Hole Post

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How to Dig Post Holes and Install Posts

Lisa Hallett Taylor is an expert in architecture and landscape design who has written more than 1,000 articles about pool, patio, garden, and home improvement over 12 years. She has a bachelor's degree in Environmental Design and is certified in fine and decorative arts appraisal.

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The goal: to install a somewhat flimsy prefabricated wood arbor into the ground to ensure stability. The arbor's four posts do not provide extra space to sink posts deeply into the ground with concrete . You'll need to dig holes about a foot deep, mix concrete in a wheel barrow, and pour it into the holes. While this tutorial is for a prefabricated arbor, you can use it for digging holes and installing posts for decks , fences , gazebos , and other outdoor structures.

Start off the project by measuring center lines of each post to determine where to dig holes for a total of four measurements for four holes. Each hole should be approximately 1 foot in diameter and 1 foot deep.

Embed the anchors into the concrete, eliminating the need to sink the posts in the concrete. We purchased fairly shallow anchors because the arbor will only support the weight of vines. If this was for a fence or deck, you'd want deeper holes for longer, stronger post anchors.

Saddle the posts into the anchors. You want to have an air space between the bottom of the post and the saddle so that it doesn’t retain moisture and has a way to dry. To do this use scraps of floor tiles approximately 1/4-inch thick. You can also use 1/4-inch or 3/8-inch plywood scrap.

Drill corresponding holes. Some anchors have holes that allow them to be nailed into the posts, but for extra reinforcement, drill the holes and bolt them in.

After drilling holes in posts, attach the anchors securely with purchased fasteners. Place a flat washer on each side of the hole and a lock washer on the end where you install the nut. The lock washer will ensure that the nut won’t back out.

At this point, the anchor is tightly bolted into the post.

Since this particular arbor is somewhat flimsy, you will need to determine the top width of the arbor to clamp the bottom posts at the same distance so that the arbor is squared up. Measure the top of arbor from the center line of each post.

Mark the center lines on the 2x4s and clamp each post to that center line mark with a C-clamp. This way we now have a solid, squared structure that can be positioned over the holes to prepare to pour the concrete.

Suspend arbor over holes by placing bricks , 2x4s or, in this case, pieces of broken cement and 2x4s. The goal is to use the support materials to space the arbor in increments until it's level and square to the ground. Use the clamped 2x4s from Step 7 as a basis for leveling horizontally and the posts themselves to level vertically. Add or remove spacers until you achieve proper alignment.

After double-checking your measurements and levels, add water to concrete mix per directions on the bag. Use a large bucket or wheelbarrow to mix the concrete. When the concrete reaches the desired consistency, which should be like an extra-thick milkshake, pour it into the holes. Wait approximately 24 hours or whatever the concrete mix instructions recommend.

Remove spacers, unclamp 2x4s last used in Step 8, and clear away loose concrete. Fill holes with dirt and proceed to put in ground cover , pavers , plants, or whatever else you have in mind. Enjoy your arbor, knowing the posts have been imbedded securely into the ground. Congratulations: you did it!

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Digging Post Holes – The Perfect Way

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Home » Newest Articles » Digging Post Holes – The Perfect Way
A post-hole is more than just a hole in the earth. It is a shaft cut straight down into the ground to particular size in a particular place, despite all the root and rock obstacles between your shovel point and the bottom. It is also a heck of a lot of work, so I want to do it right the first time whenever possible.
“Right?” You might ask. “Dude, it’s a hole. Taking yourself a little too seriously? Grab your post-hole digger and get to it.”
This reply might fly, say for a mailbox post (but even those must comply with mailbox placement regulations—see Side Note 1).
However, for a deck, fence or pergola, post holes need to be right or something goes seriously wrong with carpentry layout, profitability and/or inspection. If they’re not the right shape and correct depth, they won’t fly.
I’ve dug (and re-dug) hundreds of post holes, both alone and with other people, who swear they know how to do it. The key to digging post holes correctly is to understand what you’re digging and to throw away old assumptions about the tools everyone has in their shed or garage.
It’s best to think about post holes as shafts. They descend straight (plumb) down from where you start digging them. The sides of the shaft are straight and the bottom of the hole is flat (or at least flat-ish). In other words, if your hole looks like a cup or a bowl, well, it’s not a post-hole.
This concept is pretty easy to get your head around. In reality, however, it is more difficult to execute because it requires us to use the most basic tools we own (shovels, digging bars, etc.) that we’ve all used a zillion times for shoveling projects—mulch/snow, leveling the yard, turning over the garden—in a different way. Digging a proper posthole is all about getting started in the right place and going the right direction. And that is harder than it sounds.
Different people lay out post-hole locations differently, usually by running strings or pulling lay-out from an existing structure. However you get there, the first thing to do is mark the whole hole.
Center. The first thing I mark is the center of the hole. I then take a screw or nail, shove it through a hunk of caution tape or red duct tape, and plug it into the ground. Next, I grab a can of spray paint and paint a 24-in. “X” across the center of the hole. (I learned this trick in Joplin, Missouri, building the Boomtown playground with the crew of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.) This cross mark helps keep me on target. The first step is to dig out the screw marking the hole’s center.
Like many projects, starting on the right foot is an indicator of things to come. For post holes, I like to slice the earth at the top of the hole in a square, and there’s hardly a better tool for that than a garden spade. You can measure your hole width (decks with 6-by-6 posts or 12-in. builder’s tube usually require a hole that is 16-by-16-in. square or diameter or larger).
The other critical job the spade does is help get the sides of the hole going down straight from the get-go—which is the first hardest part of the job and the thing that’ll chase you right down to the bottom of the hole. Lean the handle away from you to get the blade plumb, and then jump on the bad boy like you mean it to sink the blade below the sod.
I like the spade to get started, but after getting under the sod, I need to scoop out the loose dirt that’s in the hole, and for that I switch to the long-handled shovel.
To cut the earth straight off the sides of the shaft, you have to lean the shovel handle outward in a way that might seem uncomfortably far away from your body. However, you know that when you’re reaching for the handle, the blade of the shovel is cutting straight down. It is usually around this point in the hole where things go wrong with a rookie because they try to scoop instead of cut. Once you’ve sheared off the sides of the hole into the bottom, then you scoop out the loose fill.
That’s pretty much the mojo, although root, rock, clay and other obstructions will conspire to nudge you off course. Nudge them back.
Digging a shaft is harder than most people think, and it takes almost nothing to get off track. It’s kind of like swimming in a straight line under water—there’s nothing to gauge your progress against. A root or rocks can knock even a skid-steer powered auger off line. To help keep the shaft plunging straight down, I employ a whole battery of tools.
Digging Bar. My primary go-to for layers of rock-hard clay, smallish rocks and roots is my digging bar. It can pierce and puncture clay layers. I slam it down the edges of the shaft, then I use it to chew up the center of the hole. I then return it to the edge of the hole and pry against the rim until I’m through the clay. Rinse and repeat. And, unless you’ve got calluses on your calluses, wear gloves; this steel likes skin.
There’s also nothing more brutal on small roots than the digging bar blade. Kind of like a shear, I plunge the bar down into them. Sometimes I start at the edge of the root to get it cut, then take subsequent blows to get it out.
The bar can also pry rocks out from the edge of the shaft. And, if there is an old footing down there, such as the edge of a sidewalk or rock that’ll fracture, you can use the digging bar to delete those obstacles with lead-pipe brutality.
However, when pounding down into the hole, make sure to try and keep the rim intact. No matter what happens inside the hole, this is the control point.
Recip Saw. Some roots are simply too big for a digging bar to cut through—and too deep for a mattock (awesome root cutter) or axe—to get at. For those, I clear as much dirt from around them as I can and cut them out using my recip saw. Expect dirt to blow up in your face from the saw’s exhaust, and for typical demo blades to gum up because the wood is so green. Skil’s Ugly blade, with its massive gullets and super sharp teeth, really evens the odds.
Jackhammer or Rotary Hammer. I’ve encountered dirt so hard that there is simply no other way through it than to go hardcore muscle. For those instances, an electric jackhammer can save the day. I’ve also found my way through uber soil using my rotary hammer and a “spade” type bit. It breaks the soil up just like a jackhammer will, but with less power and more maneuverability. You can rent either tool easily.
To meet structural requirements for inspections, whether you’re building a deck or dropping piers for an addition, the inspector not only wants to see the bottom of the hole, but that the bottom is far enough away from the top. An easy way to get a measurement is to bridge the hole with something straight like your shovel or hunk of 2-by so you can sink your tape and get a decent reading.
The Bottom. Getting every fleck of dirt out of the hole isn’t really possible, so once I’m deep enough and have made the bottom relatively flat, I jump in and tamp it down with my feet. Trust me when I tell you that a hole bottom that is flat and free of debris makes positioning a post or tube significantly easier. And every inspector I’ve met likes to see nice, neat work. Once they start seeing sloppy stuff, they’re extra vigilant. In other words, if you can’t get the hole right, what else is a mess?
In a landscaped yard dirt can co-mingle with the grass and be a mess to clean up, especially on extended projects and/or if it rains. A sheet of plywood is a great bond-break between grass and dirt congealing around it. Sheet plastic works too, as long as you’re re-filling in 24 hours or so. And, on longer projects, it makes sense to cover the dirt pile with plastic to keep it dry so it is easier to work when refilling.
You will have more dirt left over after the fact. The post, tube, concrete etc., all take up space—plus the dirt is entrained with air. There are a number of techniques to refill the hole, all of which work with varying degrees of success.
You can tamp down the dirt as you refill it (with a tamper, the back of a digging bar or the head of a sledgehammer), but you have to be careful not to move the post as you pack dirt around it. You can also overfill the hole, which will then sink down as water and gravity take effect. The top of the hole may stay proud of the ground or sink below, so this one can be tricky.
The bottom line is that in order to build up, you have to dig in and dig down first.
According to the Us Postal service, your local postmaster must approve the location of your mailbox. This typically means that a roadside mailbox must be located where a carrier can reach inside without leaving the truck. That means positioning it about 41 to 45 in. off the ground and back about 6 to 8 in. from the curb.
My main post-hole tools are a spade, long-handled shovel, a digging bar and a tape measure and/or level (for layout and depth measurement). You might notice there is no post-hole digger. Not only are they brutal to use (I have rarely been as sore after a day behind a post-hole digger), but they either don’t cut a big enough hole, won’t cut through tough soil, or they don’t scoop out as much dirt as I can get with my shovel. I’m not saying they don’t work, but when you’re staring down a dozen 40-in. deep holes for a fence, any move you can save is a good move.
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post·hole

| \ ˈpōst-ˌhōl

\

Recent Examples on the Web

Upgrading Your Fence Game To install the screen, mark the post centers on the ground, and use a posthole digger or shovel to dig holes at least 30 in.

—

Neal Barrett, Popular Mechanics , 15 May 2021

Setting the Posts Use a posthole digger to dig the holes.

—

Merle Henkenius, Popular Mechanics , 23 Oct. 2020

Magazine reviewers were generally favorable to the first Bronco, but there’s a reason the truck became a rural workhorse with an accessories catalog full of snowplows and posthole diggers.

—

Jonathon Ramsey, Car and Driver , 12 July 2020

Nearby, the remains of postholes mark the ghostly outlines of two longhouses.

—

Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica , 3 Dec. 2019

For more than an hour, the three humans dig postholes in the hard dirt, put up a fence and prepare the goats’ meal.

—

Rachel Manteuffel, Washington Post , 13 Aug. 2019

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Merriam-Webster

post·hole

| \ ˈpōst-ˌhōl

\

: a hole sunk in the ground to hold a fence post

gregarious
tetchy
superficial
flashy

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These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'posthole.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback .

“Posthole.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/posthole. Accessed 14 Oct. 2022.
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