4x4 post bowing into gate

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soparklion11

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The 4x4" PT Pine post for my fence patch bowed into the gate. What is the best and easiest way to create space for the gate? I'm not sure how to drill and bolt the post to the brick and I'd rather not village the envelope of my home. I could pull the post and rotate it... if I turned it 180 deg I think that I would still need to secure it to the brick so that it wouldn't bow into the gate. You can see from the pic that it bowed 1 1/4" away from my house.

I thought that I'd dried the post and that at 3/4" it was done warping. I was very wrong. 20210519_094324.jpg20210519_094335.jpg
 
Lag it into the brick. End of problem.
 
Yes, a wood bit thru the post, change to a masonry bit, and drill a 2" deep hole. Insert a lead anchor, then tighten an appropriate length lag bolt, with a galvanized washer between the head of the bolt and the wood fence post.
 
How is the pole anchored in the ground?



It takes a lot of force to bend a 4x4, 1.25” I’m not so sure a single lag bolt into an expanding anchor will do it, into brick.



I take it the hinges are on the other side and this is just a filler post.

I would pull that post out unless it is poured into a big glob of concrete and set a new one. You could turn it like you were thinking but then the face would look funky.
 
Personally, I would just sand or plane it until the gate moves freely. Yes, it might look a bit weird but I think that would be ok for exterior work.

Folks are suggesting lag bolts, but I'm wondering how would one manage to put the lead anchor on the wall considering that the post is already installed?
 
ekrig said:
Personally, I would just sand or plane it until the gate moves freely. Yes, it might look a bit weird but I think that would be ok for exterior work.

Folks are suggesting lag bolts, but I'm wondering how would one manage to put the lead anchor on the wall considering that the post is already installed?
Click to expand...
Cut the top of the post off, just under the height at which the anchor is to be installed. Install the anchor. Re-attach the top of the post.

(This was a joke; but it wasn't that funny and now I can't figure out how to delete it.)
 
I like EKrig's solution as a "fix" and probably what I would do.

If I was going to devise a permanent solution here are the 2 options I would take:
Replace the post with a Ceder or redwood post. Set in Concrete that drains away.
Replace the post with a steel square post. Set in Concrete that drains away.

I don't see any hinges in your picture so it might be pretty easy to do those. If I have a choice now a days I always make my anchor posts with steel in concrete. All my PT posts have failed in the last 10 years for various reason. All my new steel posts are only 3 years old but I would have to hit them with a car to get them to fail. I also have several old steel post from the person that had my house before me. They had horses. Those posts are around 20 years old and they are still as solid as a rock, and had horses regularly leaning into them to scratch themselves.
 
Little off topic.



We had a fork truck driver we called them Jitneys for whatever reason was driving one of the biggest we had in the plant. To give you an idea we built locomotives and they would use them to pick up truck assemblies and the whole locomotive platform also the 16 cylinder engine these things were huge and heavy.



Well he came into the building pretty fast and caught the fork under a steel floor plate in the lay down area and bent this 1” plate up in the air about 3’. I guess he figured he was going to get canned so he backed up and tried rolling it back down with his weight. That he did and when he pulled off it popped back up. He ran over to his welder buddy and they rolled a big MIG machine over and he held it down and the welder stitched back to the plate next to it and it held. I always wanted to be there when someone standing in just the right place when that weld decided to let go. I kind of wondered how high they would go.

I think about this stuff whenever I’m bending a 4x4 a couple inches and holding it with a screw. My luck I would be waking thru the gate in the winter all icy carrying 6 bags of groceries when the thing would let go and scare the crap out of me. 😮
 
For me, I think that the lesson to be had from this situation is that the lead anchor or tapcon screw would have been better if installed when the post was first set. This way it would give the post enough "encouragement" to dry the right way. In other words, it nip the problem before it occurred...
 
My strategy is, if you need one post, then buy three.
If you need ten, then buy 15.
Choose them carefully from the pile, and buy them at least two months early.
Lay them flat, on a solid dry surface, roll them around onto a new side occasionally.
Use the best, and return the rest.
Some places like Menard’s sell posts that you can tell are dry, just by the weight and by eyeball.
 
I would probably try the lag but go slow. Initially tighten just enough to ease the pinch at the gate then over a period of weeks or months just tighten a bit at a time. If that doesn't work then get a new post and lag it using the same holes in the mortar.
 
ekrig said:
For me, I think that the lesson to be had from this situation is that the lead anchor or tapcon screw would have been better if installed when the post was first set. This way it would give the post enough "encouragement" to dry the right way. In other words, it nip the problem before it occurred...
Click to expand...
Yeah, I like the idea that the anchor is there threatening the post, daring it to warp, and the post is literally scared straight.
 
Another thought if replacing the post, if lagged to the wall there would be no need to place the bottom in the ground.
 
UPDATE: The gap from the brick is now back to 3/4". I didn't do a damn thing due to other issues and the fact that I don't use that gate too often... What are the chances that it just stays there on its own?...
 
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