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My dad always told me to set cedar posts in concrete, but a job in Seattle proved him wrong.
He insisted concrete was the only way for a fence to last 20 years. On a big cedar fence project near Green Lake last spring, the ground was pure wet clay. I followed his advice, but by fall, half the posts were heaving and leaning because the concrete trapped water. A local guy at the lumberyard said to use gravel for drainage in that soil, and he was right. I had to redo 15 posts using a 6-inch gravel base, and they've been solid for 8 months now. Has anyone else had to switch methods because of local soil conditions?
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ross.angela10d ago
Yeah that wet clay is brutal, same thing happened to my friend @wright.drew.
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cora40010d ago
That "loose tooth" post thing @robin_foster1 mentioned is such a good way to put it. I see this everywhere, like how the "right" way to do something in one place is a total mistake somewhere else. My uncle in Arizona would laugh at using gravel for posts, his concrete ones last forever in the dry ground.
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wright.drew22d ago
Ever see a fence post pop out like a loose tooth? My buddy in Portland had his whole line of concrete-set posts lift right up after one wet winter, same clay soil issue. He switched to gravel and it fixed the problem.
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robin_foster122d ago
Wait, his whole fence line lifted up? Like every single post came out of the ground at once? That's wild, I've only ever seen one or two pop up from frost heave. For a whole row to go, that clay must have been absolutely soaked and then frozen solid. Gravel makes total sense, lets the water drain down instead of pushing everything up.
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