Building Stuff

Do It Yourself Fence Project Part 2 Concrete

Be sure to watch the video in this article!

No Tricks or Secrets

People spend a lot of money to get someone else, who is supposedly an expert, to do things for them. Putting in a fence is a good example. It’s not complicated; it just takes a little effort and a lot less money. So get off the couch and I’ll show you how I am doing it. Building a fence, that is.

In this article I will cover the simple task of mixing and getting concrete into your post holes after you have them set. There are a few things you need before you can do this though so let me list them out.

• - A fence post.
• - Some gravel.
• - A 60 or 80 pound bag of concrete.
• - A common spade shovel.
• - A garden or mortar hoe.
• - A mortar box or Wheelbarrow that doesn’t leak.
• - Clean water.
• - A wooden steak, broken shovel handle, one inch pipe, or something that can be used for getting bubbles out of the concrete.
• - Last but not least, a hole in the ground to which you can put some of these things in.

For this article we will assume that you already have a post hole dug about 24 inches deep. Additionally, you have about 4 inches of gravel in the bottom of the post hole and the fence post is on top of the gravel and securely leveled. If you have this finished we can move on to getting the concrete in the hole. If not, go do that now.

How Much Concrete

The first question to address is how much concrete should be used? I have found that a 60 pound bag usually works great for me but I tend to keep my post holes tight and uniform. In this case we are setting 8 foot long, 4 inch x 4 inch wide posts. For me, tight and uniform means 24 inches deep (20 inches after gravel) and 8 to 10 inches in diameter. If yours are not tight and uniform but rather, a little sloppy, an 80 pound bag will probably be a better choice. If by chance your holes are smaller you run the risk of the posts not being solid enough to hold the weight of the fencing that will be secured to it.

Put your mortar box or wheelbarrow as close to the post hole as possible without getting in the way of being able to work around it. Drop your bag of concrete into the tub, cut it open and release the dry powdery concrete into the tub. According to the direction on the 60 pound bags that I use, you put a half gallon of clean water in to begin with and start mixing. However, I just grab the hose and squirt it until the top of the pile is wet. Grab your garden or mortar hoe and start mixing.

Everybody should know what a regular garden hoe is but not everyone is going to know what a mortar hoe is. A mortar hoe looks like a regular garden hoe but the working end of it can be a little bigger and there are either one or two holes in its face. I’m not a concrete guy so I don’t know for sure but, I imagine that the hole/s allow for the ingredients to flow through easier and mix better. If all you have is a garden hoe, don’t run out and buy a mortar hoe. The garden hoe will work just fine.

Concrete: The Breakfast of Champions

As you are mixing, just add a little water at a time until you get it to the proper consistency. I have heard many descriptions for the proper consistency but the best in my opinion is that of oatmeal. Think of a quality bowl of oatmeal that is not too sticky or too runny and you will have a good idea of how your concrete mix should look. According to Stanley, T., Johanson, M., & Gehlhar, J. (2008), “When mixing concrete, the more water you add, the weaker the concrete will become. Mix the concrete only until all of the dry ingredients are moistened.” (p. 138). Once you have your consistency right, you are ready to put the concrete in the post hole.

Set your hoe aside and grab the shovel. Your post hole should be round and in many cases your fence post will be squared. Even if your post is not square, think of it as so, and picture 4 sides. Use the shovel and put one shovel full of concrete down the hole on each side of the post. Now, grab your broken shovel handle, pipe, or whatever you have to prod the bubbles out of the concrete around the bottom of the post. Poke it down there and stab and mix the concrete a little. Repeat this procedure until you have filled the hole or used all your mixed concrete. Hopefully, those two events happen simultaneously.

Keep the Rain Away From the Post

Try to form the concrete around the post so it slops down toward the ground which will promote rain water shedding away from the post. If the concrete is too wet to cooperate with you, wait 5 to 10 minutes to allow the bleed water to dissipate and try again. If you are using the fast drying Quikrete cement, it should only take about 20 to 30 minutes to set up so don’t wait too long to slope the concrete away from the post properly or you may not be able to form it.

A Job Well Done

Alright, if you got this far you should have concrete in your post hole along with a fence post and some gravel. As mentioned earlier, it should take 20 to 30 minutes for the concrete to set up. However, I would wait until the next day before I start taking off supports and hanging fence. I’ve seen fence contractors roll in with a whole crew and have all of this done in one day. I’ve also seen some of those same fences get out of whack because the weight of the fence was placed on the posts to quickly and they sagged under the pressure. The concrete cured this way and now there is nothing that can be done to fix it short of pulling out the post and starting over.

This article is a loosely paraphrased transcription of my Youtube video titled “Do It Yourself Fence Project Part 2.” If I haven’t posted it at the time you are reading this article, keep checking back here at suburbitat.com for Part 3. Thanks!

References

Stanley, T., Johanson, M., & Gehlhar, J. (Eds.). (2008). QUIKRETE Guide to Concrete: Masonry & Stucco Projects. Minnesota: Creative Publishing International.