Cedar Fence Post Rotten Easy Replacement

Spring is almost here! Have you looked outside at your backyard wood fence? Wood fencing will need yearly maintenance, and today we are talking about replacing an old wood fence post.

Wood fencing leaning, falling over? How do you fix this?  Is it difficult to replace?

WOW, THIS IS A GREAT QUESTION!

TERMITE INFESTED CEDAR FENCE – BRACED TO STAND UP

In East Tennessee, a very popular fence over the last 10 years has been the WHITE CEDAR or RED CEDAR FENCE. These cedar fences are beautiful for about 6 months before the elements start to take a toll, turning them gray and black. That is an easy fix with pressure washing and staining, which we can discuss in a future post.

What about the rotten posts? How do you change those out?

Well, I have been installing wood fencing for over 32 years and discovered many ways to repair fencing. There are easy and difficult methods, and as long as the result is the same, let’s choose the easy way.

LET’S START!

First, remember the fencing needs to stay in the same position and the

Cedar Cypress riddled with termites

post needs to be in the same position. Using a flat bar or pry bar, slide in between the post and fence section backing rails. Swing the two connecting sections out about a foot from the old wood post. Back out the exposed nails to prevent cutting yourself.

Cedar fences in East Tennessee were normally installed prefabbed in a day, and thus no concrete was used. So if you have one of these common cedar fences, dig a new post hole straight down in front of the old wood post.  Once you have the hole cleaned out, use a steel flat bar (6′ long rock bar, spud bar, steel breaker bar) on the opposite side and drive the steel bar down the side of the post. The long steel bar will leverage the post forward into the empty hole in the front. Loosen the post and pull out.

Clean out the loose dirt in the hole and set the new TREATED FOR TERMITES post in place. Pull one fence section back into position and nail to the post making sure the post is centered for both sections. Pour concrete in the hole on all four sides, then reattach the other section.  Fill in the last 3″ with dirt to hold the post till concrete sets up.

Natural wood fence french gothic post top carved into post – treated for termites!