Appreciation post: a customer's old fence taught me something

Three years ago I was replacing a cedar fence in Portland that had been up for over 40 years. The posts were set in plain dirt, no concrete, but they were still solid as a rock. The guy who built it had dug the holes crazy deep, like four feet down. It made me rethink how I was doing things. Anyone else run into an old job that made you change your methods?

3 comments

3 Comments

theagibson3d ago

I mean, that's cool and all, but digging four feet for every post sounds like a huge waste of time and effort. Concrete is way faster and just as good for most jobs.

troysmith3d ago

Yeah but @theagibson has a point, that's a ton of extra work. Most fences these days will outlast the homeowner anyway.

martinez.kim2d ago

My fence posts are the only thing in my life that will outlast me. I dug them deep and used concrete, so they're basically a monument to my bad back. Future owners can deal with the overkill.