c/fence-erectors

21

mila_flores8•26d ago

Warning: that "easy" Saturday fence job cost me a whole week

Last spring I took on a small yard in Portland, thought it would be a 2 day job. The homeowner said "it's just a straight line, 80 feet max." I showed up and the ground was pure clay mixed with old roots from a maple tree they cut down. My auger couldn't punch through more than 6 inches without hitting a rock or a root chunk. I ended up digging every single hole by hand with a clam shell digger, took me 5 days total. The worst part was the rain came on day 3 and turned everything into mud soup. I learned to never trust a "quick job" description from a client, always go check the soil first. Has anyone else had a simple looking job turn into a nightmare because of hidden ground conditions?

5

kaid59•26d ago

Talked to an old timer who taught me how to read frost on posts

Ngl, I've been putting up fences for about 5 years now and thought I had everything figured out. Last week I was setting posts on a job in Portland and this guy who's been doing it since the 80s walks over and just says 'you're gonna have to redo that one come spring.' He pointed out how the frost was forming different on one post than the others, said that means the hole wasn't deep enough on that side. Honestly, I never even thought to look for that sign before. Has anyone else run into hidden clues like that when digging?

19

grace_allen•27d ago

That $500 "self-leveling" post hole digger was a total bust

Bought one from Northern Tool last spring for a job in Nashville and it jammed up on the third hole in clay soil. Anyone else had luck with a different brand for rocky ground?

20

diana20•27d ago

Had a talk with my neighbor about gate sag and it changed how I look at hinges

My neighbor Joe who's been fencing for like 40 years told me last weekend that I'm overthinking gate sag. He said just use a heavier hinge instead of adding all those diagonal braces I keep doing. At first I thought he was crazy but then he showed me his gate from 15 years ago that's still level. He just used a welded hinge with a bigger pin. Made me realize I been wasting time on extra bracing when the hinge itself is the weak point. Has anyone else tried just beefing up the hinge instead of doing all the extra work?

25

perry.evan•1mo ago

Remember when we just used a line level and eyeballed it?

I been in the fence game since 2003 and the number of guys who show up with a laser level and still can't get the posts plumb drives me nuts. Last week I fixed a job a kid did where he trusted his laser over a 4-foot bubble level and the whole run was off by half a foot. Why do people think fancy tools replace basic skills?

6

joseph_torres•1mo ago

Rant: why does everyone think T-posts are fine for a 6-foot privacy fence?

I was talking to this old-timer at the lumber yard in Wichita last Tuesday, and he said he's been using T-posts for 8-foot panels for 20 years with no problems. He claimed concrete isn't even needed if you drive them deep enough, which got me thinking maybe I've been overbuilding this whole time. Has anyone else actually tested this or is it just a recipe for a leaning fence after the first big storm?

15

ray363•1mo ago

Had a customer point out my gates were all off level - fixed it with a simple trick

This older guy named Frank called me out on a gate I hung last spring. He said the top rail sagged maybe half an inch on the latch side. I was sure I leveled the posts but he was right, I could see it once he pointed it out. Turns out I was just setting the top hinge too tight and not accounting for the weight pulling down over time. Now I pre-load the gate by lifting the latch side about 3/4 inch before I set the hinges. Tried it on my last four gates and they all close perfect after a month. Anyone else run into this or have a different way to handle gate sag?

18

alicecooper•1mo ago

Had a lightbulb moment with post hole depths on a job in Ohio last month

I've been setting fence posts for 8 years and always just dug to 24 inches for 4x4s. Then an old timer walked by my job in Akron and asked why I wasn't going to 30 inches for the frost line. He showed me my last few posts were already starting to shift. Has anyone else realized they've been cutting corners on depth?

2

hollyc92•1mo ago

Spent all morning fixing a gate I hung last month because I skipped the gravel

I put up a new cedar gate at a house near the river in early September. Looked great day one but the ground shifted after a heavy rain and now the latch is off by over an inch. Had to dig out the post, add two bags of gravel and reset the whole thing in concrete. Took me four hours and I could have saved that time if I did it right the first time in August. Any of you ever skip proper drainage at the base and regret it later?

9

masonm70•1mo ago

Vent: Concrete anchor placement on a 200ft run went sideways

Had a job last week in a subdivision outside Omaha where the homeowner wanted a 6ft privacy fence. I got the string line set and started marking holes for the 4x4 posts. Normally I use a hammer drill with a 1/2 bit for concrete anchors but this was a long sidewalk they poured last month. The concrete was way harder than I expected, took me almost 3 minutes per hole and I burned through 2 bits. Next time I'm renting a rotary hammer from the rental place for anything over 50 feet. Anybody have a go-to method for drilling through that super hard mix?

11

the_adam•1mo ago

Debate: post hole diggers vs power augers for residential jobs

Used to swear by my 12-inch post hole diggers for every fence post. No machine, just sweat and digging bars. Last year I bought a cheap 2-stroke auger from a pawn shop for $180 and it changed my pace completely. The auger handles rocky ground way faster but it binds up on roots and I snapped a bit in clay last Tuesday. Now I'm split on which to use for standard 6-foot privacy fence jobs. You guys bringing augers to every site or sticking with hand diggers for certain soil types?

22

murphy.linda•1mo ago

That time in Austin my post hole digger hit a boulder 2 feet down

I was digging a fence line for a backyard in the Zilker area last spring, and my digger clanged into this monster limestone chunk at 24 inches. Tried to wiggle it out but that thing was the size of a cooler and not budging. Ended up renting a mini excavator for $180 for half a day, which killed my profit on that section. Has anyone else had luck breaking up rock with a demolition hammer instead?

6

sage_ramirez42•1mo ago

The auger on my post hole digger snapped right in half this morning

Was digging holes for a new privacy fence in my backyard when the auger blade just gave up and split clean down the middle after hitting a buried rock. Has anyone else had a drill attachment fail like that mid job or was I just unlucky?

31

wesley_martin•1mo ago

Still fuming about a homeowner who questioned my post hole depth last week

I've been doing this for 12 years, and this guy in Maplewood pulls out a tape measure while I'm digging. He says 'I think 30 inches is fine, my uncle did it that way.' I told him frost line here is 42. He argued for 10 minutes. I finally just packed up and left. He called me back an hour later to apologize. Has anyone else had a customer second-guess your depth calls like that?

29

gavin_hill27•1mo ago

A gate I built in February shifted 3 inches by August - never expected that much movement

I put up a cedar gate near Portland last winter, thought I braced it solid, but by August the top rail was sagging a full three inches out of plumb... turns out the wet spring swelled the wood and then the dry summer shrunk it all wrong. Has anyone else dealt with post-season settling like this on wooden gates?

10

perry.evan•1mo ago

Tried a string line on a really long run and got humbled quick

I've been putting up fences for about 15 years now, and I always thought I could eyeball a straight line on a 200 foot stretch no problem. Last month on a job near Akron, I finally got cocky and skipped my usual string line, just went by my mark posts every 20 feet. By the time I got to the end, I was off by nearly 4 inches from my start point and had to pull up three posts to fix it. That little string cost me an extra hour and a half of digging, and I learned that some old tricks are old for a reason. How do you guys keep long runs perfectly straight without second-guessing yourself?

9

murphy.linda•1mo ago

Ditching my string line for a laser level on a long run

I was setting a 300 foot field fence last week and kept getting sag in the string line from the wind. Grabbed a cheap rotary laser from the depot, leveled it on a tripod, and set my posts dead straight in half the time. Anyone else switch to lasers for long fence lines?

5

mia748•1mo ago

Post hole digger hack I was dead wrong about

Always thought those expanding foam bags for setting posts were a gimmick until a job in Sandy soil near Austin last fall. A 50 yard stretch of fence I did with the foam is still perfectly straight 14 months later, no settling at all. Anyone else had luck with that stuff on tricky ground?

29

sage_ramirez42•1mo ago

Switched from a manual auger to a powered one after 3 days in rocky soil near Asheville

First hole with the powered auger took 2 minutes instead of 25, has anyone else made the jump and regretted not doing it sooner?

26

jenniferw82•1mo ago

Overheard a guy at the lumber yard talking about gate sag

I was picking up some 4x4s yesterday and this older fella was telling the guy behind the counter that he replaced his gate hinges with a heavier strap hinge and a spring-loaded latch. Said it fixed a gate that had been dragging for two years. That got me thinking about how I always just add a wheel or dig out the post when I'm dealing with sag. Has anyone else tried swapping hinges first before doing all that extra work?

26

emma_clark•1mo ago

Poured concrete bases in the rain last week near Tacoma

I was setting posts for a 200-foot privacy fence and a drizzle started around hour 3. The concrete didn't set right on 12 of the posts and now they're all wobbly. Has anyone else dealt with rain ruining a pour and found a fix?

1

laurac96•2mo ago

A customer in Dayton asked me to build a fence around his old oak tree

He said, 'Don't hurt the roots, just work with them.' I had to hand-dig the post holes for a 15 foot section and curve the panels around the trunk. It took two days but the look was worth it. Anyone else had to build around a big tree like that?

12

fiona_young•2mo ago

A homeowner in Tacoma insisted I set his cedar posts directly on the ground, no concrete.

He said his granddad built fences that way in the 70s and they're still standing, but I've always dug a hole and used a gravel base with concrete. I set them his way on that one section just to see, and now I'm curious if anyone has done a long-term comparison of methods.

4

nancy_smith•2mo ago

Question about using a post driver versus a power auger on a rocky property

I had to pick between renting a power auger for $200 a day or just using my manual post driver on a job in Boulder with really rocky soil, and I went with the driver which saved money but added two full days of extra work... so was the time trade-off worth it, or should I have just eaten the cost?

20

fox.derek•2mo ago

I used to set all my post holes by hand in Kansas clay, now I rent a hydraulic auger for any job over 20 holes.

For years I thought the extra cost wasn't worth it, but after a project in Wichita where I had to dig 35 holes in that hardpan, my back was done for a week. I rented a Little Beaver one-man auger from the local shop for a job last fall and it cut the time in half. Has anyone else made the switch, and what's your cutoff for bringing in the machine?