Fence post repair support bracket

Abstract

A wooden post repair support bracket meant to repair, reinforce or straighten existing standing or leaning wooden posts. A single-piece steel bracket is formed by cutting plate steel and bending it. The post engaging portion has a flat plate and orthogonal flange which is bolted to two sides of a wooden post bottom. A cement imbedding portion has an arm extending outwardly and downwardly from the flange so that the arm is positioned below ground level and embedded in new cement. Slots or staggered holes in the bracket enable finding solid wood to bolt into. In an alternate version, a flush mount plate with a flange and embedding arm extending orthogonally away from the post is mounted through a rail and into the post.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A one-piece post support for repairing and supporting existing wooden posts, the bracket comprising: 
 a bracket formed by cutting and bending a sheet of metal into a post engaging portion and a cement imbedding portion, the post engaging portion having at least one flat plate having at least one bolt opening therethrough, the post engaging portion capable of engaging a bottom portion of an existing wooden post and the at least one bolt opening positioned away from a bottom of the existing wooden post in a solid portion of the wooden post, and the cement imbedding portion having at least one arm extending outwardly and downwardly of the post engaging portion so that the cement imbedding portion is positioned below ground level away from the wooden post with the post engaging portion in contact with the bottom of the wooden post, the cement imbedding portion capable of being imbedded in cement poured into a hole adjacent to the wooden post.    
     
     
         2 . The post support of  claim 1  wherein the cement imbedding arm further comprises an end extension flange extending away from the arm, the end extension flange capable of hooking under a portion of cement away from the arm so that if the arm material separates from the cement, the extension flange will restrain the arm from motion relative to the cement.  
     
     
         3 . The post support of  claim 2  wherein the extension flange further comprises a hook end capable of supporting the post support in a hanging position for treating all surfaces of the post support during fabrication with a corrosion resistant coating.  
     
     
         4 . The post support of  claim 1  wherein the bolt opening comprises a slot to enable a range of placements of one or more bolts through the slot.  
     
     
         5 . The post support of  claim 1  wherein the bolt opening comprises at least two bolt holes positioned above the bottom of the plate and spaced apart at an inclined angle relative to the post.  
     
     
         6 . The post support of  claim 1  wherein the post engaging portion comprises two flat plates interconnected orthogonally with at least one bolt opening in each of the two flat plates, at least one of the flat plates being equal in width to the width of the wooden post.  
     
     
         7 . The post support of  claim 1  wherein the post engaging portion comprises a flat plate equal in width to the width of the wooden post and capable of engaging the wooden post and a flange orthogonal to the flat plate which flange extends away from the wooden post and the arm is an extension of the flange.  
     
     
         8 . The post support of  claim 1  wherein the post engaging portion comprises a flat plate equal in width to the width of the wooden post and capable of engaging the wooden post and a flange orthogonal to the flat plate which flange extends around the wooden post to engage an orthogonal side of the wooden post and the arm is an extension of the flange extending away from the wooden post in a plane parallel to the flange.