Now that I have my plan for the fence, let’s dig in… Literally. According to my research, the best way to ensure your fence is sturdy is to focus on setting fence posts appropriately. The first step will involve digging holes (and maybe a few swear words).
The holes for the fence posts
Getting the right placement
When setting fence posts it is important that they are in exact alignment. I used stakes and rope to set the line of the fence.
Now that I had a straight line, I marked the location of the posts with wooden stakes and paint. Click here to see the specific paint I used.
Hole size
As previously discussed, the fence posts need to be set 2′ into the ground. Additionally, I needed about 4″ of gravel at the bottom of the hole. So my holes needed to be 26″ deep. Also, the width of the holes should be 12″ in diameter. Easy peasy, right? As usual, I am wrong. I’m learning that anytime I think it will be easy, it most certainly is not.
Digging the holes for the posts
Using an auger would have made digging these holes a lot easier. It is a tool that basically uses a very large drill to dig the holes for you. We do not have an auger and are currently on lockdown due to the coronavirus, so I am going to have to do this the old fashioned way.
I began by using a spade shovel to start the hole.
When I started digging, I encountered a lot of roots.
I used my Sawzall to cut through the. TBH, they suck and take a lot of time to remove.
Once the hole is deep enough, you can use your post hole digger to get deeper into the hole.
You can see those nasty roots I cut away near the top of the hole.
All that is left to do is continue digging until you get to your desired depth and width.
This sounds easy, but digging just five holes for fence posts took all day and resulted in 2 very large blisters. To be fair, the average person could probably most likely finish this faster than I did, but the kids cannot leave because of lockdown. As a result, I had many distractions to deal with, even with my husband watching the kids. For example:
These are the shoes my 3-year-old deemed appropriate for helping me in the yard.
You get the idea…
Leveling the fence posts
Our ground is somewhat unlevel where we are building our fence. There are two ways to go about this. You could have your fence follow the slope of the ground, or you could adjust the height of the posts so they are level across the top. We decided to have the posts level across the top, which made it much more difficult to level the posts.
I didn’t get great pictures of this process as I was a little distracted, but I will try my best to describe what I did. First I created another line with wooden stakes and rope, but this time, I leveled the line. I just used a level and adjusted the rope on each side accordingly. Next, I marked each fence post where the level line would need to meet so that the fence posts stuck out at the appropriate height.
At this point, I sprayed the posts with flexseal to protect against rot. While they were drying, I added the gravel to the holes. This will allow for water to drain and reduce the risk of rotting your fence posts.
This part is super easy. You simply add at least 4″ of gravel, then tamp it down using a 4×4.
Here I am tamping it down using the old fence posts. You can see I marked on the fence post how far I needed to tamp down with blue tape.
I really want to keep it real, so honestly,
Preparing posts for concrete
At this point, I was almost ready to pour concrete, I just needed to secure the posts in the position we will want them. This part took 2 sets of hands, so my husband jumped in to help. To secure the posts we used wood from the old fence and wooden stakes. First, we made sure the post was plumb and level using a level tool on each side. One of us held it in place, while the other attached a piece of wood to the post, then to a stake on the ground to secure it. We did this on 2 sides of each post until each was secure. It looked like this:
In the spirit of keeping it real, I will share that this part sucked. We had to try over and over again to get it right, and the kids kept fighting over who could give us the screws. On top of that, we forgot to measure the distance between 2 of our posts, so we had to do 2 of them over again.
Setting the posts with concrete
At the moment we were pouring the concrete to set the posts, there was a torrential downpour, so again, I do not have pictures of this part. However, we used Quikrete, there was no mixing involved. You simply pour and entire the concrete mix into the hole until it is a few inches from ground level. Then you pour water into the hole and wait for it to set. I know! I didn’t believe it either! See for yourself…
FYI we used about 50lbs of concrete mix per hole, sometimes more.
At this point, all that is left to do is wait until the concrete sets, usually 2-4 days. After that, I can begin to put the rails and panels on.
I will leave you with some pictures of the torrential downpour and hail storm that lead to some fun with the kids!
