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Update: A job in Boise made me rethink the whole 'dig by hand' rule for post holes.
I was setting a cedar fence for a client near the river last fall. The ground looked soft, so I started with the auger like always. Hit a layer of old river rock about 18 inches down that the machine just bounced off. I spent half a day trying to chip through it by hand. My helper finally said, 'Why don't we just move the line back six inches?' We did, and the holes were clear. I used to think you never adjust the line for the ground, but that job changed my mind. When do you all decide to shift a post location instead of fighting the dirt?
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kelly.patricia17d ago
My buddy Jake hit a massive concrete footing from an old shed last summer putting up a privacy fence in Meridian. His post layout was perfect on paper, right on the property pin. He fought with a jackhammer for a whole afternoon on just one hole. The client finally walked out and said to just step the post over two feet and keep the straight run. The fence looks great and you'd never know unless you measured from the pin. Sometimes the perfect plan on paper just doesn't work in the real dirt.
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the_viola17d ago
That's a smart move, but calling it "adjusting the line" is a bit off. You didn't really move the planned fence line, you just shifted a single post location. The line stayed the same, right? That's a key difference. Sometimes you just have to work around a rock and keep the string tight.
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