# Setting fence posts with expanding foam



## Lookin4GoodLife (Oct 14, 2013)

Has anyone tried the expanding foam for setting fence posts? I'm looking at what they sell at www.secureset.net. The videos look very promising, but I was just curious if anyone had ever used it.


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## Robotron (Mar 25, 2012)

Never heard of it but seems a bit pricy for the holes. Hope you don't need a bunch of holes. I tried for 100 6x6 post. 45 gallons for just under $1300.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

It would be a waste of money when all you need is the dirt that came out of the holes and something to pack it in with


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## farminghandyman (Mar 4, 2005)

TO tamp or pack the hole back dirt, put a few inches in the hole arond the post, and take (I made a tamping bar, from a 3/4" pipe, and a short piece of 1 or 1 1/8" shaft, and on the other end a 1/2" thick, round from some flat iron, 

I take the end with 2" round and pack it down a little then turn it over and use the 1" end, and pack it down more, then another lift of 6 inches of loose dirt, and repeat it packing it down again, untill you fill or are at ground level, 

my dad used a old one inch shaft, but a 5 foot shaft is heavy, I made the unit I made (actually have 2 of them) and they work well, It has the heft that is needed but still light enough to work with for a many hours, and if the soil is really fluffy the 2 inch end helps get it down to workable, to make quick work with the 1" end, 
but one needs the smaller end to really pack the dirt down the 2" reduce the pressure to much for a proper job, 

when I have had some help and need a few extra tamping bars, we jsut used some black 3/4 inch pipe, the ends pack full and will do a good job, 

but you need to do it in small lifts, if you fill it full, the bottom will not get packed enough, and in a few months or years, the post will be loose, and retapng from the top will not do that great of a job, many times if that is done about the only way to get it tight and solid is to pull the post or dig it out, and reset it, 

if there is pressure on it, one can set the post against the side of the hole, and tamp the back side, some times it helps, not to have fresh tamped dirt all around,


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## M5farm (Jan 14, 2014)

I use barn sand, Its the really dry dirt under your barn. very little tamping is required just wiggle the post and it packs itself


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## mustangglp (Jul 7, 2015)

For gate post I use a half of bag dry quikrete its less then 3$ a bag. For fence post just tamp them as above.


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## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

Pound the posts. I have never understood digging a hole and then having to tamp it etc. after.


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## RonM (Jan 6, 2008)

Using the dirt you dug out is a lot cheaper..


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## WatchRyder (Feb 22, 2016)

RonM said:


> Using the dirt you dug out is a lot cheaper..


Sometimes most of the 'dirt' is loose rock and debris though.


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## mustangglp (Jul 7, 2015)

farmerDale said:


> Pound the posts. I have never understood digging a hole and then having to tamp it etc. after.


You are a true bad ass if you can pound a ten foot 4x4 in the ground or your cheating like the power company does?
Now I assume were not talking t post?


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## LincTex (Oct 11, 2010)

farmerDale said:


> Pound the posts. I have never understood digging a hole and then having to tamp it etc. after.


 Maybe in sand... or really loose soil. 

This doesn't work at all if there's any rocks in the soil, or the post is larger diameter (3-4" or larger). Even pounding a 4" post into "rock free" soil is pretty tough.


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## Lookin4GoodLife (Oct 14, 2013)

This is for a board fence between mine and my neighbor's house. I do not want to deal with loose posts in 6 months or 6 years. I want to put it in one time and be done with it. The posts will be 24" in the ground. I don't think a half a bag of concrete will do it, but I haven't set posts in a long time. Part of the draw to the polyurethane is the quick setup time. My son will be helping me during his spring break and we won't have a lot of time to wait for the posts to dry. I appreciate everyone's advice though. Thank you.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Lookin4GoodLife said:


> This is for a board fence between mine and my neighbor's house. I do not want to deal with loose posts in 6 months or 6 years. I want to put it in one time and be done with it. *The posts will be 24" in the ground.* I don't think a half a bag of concrete will do it, but I haven't set posts in a long time. Part of the draw to the polyurethane is the quick setup time. My son will be helping me during his spring break and we won't have a lot of time to wait for the posts to dry. I appreciate everyone's advice though. Thank you.


Adding some high priced foam won't really make them stronger if they aren't deep enough to begin with since it's still ultimately the ground that holds them in place

24" really isn't very deep unless you have hard clay soil


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## Kaos (Oct 7, 2008)

Lookin4GoodLife said:


> Has anyone tried the expanding foam for setting fence posts? I'm looking at what they sell at www.secureset.net. The videos look very promising, but I was just curious if anyone had ever used it.


I'm assuming you are talking about a wooden fence.
I've built several 6' wooden fences and considered using that, the price turned me off and I went with the usual 2' hole with concrete. I just don't see where the extra cost is worth it. 
I always come above ground level and taper my concrete away from the post. If you allow damp dirt to keep in contact with the post it will rot (treated pine post), contrary to what they may claim.
Anyone who considers using dirt to set post for a 6' wooden fence should think again (at least in the south). A few days of rain and some strong wind and that fence will blow over.


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## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

LincTex said:


> Maybe in sand... or really loose soil.
> 
> This doesn't work at all if there's any rocks in the soil, or the post is larger diameter (3-4" or larger). Even pounding a 4" post into "rock free" soil is pretty tough.


We do not have sand. We have rocks. I am not talking pounding by hand, but one can rent a post pounder. One can pound a pile of posts in a day. Lots of them up here for the rental. Way faster than digging and tamping, and fiddling around. If you hit a rock, you move over a bit.


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## 1948CaseVAI (May 12, 2014)

The electric utility here uses it to set transmission poles up to 90 feet tall. It must work.


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

mustangglp said:


> You are a true bad ass if you can pound a ten foot 4x4 in the ground or your cheating like the power company does?
> Now I assume were not talking t post?


[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvpuvaLUqaM[/ame]


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## Lookin4GoodLife (Oct 14, 2013)

I understand a board fence is a pricey item to try out a new product on. That's why I was asking if anyone had any personal experience with this product. IF the product works as advertised, it will actually come out cheaper than concrete. If you guys watched the videos on their web page, posts buried with the foam had a *significantly* stronger release psi than the concrete and with the time constraints I'm under, the only concrete I could use would be the Quikrete fast set. According to Quikrete's web site, for a 4x4 post, you need a 12" hole and with my post depth of 24", they say I need four 50# bags of fast set Quikrete. My Home Depot sells those bags for $4.68 if I buy 64 for a total of $18.72/hole plus tax. The Secureset web site says I'll need an 8" hole and at 24" deep, I'll need 5 gallons of Secureset for a total of $140 plus shipping. $140 plus shipping (probably less than $200 total) vs. $440 for concrete. I'm in central GA and our frost line is less than 6". Once we get through a few inches of topsoil, our soil is mostly solid clay. I'll dig a 30" hole and put 6" of gravel in the bottom of the hole for drainage. I understand any company could tweak videos to make the results come out in their favor, but it really looks like a decent product.


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## Lookin4GoodLife (Oct 14, 2013)

Oh, and I do agree that a post will rot off if something isn't done to keep water away from it.


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## Lookin4GoodLife (Oct 14, 2013)

Well, then there's the "my luck" aspect of this. The company says this product can't be used in a wet or muddy hole for the initial setup. Guess what our weather forecast is for the entire week my son is home?  Crap.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Comparing it to the cost of concrete makes little difference since concrete isn't needed either.

Tamped dirt will do everything that needs doing


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## farminghandyman (Mar 4, 2005)

farmerDale said:


> Pound the posts. I have never understood digging a hole and then having to tamp it etc. after.



with out power equipment hard to pound a 6 or 8 inch wood post, 
and most post pounder capable of doing that is in the $3,000 up range. so using a $20 post digger, and a pipe makes since to me,

and yes the tractor post pounder is one of my better investments, no diggin and no tamping.

and I have pounder many a T post by had, but if I got a lot to do, I did by a air powered t post pounder, and like it, http://www.rohrermfg.com/post-drivers/98e-basic-t-post-driver/ and use a king size air hammer, with a ground rod driver, to drive the re bar electric posts in frozen ground,


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## bobp (Mar 4, 2014)

we have a 6' x 1 1/4 shaft, a wooden utility tamper (wood handle with a 2x4 end all one piece, with 1/2" flatbar wrapping it) and a 6' rock bar i cut the flat end off of and then welded a 10# sledgehammer head lengthwise on the end of it..I prefer it by a long shot.

we tamp a 2-3 layer of dirt then chunk rocks in the baseball-softball size then a layer of dirt---wash rinse repeat..... they last forever, and drain pretty well....


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

Post holes and clay soil are things I know about. I've dug hundreds in red clay.

6 inches of gravel in the bottom of a clay lined hole will do what? Just how does this gravel reservoir keep water away?

A rock in the bottom of the hole, drop in the post, add a bag of readymix concrete, cover with the dirt from the hole and move on to the next post.

Add anything to the hole that isn't solid clay and your posts will sit in water most of the time. 

Wet clay has very little strength. Push on a fence post that is sitting in a 24 inch hole and it will move. Push on a fence post with a gob of foam on the end and it will move. Push on a post with a 60 pound hunk of concrete stuck to the end and it isn't going far.


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## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

I use dirt and shale for our post. I usually go down 20 inches or so. Fill half with shale tamp hard with digging iron and then tamp in the dirt. They hold fine. Even for gate post.


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## bobp (Mar 4, 2014)

if it holding any weight at all, i see 36" deep as a minimum. 4' is even better.


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## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

bobp said:


> if it holding any weight at all, i see 36" deep as a minimum. 4' is even better.


Depends on the gate size. Or 48 inch gates for goat pens handle 24 inches of shale pack as well as anything. Now 10 to 16 ft field gates I go down 36 with brace post.


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## mustangglp (Jul 7, 2015)

haypoint said:


> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvpuvaLUqaM


Yep that be cheating:bash: I drive t post with a 2 inch pipe with a lead plug welded on the end .
I have wonderful sandy loam I can dig a post hole with my clamshell digers in a few minutes.
I don't know about Georgia but here setting in concrete work very well even for gate post with treated lumber non treated rots off in two or three years.
I set gate post at 36 inches or so also .


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## Ozarka (Apr 15, 2007)

...yet another case of waaay too much information...

The simplest and least expensive way is to dig the hole, set post, fill with clean sand, add water. Once the sand sinks down around the post it will be solid forever. Using concrete holds moisture against the post, causing it to rot quicker. Wet sand makes the post immovable. I have sandy loam soil and just use the dirt that I dug out to make the hole. The water part insures the sand fills all the voids in the hole. The 100 ft tall billboards have the post holes backfilled with sand! Think simple! Buy a dumptruck load of masonry sand, don't buy it by the bag.


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## Lookin4GoodLife (Oct 14, 2013)

Never got around to starting the fence when my boy was home on spring break. But I did set a couple 4x6 posts for the run on my chicken coop. And for that, I took Bearfoot's advice and bought me a tamper at Home Depot. Worked pretty good, so I guess that's what I'll go with when I get started on the fence. The 4x6's were among some posts I set for my boy's tree house I built about 18 years ago. Tamped down they didn't rock any more than when the posts were concreted in for his tree house.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> bought me a tamper at Home Depot


I just use a piece of treated 2 X 2, and mark my wire spacing and post depth/heights so I can get them all as close to the same as possible without using a tape measure on each one


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## Lookin4GoodLife (Oct 14, 2013)

I tell ya though, that blade end really helps get through the roots and the rock hard red GA clay. I like the marking idea to not have to keep measuring.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Lookin4GoodLife said:


> I tell ya though, that blade end really helps get through the roots and the rock hard red GA clay. I like the marking idea to not have to keep measuring.


LOL
I know all about Red Clay.
I grew up in central NC where making bricks and pottery are big industries

Where I live now is mostly sand, and if I find a rock it was imported


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## Lookin4GoodLife (Oct 14, 2013)

Years ago I worked on a landscaping crew. There were days we'd arrive at a site with hundreds of plants to set out. On the first one, when you'd hit the ground with a pick and it would just BOUNCE, we'd just look at each other and realize this was NOT going to be a good day. LOL


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

I poured 70 yards of concrete for my barn floor. There are 6 sliding doors. I wanted brackets to keep the doors from being pulled out at the bottom. I put short pieces of PVC pipe in the concrete on the side of each door. These openings would collect water, turns to ice in the winter and would crack my floor. So, I filled each one with spray foam to keep the water out. This closed cell spray foam became open cell foam after one winter. You could dig it out with your finger. I'm thinking that a foam post hole would do the same. Maybe not the first year.


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