out of the 40 posts I pulled 10 of them came out 100%.
the rest had to be dug out. each post had one thing in common. failure to bond. they all broke off just after the first 2 feet below grade. when I dug the bottoms out, it was all powder. those posts had been sitting there for 20 years, so there’s literally no other reason why the bottoms failed to cure other than they dry poured.
mixing and pouring would have saved me more time than the last guy saved by doing it wrong the first time.
Time isn’t the only factor, water may not be available, if it’s a colder place, you need to keep it heated all day while you work. Dry bonded concrete works, if you’re replacing all the posts, it doesn’t sound like it’s only because a few failed, because you would just replace those ones. It’s not an inherently wrong job just because you don’t like it lol.
And auger makes the task moot anyways, and if it’s powder, a shovel works fine too.
out of the 40 posts I pulled 10 of them came out 100%.
the rest had to be dug out. each post had one thing in common. failure to bond. they all broke off just after the first 2 feet below grade. when I dug the bottoms out, it was all powder. those posts had been sitting there for 20 years, so there’s literally no other reason why the bottoms failed to cure other than they dry poured.
mixing and pouring would have saved me more time than the last guy saved by doing it wrong the first time.
Time isn’t the only factor, water may not be available, if it’s a colder place, you need to keep it heated all day while you work. Dry bonded concrete works, if you’re replacing all the posts, it doesn’t sound like it’s only because a few failed, because you would just replace those ones. It’s not an inherently wrong job just because you don’t like it lol.
And auger makes the task moot anyways, and if it’s powder, a shovel works fine too.