Had a weird job in Galveston that made me rethink my whole approach to post holes

I was putting up a fence right by the beach last spring, and the sand was just swallowing my auger. We'd dig down 30 inches and the sides would cave in before we could set the post. My helper looked at me and said, 'This is like trying to dig in sugar.' We ended up mixing a bag of concrete with the sand at the bottom of each hole before setting the post, and it held solid. Anyone else have to get creative with super sandy soil?

3 comments

3 Comments

lee58214h ago

Yeah, sandy spots are the worst. We used those expandable foam post mixes once when we hit a patch like that, and it set up fast enough to beat the cave-in. Worked way better than I thought it would.

emma_jones12h ago

Expandable foam post mixes" always sounded like a gimmick to me. But hearing it actually beat a cave-in... okay, I guess I was wrong about that.

wells.evan6h ago

Totally agree on the foam for sand. We had a job last year where the hole just kept filling back in no matter how fast we worked. Switched to the foam mix and it locked the post in place before the sides could slump. Saved us hours of re-digging. It's one of those things you don't think you need until you're standing there watching your work disappear.