Who uses postcrete??

[Matthew Storrs]

Been doing a few domestic fencing jobs recently where Iv used postcrete. I feel like its cheating a bit and you need a minimum of 2 bags per post which would make it expensive for long runs. But I got the posts and rail/featheredge up in the same day so it saved a day or two waiting for concrete to harden.

Does anyone have any bad experiances of postcrete over the long term. I don't mean with posts only a foot in the ground with a spadefull of the stuff because any post would fail like that but i dig mine 2ft deep with two bags. Heard nasty stories about it cracking up with the windrock but im guessing thats because people only use 1 bag which IMO isn't nearly enough.

So who uses it and who uses old school concrete?

[Rich2484]

Done a long fence, think it was 22 panels and 23 posts three year ago, drive past it most weeks and it's still standing.

 

Yes you do need two bags per post. It can be expensive and on long fence runs I would use concrete but it turns a long job into a very small job.

 

I love the stuff, and yes it does seem like cheating as you can do post and panel as you go. The customers love it as they can see the fence go up as you go along and it's all clean and tidy as you only need to be at one post at a time rather than doing a line of them with soil and tools lying around each one plus supports on each post.

 

It's just so easy but also very expensive stuff to by and can put the price up a bit.

 

I did put some in a block before then crack it open after it had dried to find it looks like marble on the inside...

[Matthew Storrs]

yeah i agree with what you are saying, its less mess and general fathing around then mixing. Although its more expensive to buy its cheaper to use (from the customers point of view) for small-medium runs as there is next to no labour involved or using a mixer etc

[Pedroski]

We use it all the time for fences. It's certainly NOT cheating. As said, while the materials cost is higher, the labour cost is MUCH MUCH lower. And provided it's used properly - i.e. big enough hole, postcrete all around the post, CORRECT amount of water - then it's good. The "correct amount of water£ part is where many people balls it up. Not enough water means it won't go off properly, and too much water weakens the concrete.

 

It also produces far less mess on site - again time saving.

 

Even for very long runs like we often do, postcrete saves on costs.

[Tom D]

Awesome stuff, just make sure you get the super fast setting one, by the time the end post is in you can be nailing boards on at the beginning... means a short fence can easily be done in a day.

[Lyn Ed]

good old fasioned concrete for me, around this way customers winge at the price of timber let alone the price of postcrete on top, i`d rather concrete anyway.

[Matthew Storrs]

good old fasioned concrete for me, around this way customers winge at the price of timber let alone the price of postcrete on top, i`d rather concrete anyway.

 

I must admit, concrete feels more reassuring but with regards to cost wouldn't you say your labour to mix all the concrete plus more time on the job would be more than the postcrete?

[Treemoose]

I love postcrete

It is expensive but in my experience it saves so much time it's totally worth it

[tncountryservices]

i don't use postmix way to expensive, i may get shot down for this but have been doing it for years and never a to return to a job,

 

if you dry mix your concrete in a mixer and ram it down in the post hole you can install your fence straight away and the moisture in the ground will set your concrete or if you are worried just sprinkle with water at the end of the day.

 

my timber supplier sells a two part post mix, in the bag you get ballast and a seperate bag of cement messured out just to mix together digging with post shovels normally use 1 bag for every post and a half think it's about £5 a bag.

[Lyn Ed]

just wondering, how many bags of postcrete does it take for a 2ft deep hole