I thought I was being smart grabbing a fancy auto-feed post hole digger from the big box store. Cost me $200 and I figured it would save me time on a job in Tacoma last month. First 10 holes went fine, then the mechanism jammed up with some wet clay and I spent an hour cleaning it out. My old manual digger from the truck did the rest of the job faster and never broke. Anyone else had luck with a specific brand of manual digger that holds up?
I used to swear by the old shovel and clamshell digger for every job, figured it gave me better control and saved money on renting equipment. Then last month I had a 200-foot fence line in rocky clay soil outside Austin, and after three days of misery I finally caved and rented a one-man auger from the hardware store. Finished the whole dig in under four hours and my back didn't hate me the next morning. The control thing turned out to be nonsense, the auger actually cut straighter holes in the hard stuff. Anybody else drag their feet on upgrading tools and regret it?
My uncle Bob has been building fences for 30 years and he swears by gravel backfill. Told me concrete traps water against the post and rots it out in 5 years max. I argued with him for an hour, said concrete is the standard here in Ohio. Then I pulled a post I set in concrete 3 years ago and sure enough, the bottom 4 inches was soft and rotten. Gravel lets water drain and the post actually lasts longer. Has anyone else tested this side by side on a project?
I was putting up a cedar privacy fence for a client near Eugene last spring, and her grandma came out to watch. She pointed at my post hole digger and told me to wet the ground the night before if I wanted to save my shoulders. Tried it on the last three holes, and man, it cut my digging time in half. Anyone else got a weird tip from a homeowner that actually worked?
I was reading an old fence building manual from 1965 that my grandpa left me. No mention of string levels at all. They just eyeballed it with a carpenter's level and hoped for the best. Can you imagine setting a 300 foot run of post and rail by eye? That's wild to me. Any old timers here remember doing it that way?
Been working a job up near Flagstaff last week and the ground is basically solid rock mixed with gravel. My normal auger kept bouncing off and I was getting nowhere. Tried filling the hole with water and letting it soak overnight before digging, and it softened the clay enough to get through. Has anyone else used this trick for tough soil or do you just switch to a different method entirely?
I was digging post holes up near Burlington and hit a rock shelf about 18 inches down. Snapped the tip right off my 12 inch bit on the third hole. Had to switch to a manual digging bar and a shovel for the rest of the afternoon. Anybody have a go-to brand for bits that can handle rocky ground?
Was cleaning out my dad's shed last weekend and found this old post hole digger my granddad used back in the 60s. Looked beat to hell, rust everywhere, handle wrapped in electrical tape. I almost threw it in the scrap pile but decided to look it up online first out of curiosity. Turns out it's some rare model made by a company that went under in the 70s, and there's a guy on eBay asking $450 for one in worse shape. Made me wonder how many old tools I've tossed without checking first, any of you guys ever find something valuable in a junk pile?
I was about halfway through setting posts for a 200 foot run of split rail up in the hills near Boise when I hear this grinding noise from the rental mini excavator I was using. Turns out I hit an old irrigation pipe that wasn't on any of the utility maps I checked. Water started shooting up like a geyser and I had to shut everything down fast. Spent the next two hours digging out the broken section by hand and patching it with a coupling and some PVC cement I had in my truck. The homeowner came out and just stood there watching with his arms crossed the whole time. Has anyone else had to deal with hidden pipes or lines that weren't marked?
I showed up to fix a sagging gate on a property in Denver last Tuesday. The lady came out screaming about how I left a 4 inch gap under the bottom. I told her I was just there for the repair and didn't build the original fence. She didn't care, kept yelling about her dogs getting out. Turns out the old crew used cheap pressure treated that warped after one season. Now I take pictures of EVERY existing gap before I touch a single screw. Has anyone else had to deal with blame for somebody else's shoddy work?
I was putting up a 6 foot privacy fence near Austin last week and a kid fresh out of trade school showed me his laser level. Turns out I had been eyeballing it for 15 years and my last three fences were all slightly crooked. Anybody else switch to newer tools and feel silly about it?
I was heading to a supply run last week off I-10 near Tucson and saw a privacy fence that was already leaning bad. Looked like they set the posts in concrete but didn't go deep enough past the frost line, maybe 18 inches tops. Bunch of the pickets were already popped off too, probably from wind loading. Anyone else run into jobs where the previous crew cut corners on depth that you had to fix later?
Was grabbing posts for a 6ft privacy fence yesterday. Guy probably 70 years old watches me pick a 6 inch auger bit. He just shakes his head. Says "gonna be digging all week with that thing." Told him I used it fine on a 4ft fence last month. He laughed and walked off. Then I hit clay at 3ft down. Took me 45 minutes per hole. Did 8 holes. Felt like an idiot. Anyone else run into an old timer who knew your setup was wrong before you did?
I had to pick between galvanized and vinyl coated chain link for a 6 foot gate on a customer's property out in Lancaster. The customer was leaning toward vinyl because it looks cleaner, but I talked him into galvanized since that gate gets a lot of sun exposure and I've seen the vinyl crack and peel after a few years around here. Ended up saving him about $180 on materials too since galvanized is cheaper per roll. The real test came when we hung the gate and the galvanized wire held the tension way better than I expected. No sagging after a week of use and the customer texted me saying he's glad we went that route. Anyone else find galvanized holds up longer in direct sun areas?
He said 3 feet for a 6 foot fence is overkill in most soil and now I'm cutting my dig time almost in half, has anyone else been overdoing it on depth?
Honestly I used to dig every post hole by hand with a clamshell digger and it took forever. Took me like 8 hours to set 15 posts for a paddock fence last spring near Albany. Finally got sick of it and threw together a simple A-frame jig with some scrap 2x4s and a come-along. Now I can set a post in about 4 minutes without needing a second guy to hold it straight. Has anyone else rigged up a homemade post setter that actually works decent? I'm thinking about adding wheels to mine.
Had to decide between steel T-posts and pressure treated 4x4s for a cattle fence outside Amarillo last week. Went with the T-posts and got it all hammered in before lunch, but the corner braces are a pain to keep tight. Anyone else find a trick for keeping the wire tension consistent on steel posts?
Spent $1,200 on a Danuser E-2 auger drive and it cut my install time on a 60-post job from three days to one. Anyone else find that upgrading one tool just changes everything about how you work?
He said levels lie over distance because the ground is never truly flat, and I thought he was just being old fashioned. After fighting a 150 foot vinyl fence for two days straight, I tried his method and had it perfectly straight in under 3 hours. Has anyone else had a seasoned guy give you advice that felt wrong but actually saved your hide?
I always dug my holes straight down with straight sides. Every hole the same. Then on a job in Austin last spring this older guy walks up and watches me for a minute. He says you need to flare the bottom out like a bell shape. I thought he was crazy. But he showed me how that extra width at the bottom gives the concrete way more holding power against frost heave. Ever since I started digging that bell shape I've had way fewer callbacks for leaning posts. Anyone else grow up doing it the straight way and get set straight by some random old timer on site?
I used to think stainless was just a upsell gimmick until last month when I had to pull a 3-year-old fence near Portland where the galvanized heads were already staining the wood black. My supplier talked me into spending the extra $40 a box and honestly I havent looked back. Anyone else had that moment where you realized the cheap stuff costs more in callbacks?
This guy insisted his 5 foot tall privacy fence needed 4 foot deep holes because his neighbor's fence fell over in a storm. I told him 30 inches was plenty for our area but he got real loud about it. After he sent me a video of a blown over fence in the next town over I decided to just do 42 inches deep on every job now. It takes an extra 15 minutes per hole but I haven't had a single call back about leaning posts since. Anyone else have a client who pushed back hard and turned out to be right?
Saw a crew dig 18 inch holes for a 6 foot cedar fence last week and tried telling them you need at least 30 inches here in clay soil or the frost heave will wreck it by spring, has anyone else had to redo a job because someone skimped on depth?
We had a big chain link job last week with over 200 posts to set in that hard desert ground. I usually use my old manual driver, but my buddy lent me his new Rhino gas powered driver. It cut our time in half and my back didn't feel like it was broken at the end of the day. Anyone have a brand they like for these, or is the extra cost worth it for a full time crew?