Hi,
The Partial Resolution:
In the previous posts, I detailed the issues that had been weakening the ground underneath my back fence (and all of the other nine houses on my side of our cul-de-sac), and talked about the first three times I had the fence rebuilt. The latest (only partially successful) solution involved installing metal stabilizing poles attached to each of the fence’s posts. A confrontation with the owner of the RV lot that bordered the property ended with three of the five poles left partially embedded in soil (but not concrete) while I and the RV owner and my HOA came to some sort of agreement.
After a few rainstorms, the three unconcreted poles began sinking into the soil, and the fence started leaning outward again. The issues the RV owner had with that solution was that the poles, because they were set at an angle, impeded his ability to mow the ditch, and the fact that the bottoms of the poles were embedded on his property, not mine. I had to do something to keep the fence upright no matter what happened with the erosion. When the incident initially occurred, I had paid the fencing company for half of the job, with the agreement that whenever the erosion problem was resolved they would come back and complete the job.
When the fence began leaning again, I decided to go a different direction. I thought if they sank the poles vertically (at 0° of tilt), sunk them deeper, embedded them in concrete, and used them instead of the wooden posts, it would work. That way the fence line would stay the same, solving the property issue with the RV lot owner, and the metal posts would be substantially stronger than the wooden ones had been.
I called the fencing company again to finish the job, but there was no answer. They had gone out of business. I tried the fencing company I had used years before. Since they wouldn’t be replacing any boards (the cedar versus pine dilemma — see the previous post) they said they could sink the poles deeper, and into a solid concrete base, but I would need to buy five new poles, ten feet long instead of eight feet like the previous ones. I did, and they completed the work a few days later.
The fence was solid. Leaning on it, it didn’t move at all. They also added wooden cladding around three sides of each of the poles, covering the metal completely. They looked like wooden posts, just like all of the other fences in the subdivision. I was very pleased. If and when the HOA is able to fix the erosion problem itself, something they keep assuring me they are going to do (they just don’t know how yet), I will be able to stop losing soil to the ditch.
The next post (Part 4 of 4) will be about that final resolution, which will (hopefully) happen soon.
See you then,
Michael
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