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Rant: My neighbor insisted concrete anchors were a waste on wood posts
Old Hank from down the street swore I didn't need concrete for my 4x4 posts in sandy soil near Dallas. I listened to him and set 8 posts with just tamped gravel. 3 months later, 5 of them are leaning like they're drunk. Who here thinks concrete is always necessary or is it just me being unlucky with the ground?
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the_mary5d ago
Wait, have you actually tried digging those holes deeper with gravel before you write off the whole method? I'm not saying Old Hank was right, but I've set plenty of posts in sandy ground with just crushed rock and they held for years. The trick is you gotta dig down at least 3 feet and use the right size gravel that locks together when you tamp it hard. Concrete can actually rot your post faster if water gets trapped against the wood, especially in that Texas heat where it expands and cracks over time. Sounds like your holes might not have been deep enough or you used that pea gravel from the hardware store instead of the jagged crushed stuff that really grabs.
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Dallas sandy soil is basically a joke for fence posts. I learned that the hard way with 6 posts near Plano that all wobbled within 2 months. Gravel just doesn't hold in sand, it shifts with any rain. Concrete gives you that solid base that stops the post from moving when the ground gets wet. I'd say you got unlucky listening to Old Hank, because concrete is pretty much mandatory in that soil type. Five leaning posts out of eight tells me the ground just isn't stable enough for packing gravel alone.
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kevin_williams5d ago
Old Hank probably built his fence back when dirt was just for decoration and gravel was a myth. Sounds like your posts are reenacting a country music video, leaning to the left after a long weekend.
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