Evening Jonathan,
Sorry about the similies, just can't talk without waving my hands or making pictures. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
<font color="blue">Do you put any concrete in posts that are not corner posts or the main support posts? Would you mind describing your concrete technique?</font>
I'm a firm believer in too much concrete. The logic goes like this, resistance to movement is increased by the size of the thing resisting said movement. If you put a post, say a two and three eighths inch pipe one, into the ground three feet you have only the surface area of the post in the ground resisting lean. If that same post is in a twelve inch concrete footing the resistance is umpteen times more. In some instances, bigger is really better, this is one of them.
If I'm using bagged premix concrete I use Maximizer. It's just better on about six different levels.
If I'm doing it fenceman style, in the wheel barrow, it goes like this. Since you only mix enough for one post at a time the mix is loaded in layers. Five shovel fulls of sand and gravel to one shovel full of portland cement. It takes some thinking sometimes. If you're loading from separate piles of rock and sand then you have to do two of one and three of the other. Then the next layer reverse it, two of the other, three of the one. Most knowledgeable sand and gravel supply places have remix. Remix is when they take a scoop of concrete sand and a scoop of rock and mix them up. That's the dog to hunt with. If you're putting big posts in little holes you want the rock to be pea gravel. If you're doing it right and putting posts in big holes three quarter rock is the right thing.
You keep building layers until the wheelbarrow is heaping. Hopefully you are using a six cubic foot contractor's wheelbarrow and you have plenty of air in the tire. A word to the wise is only fair here. If you're not used to working with a wheelbarrow verus just pushing one where you want it to go then you might be careful. Manhandling one of these wheelbarrows with about five hundred pounds of sand and gravel in it takes that little bit of understanding about just who is boss. The wheelbarrow full of concrete is. You're just there to hold it up so it don't fall over and look silly while moving from post to post.
Water is always first put in a five gallon bucket before going into the wheelbarrow. That's a cardinal rule. It's sorta like why there is men's rooms and women's rooms and you always rest in the one most appropriate to your gender.
Actually it gives you more control over the amount of water that goes into the wheelbarrow. It is important. Too wet a mix won't support the post while setting up. Too dry and it isn't going to set up strong.
You have a wheelbarrow with the right mix in it and you want to know how a fenceman does it, right?
First thing is you have a D handle round point shovel that is clean and you have developed or are developing a meaninful relationship with it. Using said shovel you make a little bowl in the mix at the front of the wheelbarrow. You put in a little water. You make a little bit of concrete and put it around the post. You now have a bigger bowl. You add more water and make more concrete.
Here's where it gets tricky. The rooky will try to do all the work with their arms. It'll wear you out faster'n a five year old after two Hershey bars.
The secret is to place your leading leg where you thigh is against the tub at the front of the wheelbarrow. You are then using that leg, your back, your belly, your arms, and your constitution to pull and push the shovel back and forth making concrete. You can do this all day. Lots of fencemen do it this way day in and day out.
I have a nine cubic foot concrete mixer. You can rent one most reputable rental outlets.
The formula is simple. First you put in ten gallons of water, two of the ever important five gallon buckets full preferred. Then you toss in one ninety four pound bag of portland cement, bag and all. But do try to gut the bag on the mixing wings in the mixer as you toss it in. Think of the paper and plastic being recycled if that makes you feel better. Or you can think of it as fibre, sorta like Cheerios if you will.
Then you add equal parts of sand and rock until the mix is just right, not too dry, not too wet, just right. You should have three contractor wheelbarrows full if you've done it right.
If I'm where there's going to be grass I keep the concrete down about six inches from the top. That allows the grass to grow right up to the post.
I also like to keep it down if it's around horses, especially if it's a small area. Horses will get hurt standing still. They will walk a fence. Over time they will move the dirt. If they move the dirt away from the concrete around the post you now have a hazard for the horse. Chances are they won't get hurt. But if one is spooked and catches that ragged piece of concrete just wrong, keep the concrete down.
Some people bell their holes, make them bigger at the bottom than at the top. I think it's a good idea if you have the time and inclination. It's definately better than having a cone shaped hole like you get when an auger is never cared for and it wears away and becomes smaller at the bottom than it is at the top. That shape of a hole is begging to heave out under pressure of freeze--thaw or wet--dry cycling.
Now you know all I do about mixing concrete for setting posts.
It's late, sleep is calling, but first there is a shower, boss's rules. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
