The Big Mistake Everyone Makes After Removing A Fence From Their Yard

There are several situations that require fence removal or just benefit from it. Despite efforts to help keep your fence posts from rotting, it's sometimes inevitable and they just have to be replaced. Alternatively, removing your posts can improve the aesthetics of your space or create room for new fencing or landscaping. Fence removal is a time-consuming and physically demanding process, especially if the fence posts were set in concrete. Unfortunately, two big mistakes many people make when removing a fence is leaving the concrete in the ground and not disposing of the posts and concrete properly.

Although some people cut the posts at ground level and leave the concrete in the ground, this can cause several aesthetic, practical, and environmental problems. For instance, old concrete that's been left in the ground can become weak and crack with repeated freeze and thaw cycles or erosion of the soil. Eventually, that concrete will sink and become especially difficult to remove. Similarly, old concrete footings in the ground can disrupt the natural flow of water, which can contribute to water pooling or flooding. All of this can degrade the health of the soil and disrupt plant growth.

Additionally, just as there are some fence building laws every homeowner should know, there are rules about disposal (of both the fence and the concrete) that vary by location. As such, it's important to check zoning laws and other regulations to avoid violating any law or HOA rule.

Getting the concrete out of the ground can be done in a few ways. You can dig out the old concrete using a shovel and crowbar. While this is a time-consuming job, it is the least expensive method, requiring less investment in tools and avoiding the cost of a professional. With this method, use a shovel to dig around the cement and push the crowbar under the cement to pull it up from the ground.

If you want a less labor-intensive way to get the concrete out of the ground, you can use a jack or heavy machinery to pull it up. You will need a farm jack to remove the post if you go this route. It's best to bolt a 2x4 to the post so that you can attach the jack, or wrap a chain around the post and connect it to the jack, and lift the post up out of the ground. Digging around the post and concrete beforehand will help loosen it to make jacking the post out easier.

When the job is done, the final step is disposing of concrete and fencing materials. You could try a few of the creative ways to repurpose old fence posts or simply dispose of them. You can check with your county services to see if their recycling or garbage collection will take the old fencing. However, concrete cannot be put out with your regular garbage or curbside recycling, so you will need to take it to a specialized C&D (construction and demolition) recycling center, where concrete can be recycled as aggregate for road construction. Alternatively, there are some services that will pick up the concrete, such as 1-800-GOT-JUNK. You can also check with nearby landscaping companies, community gardens, or different building organizations to see if you can donate it.