A guy in Kansas City called me out on my post hole mix and I'm glad he did

I was setting a line of cedar posts for a ranch style fence, my usual mix was three shovels of gravel to one of concrete, just enough to hold. An old timer on the crew, Frank, watched me for a day and finally said, 'You're building a fence, not a sandcastle. That mix won't hold a dog in a stiff breeze.' He was right. We had a bad frost heave that next winter and three of my posts rocked like crazy. I switched to a full concrete collar, about a 10 inch diameter around the base, and tamp the gravel underneath way harder now. Haven't had a post move since, even on that clay soil they have out here. What's your go-to method for setting in really wet or unstable ground?

3 comments

3 Comments

oliverw462mo ago

Well, that story hits close to home. My first fence looked fine until the first good rain, when it leaned more than the tower of Pisa. For that nasty wet ground, I've had good luck digging the hole a few inches deeper for extra gravel, then using a full concrete collar like you said. Letting that concrete cure slow is key, too, no rushing it.

blair6302mo ago

Wait, your first fence actually leaned like the tower of Pisa? That's wild, @oliverw46. I can't even picture that in my yard.

murray.gray1mo agoMost Upvoted

Used to think concrete was overkill until I saw a whole section go crooked after one storm. Now I'm all in on the full collar method too.