depth for deck pillars?

[R_Ethug]

Re: depth for deck pillars?

well i'll go by hand/shovel as far as i can now.. won't be doing anything over the weekend anyways..

deck is 12' at the house and 16' long so odd rectangle but blame teh builder for the size of my ledger board.. oh well..

[Parts Erik]

Re: depth for deck pillars?

I live 5 mins from you, you can come and see my fence and deck the previous owner built 5 years ago and how he has had to move the gate latches and hinges 7 times so his dogs wouldn't get out.

Rent the mini excavator.


Erik

[Stonewall]

Re: depth for deck pillars?

I have a deck and fence construction company

If only I knew that before I started building my own fence

[Canadian Turbo]

Re: depth for deck pillars?

These threads affirm my choice for living in a downtown condo

[R_Ethug]

Re: depth for deck pillars?

haha erik ya i'll come visit and grab a beer next week man

[cam_wmh]

Re: depth for deck pillars?

These threads affirm my choice for living in a downtown condo

Yep Mission for the win!

& reading about the 75/90 minute highriverokotomereirdrie mid winter commute, makes me right smug.

[Guysmiley]

Re: depth for deck pillars?

My deck is 16' x 24'. I used 8 footings 4" deep with tripple 2"x8" beams. This deck is really solid.

Here are a couple of pics,

[R_Ethug]

Re: depth for deck pillars?

nice guy! i'd say mine is about as tall as yours looks in that pic

i have double 2x8 beams and the joists are all 2x8s also

went out and looked at some of the holes today after they had time to dry.. i'll dig them out more by hand next week.. the one with the giant rock isn't going any deeper.. the rock is HUGE under it.. oh well... haha

[NeonGTI]

Re: depth for deck pillars?

I have the clay grief too and when I built the extension to my deck I could only get down about 32-40 inches (IIRC) using hand tools etc. In hindsight I should have rented or had someone bore the holes as one side of the deck extension (the side with the most shallow holes) is heaving upward.

It isn't too bad now; about 2-3 mm, but it has been creeping up every year since I built it. Sinking posts you can shim but heaving ones may require some creative chainsaw work.

[R_Ethug]

Re: depth for deck pillars?

well i did some work tonight/yesterday..
sprayed the holes and dug/bashed with a shovel last night and filled them up with water

today most of the water drained and then i went at it again and probably got another 8" or more down on 5/6 of them! so thats not too shabby.. they are probably close to 4' now as its hard as hell to reach down with a shovel to remove the muddy clay/rocks

the one hole i got a bit down with the HUGE rock.. well i sprayed with the hose all around the edge and realized its 2 big rocks.. but i was able to get the one out of the hole so i sprayed some more and will try again tomorrow
not sure if i want to rent the auger again just to drill 1 hole down a few feet more i'll probably just hand dig the POS and go from there
fun times

[Ur0Drivr]

Re: depth for deck pillars?

Sounds like you're having a blast Ryan!

[Guysmiley]

Re: depth for deck pillars?

well i did some work tonight/yesterday..
sprayed the holes and dug/bashed with a shovel last night and filled them up with water

today most of the water drained and then i went at it again and probably got another 8" or more down on 5/6 of them! so thats not too shabby.. they are probably close to 4' now as its hard as hell to reach down with a shovel to remove the muddy clay/rocks

the one hole i got a bit down with the HUGE rock.. well i sprayed with the hose all around the edge and realized its 2 big rocks.. but i was able to get the one out of the hole so i sprayed some more and will try again tomorrow
not sure if i want to rent the auger again just to drill 1 hole down a few feet more i'll probably just hand dig the POS and go from there
fun times

I might sound strange but to get the little rocks and debris out from the bottom of the holes i just used my shop vac with the long extension. It worked like a charm. I had to empty the vac a few times but it very quick.

[R_Ethug]

Re: depth for deck pillars?

hrmm i may try that one hhaha..

i'm in a ball tourney all weekend so no work for me :(

today i dug them a bit deeper and measured a few.. then sprayed water in all of them again about 8" deep or so and i'll let it soften it all up

going to concrete them up probably tuesday night pending the weather of course..

right now oddly once the water is in there i have a grass cutter to cut out flower bed shapes,etc..
the blade is exactly 8" wide or the same as the sonotubes.. but you can put it in and start basically twisting it like a blender blade and it actually works the rocks/clay up pretty good! then i remove as much as i can with a shovel and the rest i pull out by hand and get dirty.. some of the works i have to pull out by hand too.. oh well fun times..

[Stonewall]

Re: depth for deck pillars?

I just made a scoop out of a old washer fluid jug, it works awesome.