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An old farmer told me my fence posts were set too shallow, and he was right
About 5 years back, I was putting up a new section of fence on my property near Springfield. An older guy from down the road walked over, looked at my work, and just said 'You're gonna be resetting those posts come spring.' I had dug them about 18 inches deep, which I thought was plenty for a horse fence. He tapped the ground with his boot and told me in this clay soil, I needed at least 30 inches or the frost would push them right up. I grumbled about it but ended up redigging all 12 holes that weekend. That next winter was brutal, temps dropped to -10 for a week straight. Come spring, every post I set to his depth was rock solid, but two of my neighbor's posts that he did himself had lifted a good 4 inches. Now I always check the frost line before I dig anything, and I don't argue with local knowledge anymore. Has anyone else had a random passerby give you advice that ended up saving you a ton of rework?
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zara_hunt8d ago
30 inches for clay soil? That sounds insane to me. I set all my fence posts at 2 feet deep in regular dirt and never had a problem, but I guess clay is a whole different beast. You must have been cursing that old man the whole weekend you were redoing those holes. The fact that your neighbor's posts lifted 4 inches after a bad freeze is proof he saved your bacon. I would have been stubborn and left them shallow just to prove him wrong, so you had more patience than me. Now I'm wondering if my own posts are deep enough for the heavy clay I've got near the creek.
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camerona798d ago
Man, tell me about it. I have heavy clay near a creek too and let me tell you, two feet just isn't enough. I was stubborn about a gate post last year and that thing heaved a solid three inches over the winter. Had to dig it back out and redo the whole mess in March when the ground was still half frozen. Your mileage may vary, but if you're near wet ground like that, going deeper is cheap insurance compared to fixing a tilted fence.
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