Today I went out armed with enthusiasm and determination. Also with bespoke fence supports, rebar, sledge hammers, levels, shovels and stainless steel screws. And after several hours I came back a broken man. My only solace is that I learned a valuable lesson, namely whatever you assume the worst case is, quadruple it.
My predecessor at the Compound was an inveterate do-it-yourselfer. Which I’m sure saved him scads of money on contractors. However, it meant that orthodoxy was not something he was held to. When putting in a wooden fence it is best practice to set the posts in concrete. Apparently Mr. DIY decided that was way too belts and suspenders for him. So bye bye to bespoke supports. Hello to hammering in any wooden or metal stakes I could get my hands on and nailing them to the posts. Even aside from the unpleasing aesthetics of this makeshift solution, my confidence in the dependability of these repairs is very low.
I guess this spring, I will get to experiment with installing concrete footings. But as a very lazy man my soul rebels at the enormous effort I’ll be expending. Oh, the pain, the pain.
Well now by comparison writing a post or two seems like a walk in the park. I’ll be doing a review of another of the last of the Star Trek season three episodes. It was terrible but now I have something worse to compare it to, home improvement catastrophe.
For a residential fence job, some corners can usually be cut but concrete for the corners and gate posts at an absolute minimum. Here’s the tip that will keep you from killing yourself. Dig 8” hole, compact bottom using rounded shovel handle, insert and level the post, fill the remainder of the hole 1/2 way using Sacrete CONCRETE mix (or equivalent), compact using shovel end, fill remainder, compact, and then water liberally. Should use about 1-80 pound bag per hole. Don’t touch for several days. The concrete will eventually reach around 1800 psi, not something you would use for the… Read more »
Thanks for the info. I intend to do them one at a time over the course of weeks. And in the spring. We’re past the temperatures for concrete here in the frozen hell of the woke Pilgrims.