Fence Post ****

[ManAtArms]

I thought I would be a thrifty fellow and install 600 ft. of 4' fence for my dogs. I'm in Northern NJ, soil is clay and rocky. I'm using 5/6" PT, ground contact rated fence posts and will fasten 3 rails of 6" PT pine board. Post will be 10 - 12' apart depending on the terrain, which is rough.

I decided the fastest/best way to do this would be to rent a Wheatheart High & Heavy Hitter 3-point post pounder. WRONG! I know there's a knack to using a driver, However its hard to keep the posts straight...not to mention when you drive a post 2' and can go no further. I waffled a few posts by trying to force them to go where they wouldn't. Others would drive straight the first 2 feet then miraculously bend and wander the final foot.

So my next attempt was to rent a bobcat T175 with a 12" post hole auger and bore my way to a beautiful fence. WRONG AGAIN! I tried about 15 different holes only to go 2 feet and stop dead like I hit a ledge. (On a side note a skid steer is so tippy compared to a tractor it's scary. I almost fliped the darn thing a few times on only mildly uneven ground.)

After several hours of trying...I decided to use the backhoe and see if there was a ledge. I used my 12" bucket and dug down 3 feet with moderate resistance. But it worked.

Now I have a mini trench, 1' wide by 4' long. At this point I have no problem just continuing along and digging 1x4' holes with the hoe. I'm concerned such a large hole will lead to a leaning fence posts. Do I just set the post and backfill with gravel and dirt or will this not work given the size of the hole? Do I need to use a sonotube and concrete? Not really wanting to do the concrete thing for rot purposes.

Remind me to never go into the fence business.

-Mark

 

[Cat_Driver]

Couple of thoughts. Yes you disturbed the dirt and the holes will be too bigm now depending on the soil and how well it tamps down even using water to help you might be alright, Now for some insurance you can do the cemnt and tube but one every 4th or 5th post for stability, this will save you some work and money. Maybe a little powder clay or cement to make the mix stronger.

Thinking outside the box you do the tamp thing and run a fence wire throught evey post and lock it down at the beginning of the run and at the end of the run with a solid in cement post and rachet tighetened down so the fence can not wobble as the wire running throught it will keep things stable.

One thing about the cement is they have stuff now that all you do is put in the poweder and then pour in the water.

 

[MF1652]

I had a similar problem when putting in my pole barn. I needed to dig numerous five feet deep by 12" diameter holes for the footings. The ground was full of rocks that would hang up the post hole digger. The solution was to have a excavator brought in and dig out a trench around the perimeter where the footings were to go. Then back fill the trench with gravel and go back with the post hole digger to drill the footing holes. Seems like a lot of steps, but it was really easy to dig the holes at that point. Also you don't have to completely concrete the posts into the ground. An easy way is to set the post in the hole, pour a bag of dry redimix into the hold and back fill on top of that with gravel. First rain you get, the redimix turns solid and you have a nice footing to resist frost heave and leaning posts.

 

[gould37]

When running what felt like miles of barb wire and fence for a family farm in PA, we would get a solid steel rod, about 1 1/4 inches thick, jam it into the ground where we wanted the post, twirl it around a little and then lift it out and start over until we got close to the proper depth. We would then set the post in the hole and drive it home with a sledge hammer. Seemed to work in the very rocky soil up there, but it was no joke a lot of work. We would set several hundred of these through the year to repair rotted posts. I don't recall, but I think we were only going down about 2' and the post were plenty steady. Just a suggestion. GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[handirifle]

Others would drive straight the first 2 feet then miraculously bend and wander the final foot.

I am curious, why go down three feet, when the fence is for dogs? That doesn't seem below frost line for cold country. Just seems like a lot more work than necessary.

 

[varmint]

Mind you, I am in Maryland, not N.J., but when I put in 400' or so of wooden fence, I used a 9" auger on the back of my 19hp tractor, down about 24-30", and set black locust posts at 8' on center. then, 1x6 rough sawn white oak boards... like a horse fence. That was maybe 6 years ago, and it's holding up just fine. No issues with posts tilting or anything. Of course, some of the boards had minds of their own, but I used screws to attach them, since I didn't have air available, and the idea of driving coated nails didn't appeal to me. Doing it when the ground wasn't bone dry was the key to pleasure vs. pain.