setting posts

[bwallen149]

Did a search and could not finf the answer I am looking for. I am getting ready to set posts for a new barn. I read that it is not suggested that concrete be used as backfill, contrary to the way I have always done it. Anyway a builder friend reccomended that i coat the post with tar up to grade level, then pour a concrete necklace up to the frostline, 24". Is this a good way to go about setting posts??? The will be on precast biscuts. The kit manufacturer just reccomends backfilling with dirt. Thank for the help, I have already learned a ton from reading the old threads...

 

[wroughtn_harv]

I think you answer would depend totally upon your soil.

If I was going to use wood posts I think I'd seriously consider concrete piers with brackets and have the wood above grade.

If there was any way possible I think I'd check out pole barns like yours as old as possible. Nothing can replace experience.

 

[johnday]

This is what we do and have been doing for many years.
We use CCA treated posts sitting on concrete pads similar to a footer. In my area the building depts require the bottom of the post to be 6" below frost line or 42". We use a 12" auger with 1foot extension and get approximately 54" down. Next we put in an eighty or ninty pound bag of redimix in hole, add water, and let it setup for a day or so. Next the 4X6 post is set in the hole and backfilled and tamped. Building inspectors like our method and I have never heard of frost heave on any post for deck or polebarn I've set.
The key to keep frost heave from wrecking your day is to try and keep anything the frost can "grab" on to at a minimum.
Backfilling with concrete to the top of the hole or above frostline is asking for trouble. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[rambler]

If you need to mix concrete with the wood for some reason, I would just pour all concrete piers (with a few rerods) and bolt the shorter posts onto the concrete above ground. Never have good experiences when pouring concrete _around_ wood - here in Minnesota anyhow.

--->Paul