Serious question, how does anyone figure out the right fence post depth on their first try?

I spent 3 hours digging a 4 foot hole for a gate post last Saturday only to realize I only needed 2 1/2 feet for the frost line here in Ohio. The concrete truck showed up and I had to just fill it anyway and hope for the best. Anybody else jump into a project without checking specs first or just me?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabethpalmer19d ago

That 4 foot hole must've cost you a fortune in concrete. Frost line depth is one of those things nobody tells you about until you're knee deep in mud with a truck idling in your driveway. Did the gate post at least stay straight after all that? Sometimes you just gotta commit to the mistake and hope the dirt settles right.

finleyfox19d ago

My uncle Jim dug a 5 foot hole for a mailbox post once, spent a whole weekend mixing bags of concrete by hand because his mixer was borrowed by a neighbor. Turned out the post was 2 degrees off plumb, and he tried to fix it by kicking the bottom while it set. Now the mailbox leans like it's waving at every passing truck, but the neighborhood kids think it's a landmark. He painted it bright orange so nobody backs into it, calls it his "permanent design choice." Maybe that gate post will earn a nickname too if the dirt does its job.