Digging post holes and setting the posts.

Originally Posted by Gooner

Question 1 : Best way to dig the holes?

If you are doing a lot of holes, getting an auger in is worth it ... but for 6 holes I would just use a post hole shovel and crowbar (quicker and easier in the long run).

Originally Posted by Gooner

Question 2 : How to set into the hole?

I'd just fill it with straight concrete. You want those footings to be as strong as possible.

Originally Posted by Gooner

Question 3: Any special consideration for setting the post considering it is timber?

Put some batten screws into the timber that will be set in concrete, to prevent them from being pulled out and ties the post to the concrete. Personally I would use steel posts.

Originally Posted by Gooner

Question 4 : Best way to make it plumb? I thought about suspending the post so that gravity would do the job. Any other ideas?

I would use timber stays on the post (two stays). Screw the stay into a peg and the plumb the post. Once plumbed, secure the stay to the post using a clamp ... check plumb again ... then screw the stay to the post.

Originally Posted by oohsam

Steel posts can be expensive.

When I did a cubby house for our kids (maybe 2 years ago) the price of steel was only marginally more expensive than timber (much less than 5% if I remember correctly). So I ended up using steel for the posts and cypress for the bearers and joists.

Originally Posted by oohsam

Nothing wrong with using cypres pine.

Absolutely, but gal steel will last a lot longer in ground and is less likely to have any structural issues than timber.

Ok, thanks for the advice... Here is my current plan of attack....

1. not a bad idea to paint or seal the the bottom of the posts, so I may do that tonight ready for tomorrow. (May use some spare thinned down Feast Watson Spar Marine varnish I have sitting around).

2. Go past Bunnings on the way home and buy a steel pole type crow bar type thingy and a post hole digger.

3. String line the outer perimeter where it needs to be.

4. Dig holes to a depth of about 60cm, use a sole plate at the bottom and perhaps try and make the bottom of the hole a little bit wider than the rest of the hole for a better footing.

5. Hammer in some pegs ready for the supports to keep the post straight.

6. Place post in hole on top of sole plate, fill up with only cement. (What type of cement mix? Would quick set be good enough?)

7. Spirit level or plumb (I find a plumb bob is more accurate) the post and secure to pegs with some timber and screws.

8. Go back to step 4 and repeat for all six posts.

9. Have beer.

Sound good?

Originally Posted by ndaki

crushed rock or a sole plate, try to make the plate the same wood type as the posts. i prefer sole plates over rock as it can help steady the posts when setting it straight.

why should the sole plate be of the same wood type? What does it matter?

Originally Posted by Gooner

(What type of cement mix? Would quick set be good enough?)

Don't use quickset (ok for fences and TV reno programs) ... use normal concrete (like premix bags) for anything structural. My all round mix is a 4 all-in to 1 cement mix.

Paul..don't forget to keep your fluids up tomorrow.

Originally Posted by rrobor

Hey Gooner you must by flush. Big pinch is $70 and a digger thing, who knows. you dont need both. Personally one of those hand powered post diggers I found absolutely useless. If you are fit, 60 cm with a sharp spade would take half an hour, with a big pinch as well, even less.

Mate, this is one of these off-the-cuff projects that has turned into a mega budget blower. Site leveling, tons of crushed rock, $1K worth of timber, $2K cubby, $150 worth of paint, tools, and it still isn't over.

Well I went out and bought a post hole digger for $55 and a 5.5ft crow bar at $85 for a grand total of $120. (?? They must have stuffed up the count to my advantage).

I generally agree with Henry Ford when he said something along the lines of;

"If you need a tool today and do not buy it, you pay for it tomorrow but do not have the tool."

I have found this to be true in many of the jobs I have done. Not buy a tool, struggle without it, compromise the job, only to go out and buy it a few months later.

Anyway I gave the post hole digger and the crow bar a test run tonight and the pair work a treat. By itself the post hole digger is cumbersome. The crow bar does a good job of loosing it all up for removal with the post hole digger. Should get it done relatively quickly tomorrow methinks.

Thanks for the replies so far.

My next "issue" that I am kinda ignoring and hoping it won't bite me is that the cubby is elevated 1.5 meters off the ground and the cubby total height is 2 meters. Therefore the cubby will be 3.5 meters high in total. It it over 1.5 meters away from the fence, but I think the council code allows no higher than 3 meters. Hmmmm hope the neighbours don't complain.

The issue is compounded by the fact that after leveling the site the cubby is now much higher.. add another 30cm of bark and the thing is going to look more like 4 meters high from the neighbours yard......

The cubby will be tall, but will be tucked on the back left hand corner of the property and be about 1.8 meters away from the left and back boundary line. The left wall has no window and neither does the back. The cubby does have a verandah, but that looks into our backyard. It will look into the neightbours on the left, but behind his shed, so probably no big deal there. Will certainly be able to see better into the neighbours on the right, but from the opposite side of the property.

I am going to do all I can to respect my neighbours privacy just as I would hope they would do the same for me. May put up a screen/sail on one side of the verandah and maybe some trusses on the fence next to the cubby.