wheels...

Cheers
Liam

 

[liammcl]

Yeah saves buying new posts and if there is concrete there already makes sense and would be quite quick although id be tempeted to make the the post holder seeing or find a defferent brand seeing that split
And sould last years with the wood out the ground

Thanks..
that sounds like a quick and easy fix..

the fence is about a foot too short, in height,
as it had concrete slabs at the bottom... and they weighed a ton !
I'll just find some wood or something to get the height back up

just thinking, I used a car jack to crack the concrete post..which has probably loosened the foundations..

The concrete blobs underneath should still be ok, as support,
since it's not a huge fence..but, if not, I could dump some concrete either side to give it some more strength

and angle grind it horizontal and level..

It seems like a plan ...

Thanks all
Liam

 

[Kent]

Thats what I was thinking, you could even stick screening of some sort on the back to keep prying eyes out, or timber clad them to make them less "industrial looking"
Also it would make getting the car in and out a lot easier and make it easy enough to keep it in off the street if you wanted.

Got to watch wind loads on these things solid infill gates can be an issue bi folds far more so

 

[liammcl]

or a /\ /\ with a smaller gap?
the 45 degree would deflect any head on, or side on wind, to half the pressure?

*edit* actually, that wouldn't work....

Cheers
Liam

 

[Kent]

Best not to infill at all if it can be avoided. I am on a few foreign sites and in lands subject to hurricane and tropical storms infill is very very rare

 

[CompoSimmonite]

Neighbour had a "friend" put up a new fence when the old one rotted away. I reckon he used Metpost as during the recent high winds the fence top was moving backwards and forwards around 2'. On the other hand my concrete posts, that are double the height and 20 years old, didn't move

 

[addjunkie]

Concrete posts and kick boards for a domestic fence....everytime

 

[waldershelf]

I used some very similar metal post things similar to metaposts but rather than a clamp they have 2 holes in each face. Stainless coach bolts hold everthing nice an tight.

 

[liammcl]

Waldershelf, I have seen them ...they do look good, bolts at 90 dgrees thru the wood, and steppd from each other

and we all could all easily fabricate something , I'm sure !

I'm not disagreeing with the strength , nor the longevity of concrete pots..
but , for me, I need something light , to lift out and in when needed. (to get the car in for tinkering)
wood and bolt on , look the way to go..
Cheers all
Liam

 

[Agrismith]

Waldershelf, I have seen them ...they do look good, bolts at 90 dgrees thru the wood, and steppd from each other

and we all could all easily fabricate something , I'm sure !

I'm not disagreeing with the strength , nor the longevity of concrete pots..
but , for me, I need something light , to lift out and in when needed. (to get the car in for tinkering)
wood and bolt on , look the way to go..
Cheers all
Liam

For greater longetivity and strength as you wish to remove them i would put a metal sleeve round the bottom of the post maybe 12 inches high would also mean you can make the sockets shorter incase you have to drive over them

 

[steveo3002]

ive been thinking of something similar for our front yard ....i had in mind posts set apart leaving a big enough gap to drive in and maybe U brackets so an extra long fence panel would lift out , with some screws/wing nuts to stop scrotes wandering off with it

 

[Agrismith]

ive been thinking of something similar for our front yard ....i had in mind posts set apart leaving a big enough gap to drive in and maybe U brackets so an extra long fence panel would lift out , with some screws/wing nuts to stop scrotes wandering off with it

If starting from scratch with new materials i would sink tubes into the ground there for leaving a completly flat surface when removed i only suggested otherwise was if the posts are already there and there concrete down it saves work and materials bolting a metapost type item down

 

[liammcl]

For greater longetivity and strength as you wish to remove them i would put a metal sleeve round the bottom of the post maybe 12 inches high would also mean you can make the sockets shorter incase you have to drive over them

I may use anchor bolts but with two nuts... one to keep the tension in the concrete, and the top nut to screw down the plate...so I could remove the whole plate if needs be
(I'm not sure of which are the proper anchor bolts for concrete atm...but this pic is just to show the idea

eg

oops, the purple bolts shoul be going thru the wood at 90 degrees to each other.
ie one, side to side, and one, front to back.
I got a bit carried away and it all got complicated, real quick

Just like GrahamGKD's post post

and it's the same idea as Waldershelf..

ps please remember that we are all wielding welders ,
and can fabricate as we go ....
you can make the met posts any length, height, box shape you want

Agrismith's idea about another longer sheath around the metal metposts is a great idea too...


Cheers
Liam

 

[steveo3002]

cant you set 3-4 studs into concrete so they stick up an inch or so ...metal post with a matching baseplate so you just do the nuts up to fit the post

could have a bit of ply with matching holes in to place over the studs when moving the car in /out