Fascinating technique. I had a massive tree fall on my fence and now all the 4x4s are off vertical. My only concern is whether this method is actually shattering the concrete footing in the process. Are you sure it’s just soil liquefaction? Thanks
Vibration alone should not crack a footing. I had a tree fall on a fence and it broke three of the concrete bases. Two of them had cracks that were very hard to see until digging the tops bare and hitting them with a hose. That revealed the cracks so I dug those footers out and re-poured them. Two needed new posts. Because of the impact nature of a tree knocking down a fence, my money is on your fence already has broken (cracked) footings. If you can't already see the cracks, putting a concrete vibrator on the post will almost certainly reveal any existing cracks.
@@ScubaMoto . Thank you. You make a good point. In my case the angle is only a few degrees. The tree demolished the panels in between and did not directly hit the posts. Guess I’ll uncover the tops of the footings and then decide if it’s worth a shot at your vibration technique. Either way, a very clever idea. Cheers
Tree impact is nearly always worse than what you can see. When my fence was hit it also didn't look that bad above ground. The next morning after the storm we all just see a tree against a slightly leaning fence. It was a tough fence and none of the panels needed replaced. Only one broken footer was visible at the surface so it was identified as broken immediately. It was two years later that the other damage was revealed. Posts had cracked at the top of footers and two more footers at the impact location had cracked. There is the moment the tree hits and then the rebound. By the time you walk out and look at it, the maximum impact deflection had already occurred and taken its toll. Concrete footers have no rebound. And since the posts are the wood members that take the true brunt of the force, they also get stressed underground at the footer. I hope this helps and good luck with repairing yours.
David P: It's held upright firm. The concrete bases on this fence are shallow so they settled down slightly as the soil compacted. It makes sense. If your bases are deep, you may want to add soil on top to fill a bit on top after doing the settlement.
how long did it stay? didn't you have to pound some wedge in to keep it straight? sorry for dumb questions but I have a fence I'm dealing with and don't want to have to dig out the posts and start new. TIA
Great questions. If the lean is severe, you may want to re-compact the surrounding soil after the job because prolonged vibration may collapse the soil a bit. It's easy to compensate with some additional soil compacted over top. Success is greatly correlated with how healthy the posts are and how well they are bonded to the foundation. A loose post can't transfer much vibration energy to its foundation. I hope that helps.
Goog le: Agreed on likely not diggable in your case as you'd have to damage too much root system. You should be fine but the root system of that oak tree is happening for a depth of 1.5 to 2 feet so there is probably some root contact with your concrete depending on how long the tree has lived with the post. For that depth, you'll want a good powerful vibrator and good clamp setup. If you're lucky, there will be minimal root contact and you'll be done in two or three vibrations. If the roots have bound the concrete at its new angle, you may need to do it in several lengthy passes while adjusting your cross braces like the one post in the video. You obviously cannot clamp the vibrator to the roots but tight root contact with the concrete will transfer some of the vibration energy to the contacting roots and help allow those roots to shift slightly with the post while you straighten. It depends on how much lean and how much root contact you've got. It's hard to advise without seeing it but if it were my job and I suspected root contact was holding the concrete at an angle, I would do several passes until I had OVER corrected a bit knowing that those roots will need time to adjust to the new post position. With that much vibration, your soil level should drop a bit. When done vibrating and while still cross braced in an over corrected position, I would then add in and compact soil on top of the concrete and then remove the cross braces. I hope that helps.
Great idea. Never would have thought of your idea
Glad you liked it! Thanks for the comment.
this is seriously brilliant. I hope you get paid your worth.
Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed. Your comment means a lot.
Fascinating technique. I had a massive tree fall on my fence and now all the 4x4s are off vertical. My only concern is whether this method is actually shattering the concrete footing in the process. Are you sure it’s just soil liquefaction? Thanks
Vibration alone should not crack a footing. I had a tree fall on a fence and it broke three of the concrete bases. Two of them had cracks that were very hard to see until digging the tops bare and hitting them with a hose. That revealed the cracks so I dug those footers out and re-poured them. Two needed new posts. Because of the impact nature of a tree knocking down a fence, my money is on your fence already has broken (cracked) footings. If you can't already see the cracks, putting a concrete vibrator on the post will almost certainly reveal any existing cracks.
@@ScubaMoto . Thank you. You make a good point. In my case the angle is only a few degrees. The tree demolished the panels in between and did not directly hit the posts.
Guess I’ll uncover the tops of the footings and then decide if it’s worth a shot at your vibration technique. Either way, a very clever idea. Cheers
Tree impact is nearly always worse than what you can see. When my fence was hit it also didn't look that bad above ground. The next morning after the storm we all just see a tree against a slightly leaning fence. It was a tough fence and none of the panels needed replaced. Only one broken footer was visible at the surface so it was identified as broken immediately. It was two years later that the other damage was revealed. Posts had cracked at the top of footers and two more footers at the impact location had cracked. There is the moment the tree hits and then the rebound. By the time you walk out and look at it, the maximum impact deflection had already occurred and taken its toll. Concrete footers have no rebound. And since the posts are the wood members that take the true brunt of the force, they also get stressed underground at the footer. I hope this helps and good luck with repairing yours.
Cool idea! 🤙
Thanks!
Great idea. After you relevel the fence post do they feel rigid again?
David P: It's held upright firm. The concrete bases on this fence are shallow so they settled down slightly as the soil compacted. It makes sense. If your bases are deep, you may want to add soil on top to fill a bit on top after doing the settlement.
That is cool😎👊
how long did it stay? didn't you have to pound some wedge in to keep it straight? sorry for dumb questions but I have a fence I'm dealing with and don't want to have to dig out the posts and start new. TIA
Great questions. If the lean is severe, you may want to re-compact the surrounding soil after the job because prolonged vibration may collapse the soil a bit. It's easy to compensate with some additional soil compacted over top. Success is greatly correlated with how healthy the posts are and how well they are bonded to the foundation. A loose post can't transfer much vibration energy to its foundation. I hope that helps.
Hello fella, Will this work for concrete post bedded in concrete 28 inch deep. I got a leaning post next to douglas oak. So not diggable.
Goog le: Agreed on likely not diggable in your case as you'd have to damage too much root system. You should be fine but the root system of that oak tree is happening for a depth of 1.5 to 2 feet so there is probably some root contact with your concrete depending on how long the tree has lived with the post. For that depth, you'll want a good powerful vibrator and good clamp setup. If you're lucky, there will be minimal root contact and you'll be done in two or three vibrations. If the roots have bound the concrete at its new angle, you may need to do it in several lengthy passes while adjusting your cross braces like the one post in the video. You obviously cannot clamp the vibrator to the roots but tight root contact with the concrete will transfer some of the vibration energy to the contacting roots and help allow those roots to shift slightly with the post while you straighten. It depends on how much lean and how much root contact you've got. It's hard to advise without seeing it but if it were my job and I suspected root contact was holding the concrete at an angle, I would do several passes until I had OVER corrected a bit knowing that those roots will need time to adjust to the new post position. With that much vibration, your soil level should drop a bit. When done vibrating and while still cross braced in an over corrected position, I would then add in and compact soil on top of the concrete and then remove the cross braces. I hope that helps.