My uncle told me to always set posts in wet concrete, not dry mix. Tried it on a 50-foot cedar fence in Spokane last fall and the whole thing is leaning now.

3 comments

3 Comments

and honestly the trick is you gotta use the concrete mix that's meant for fence posts. I tried the wet mix thing on a gate post in Oregon once and the whole thing shifted while I was pouring. Now I just do the dry mix pour, wet it down, and brace the hell out of it with stakes and 2x4s for at least 24 hours. Then I wait a full week before putting any weight on it. That Spokane soil probably has a lot of freeze-thaw too so you might need to dig below the frost line next time. Drainage gravel at the bottom helps stop the settling.

cooper.nathan3mo ago

My uncle gave me the same advice on a shed project in Tacoma. I used wet mix and the whole thing settled so crooked the door wouldn't close. Had to use a car jack to lift the corner and shove gravel under it. Honestly, my DIY projects are just lessons in how to fix my own mistakes.

murray.gray3mo ago

Ugh, my buddy did that with a deck post. He just dumped concrete powder in the hole and sprayed it with a hose. The whole thing sank six inches by spring. Sometimes the old shortcuts just make more work.