Building a Car Port

[Streetcar]

Good point! When I add one of these to my stable (rather than borrowing) I'll be sure to remember that. Was thinking of drilling right next to the current hole, break out the wall between them and using a 12" concrete tube form and backfilling with dirt around the form.

If you still a second hole. Fill the bigger hole completely with concrete. That is easier than forming small hole and backfill the gap

 

[EddieWalker]

It's pretty common for a post hole digger to wonder off target once it gets going. Roots, rocks or just soft and hard dirt will make it go where it wants to go, and now where you want it to go. I couldn't imagine digging more then two holes and not needing to adjust one of them with a post hole digger. Mine is all metal. The extra weight of the metal handles makes widening a hole where I want it fast work. Of course, lifting it is more work, but I think the trade off of the heavier weight of the all metal post hold digger is more then worth it. I also have one with wood handles and a smaller set of clam shells at the end that my wife uses for cleaning out the holes. It's worthless for digging.

 

[LAFarm]

Have some pipe handle post hole diggers also. Amen to the go in easy! When setting cornerposts, slip some 1" poly pipe over them and clamp to make handles longer. Will definately give you a workout coming out of the hole.

 

[jlgurr]

Finally got some posts stuck in the ground last night. My goal is to have all six posts ready for concrete Saturday and rent a mixer and set them all at one time.

The "slider" board in the hole was a great idea! Used the bucket of my tractor to walk the posts up to vertical position.

 

[EddieWalker]

Mixing concrete will give it more PSI then not mixing it, but for holding a post in the ground, there is not measurable advantage to mixing it before pouring it into the hole. The only time I pre mix concrete for a hole is when it's a really big hole, when I'm anchoring something critical, like the anchor for my zip line, or my street lights that hang over the road 4 feet at the top of a 16 foot pole. Otherwise I dump the sack of concrete into the hole, pour a coffee can of water over it, smooth out the top so it's sloped away from the post and move on to the next.

 

[jlgurr]

Really! That's sweet as it would save me a lot of time and trouble.

Sent from my iPhone 2.0 using TractorByNet

 

[Ricks284]

Mixing concrete will give it more PSI then not mixing it, but for holding a post in the ground, there is not measurable advantage to mixing it before pouring it into the hole. The only time I pre mix concrete for a hole is when it's a really big hole, when I'm anchoring something critical, like the anchor for my zip line, or my street lights that hang over the road 4 feet at the top of a 16 foot pole. Otherwise I dump the sack of concrete into the hole, pour a coffee can of water over it, smooth out the top so it's sloped away from the post and move on to the next.

^^^ I agree with that. Also, if you do need to mix any concrete, make sure to buy quikcrete instead of sakcrete (unless you need higher strength). I made that mistake once and had to wait two weeks before setting expansion bolts into it.

 

[joefromga]

Buy the red bags and you can start building on the first post by the time you're done setting the last one. About 15-20 minutes time to set.

 

[jlgurr]

Our trusses arrived yesterday! Woo-Hoo!

 

[jlgurr]

All y'all came through with flying colors for me on suggestions for raising the posts without a crane or boom. How about ideas on getting the trusses on top of the beams, they will be approximately 10 feet off the ground. I saw a photo in another thread some time ago where a man used a long post on the loader of his tractor with a pulley at the top which looked like a neat make-shift boom of sorts. That might be a good option but anything cheap, simple to construct, and easy to use. I have 11 regular trusses and two gable trusses to get up.

I hope to have the beam installation completed within a week and start on the trusses shortly thereafter.

Thanks,
Jeff