Digging post holes, now they’re filling with water
#6364297
11/03/18 08:24 PM
11/03/18 08:24 PM
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Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 6,562 MB
Jurassic Park
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I started building a lean to shelter for some animals I have today. When I dug the holes in the ground, the hole began to fill with water. The holes are 3 feet deep and now have about 6 inches of water in them. The plan is to put 4x4 posts in the ground then build the walls around them. Will the water make the posts rot or make them unstable? Should I look for a dryer spot to put the shelter?
The posts are brown treated.
Thanks!
Cold as ice!
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Re: Digging post holes, now they’re filling with water
[Re: Jurassic Park]
#6364305
11/03/18 08:27 PM
11/03/18 08:27 PM
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 16,150 Tennessee
Scuba1
"color blind Kraut"
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"color blind Kraut"
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 16,150
Tennessee
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Dip the poles in hot tar before you plant them. Then put a dry concrete mix round them when you have them plumb and braced.
Let's go Brandon
"Shall not comply" with morons who don't understand "shall not infringe."
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Re: Digging post holes, now they’re filling with water
[Re: Jurassic Park]
#6364314
11/03/18 08:37 PM
11/03/18 08:37 PM
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Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 3,446 Houghton Lake, MI
strike2x
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If the posts are ground contact treated the water won't hurt a bit. I would be more concerned with how dry the shelter will be with the water table that high.
Wish I had more time to trap....
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Re: Digging post holes, now they’re filling with water
[Re: Jurassic Park]
#6364325
11/03/18 08:44 PM
11/03/18 08:44 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,035 SEPA
Lugnut
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As said above, if the posts are rated for ground contact they'll be fine.
Eh...wot?
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Re: Digging post holes, now they’re filling with water
[Re: Jurassic Park]
#6364342
11/03/18 08:52 PM
11/03/18 08:52 PM
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Joined: Sep 2016
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Jurassic Park
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I was hoping to not use concrete to set the posts. Just pack it in with the soil I dug out to make the holes. Putting the shelter here does have me concerned about heavy rains flooding the shelter. I’m just limited to space, and it’s either there or the goats get rained and snowed on all their life. Lol.
Cold as ice!
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Re: Digging post holes, now they’re filling with water
[Re: Jurassic Park]
#6364372
11/03/18 09:14 PM
11/03/18 09:14 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,035 SEPA
Lugnut
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The concrete isn't necessary. I never use it and I set lots of posts. If the ground is soft and the post are going to bear much weight, it might be a good idea to pour 3"-4" of concrete mix in the bottom of the hole for a solid footing. If it's going to be a relatively light structure, don't worry about it.
Eh...wot?
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Re: Digging post holes, now they’re filling with water
[Re: Jurassic Park]
#6364417
11/03/18 09:42 PM
11/03/18 09:42 PM
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Joined: Sep 2016
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Jurassic Park
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Ok cool. Just going to have 1x6 spruce for siding and roof. Then throw some tin on top. Shouldn’t be too heavy.
Boco, this shelter better last more than a few years. $600 of material, hoping for 25 years here!
Cold as ice!
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Re: Digging post holes, now they’re filling with water
[Re: Jurassic Park]
#6364430
11/03/18 09:58 PM
11/03/18 09:58 PM
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Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 10,366 MT
snowy
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I have had the same issue when I built a small pole barn shop. I had water in the hole at 3 feet and I was planting utility pole for the building structure/supports. I just got rock and tamped them in the bottom and used rock/dirt to fill and tamped them in. I had no problem with the building what so ever doing I that way. Remember tamping the bottom and tamping them very good at the bottom in the most important step.
If you built any fence in your day tamping the bottom and 3/4 of the way up is the most important. If you done some of it you know why.
Give me a fish, I will eat for a day. Teach me to fish, I will eat for a lifetime
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Re: Digging post holes, now they’re filling with water
[Re: Jurassic Park]
#6364434
11/03/18 10:02 PM
11/03/18 10:02 PM
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 45,491 james bay frontierOnt.
Boco
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Oh Yea,Jurassic,I forgot your a young fella.Anyway in 10 years you will likely be rich enough to move out of the swamp,lol.
Forget that fear of gravity-get a little savagery in your life.
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Re: Digging post holes, now they’re filling with water
[Re: Jurassic Park]
#6364456
11/03/18 10:20 PM
11/03/18 10:20 PM
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Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 6,562 MB
Jurassic Park
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I’m going to dig new holes on the other side of the pasture and hope it’s dryer there. Snowy, I know all about packing around the posts!
Boco, I don’t really want to ever move again. Instead I want to buy all the land around me and build a wall. Ok maybe not build a wall, but a fence and have thousands of goats, and sheep, and chickens, and cows. Everything thrives in the swamp. Just need some of those wild boars the Americans keep talking about.
Cold as ice!
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Re: Digging post holes, now they’re filling with water
[Re: Jurassic Park]
#6364490
11/03/18 11:12 PM
11/03/18 11:12 PM
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 45,491 james bay frontierOnt.
Boco
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Be careful,jurassic.Keeping that many goats will be a real draw for muzlims.
Forget that fear of gravity-get a little savagery in your life.
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Re: Digging post holes, now they’re filling with water
[Re: Jurassic Park]
#6364510
11/03/18 11:42 PM
11/03/18 11:42 PM
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Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 6,562 MB
Jurassic Park
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OP
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You ever see a Muslim in the swamp?
Cold as ice!
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Re: Digging post holes, now they’re filling with water
[Re: Boco]
#6364536
11/04/18 01:22 AM
11/04/18 01:22 AM
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 9,132 SWMo.
tjm
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Build it.Regardless it will be good for a few years. This is what I would do. However it sounds like you will have heave problems when the frost sets in. You might be better off to build a floating shed that sets on top of every thing.
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Re: Digging post holes, now they’re filling with water
[Re: nvwrangler]
#6364548
11/04/18 03:33 AM
11/04/18 03:33 AM
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Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 1,500 Kenai AK
KenaiKid
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Concrete is worse then anything as the wood will swell from the moisture and give room to have standing water caught btween the post and the concrete once it dries back out. Agreed. Concrete is great for making things stable, but it hugely promotes rot in wood. That’s why electrical utilities (around here at least) never use concrete on wood poles. Remember, the treatment on treated lumber only penetrates about 1/4” max. If it gets soaked it will still rot inside. I prefer using sonotubes with brackets on top to hold the posts for structures, but if you want to bury them, bury them in sand/gravel with rock underneath so it can dry out seasonally any it’ll last much longer.
Boco couldn't catch a cold. But if he did, it would be Top Lot.
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Re: Digging post holes, now they’re filling with water
[Re: Jurassic Park]
#6364595
11/04/18 07:40 AM
11/04/18 07:40 AM
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Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 7,971 On Georgian Bay, Ontario Canad...
Hutchy
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I know building styles vary, but if that was here I would pour the post holes full of concrete to just above the ground and attach the post with a galvanized saddle, making sure the concrete is at least four feet down and has a bulge at the bottom to resist frost lift. Concrete can't rot, and the footings and building will be there for as long as the wood lasts. If the post holes use too much concrete, slip in a 6" Sono tube, or add some rocks to make the concrete go further
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Re: Digging post holes, now they’re filling with water
[Re: Jurassic Park]
#6364602
11/04/18 07:58 AM
11/04/18 07:58 AM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,035 SEPA
Lugnut
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Geeze, it's a run-in shelter for animals guys, not a garage...
Eh...wot?
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