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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?
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miam7516d agoMost Upvoted
Wait, is it really that big of a deal though? I mean, a single fence post and a mailbox is one thing, but are we talking about a whole fence line holding up for years? I've seen regular concrete crumble too, but odds are you just didn't mix it right or let it cure long enough. People rush the job and then blame the concrete when the post wiggles. Plus, that foam stuff costs an arm and a leg, and you're stuck if the post shifts while it's expanding. I'll stick with gravel and good old sweat equity for most jobs, it's cheaper and I know what I'm getting into.
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grace50829d ago
Oh man, I gotta say I feel you on this one. I was exactly the same way, totally wrote off those foam bags as some overpriced nonsense. But then I had to set a mailbox post in pure gravel filled clay up here in Ohio last spring, and the regular concrete just kept crumbling out. I tried the foam out of pure frustration and that mailbox hasn't budged a millimeter through all the freeze thaw cycles we get. It's wild how well it works on ground that just won't hold anything else.
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jenniferw8228d ago
Right there with you on the clay soil struggle. I'm down in Kentucky and we have that same red clay that turns into concrete in summer and soup in winter. Tried everything from gravel to special post anchors and nothing held. Finally gave the foam a shot for a fence post last fall and it's still rock solid after all that rain we had. Kinda mad at myself for waiting so long, honestly.
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