Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Powered Post Hole Digger. Fencing Along Driveway

The driveway needed some defining with fencing being considered. Three options were presented. The final choice became cedar type fencing for decorative purposes only. Other suggestions were pressure treated from Lowes but they seemed too large and bulky. Another was a low laying type fencing.

200 lineal feet of fence was planned. Starting from the turn on the driveway at the property line and extending down the hill near the flatter parking area. To date I can't say enough about the Lowes delivery team where I've spent most of my home improvement dough. They actually call the night before to confirm delivery and provide an estimated time of arrival. For me times are always set for first thing in the morning.

Cedar fence started along drivewayPic above shows the first four posts done by hand with a manual post hole digger. I had to test the idea. Four holes took 90 minutes and far too many rocks! Forget that idea, time to rent something.

A trip to East Ellijay equipment rental in town. No actual installation pictures are available because I was beat tired and dirty. I had actually considered using a one man post hole digger and doing it myself. Instead I chose the two man rig and called in some local labor thinking this should not take long at all to get done. Wrong!

These machines have the power but cannot navigate around rocks very well, including small ones. The remaining fifteen holes took two of us seven hours, with the last one taking nearly an hour. We actually gave in on a few after encountering larger rocks by cutting the posts six to eight inches shorter with a skill saw. Fairly lightweight for two healthy guys, the mechanical one shown below is gas powered. The only tiring part of the job was pulling the rig in and out of the hole when rocks were hit.

Two man post hole diggerImage from: http://www.walkerfamilyvintners.com/files/index.php?id=19

Rental cost ran sixty dollars for a 24 hour period. I actually kept it longer because once twelve noon comes around I'm done in the yard for the day after starting around 8AM. The rental guys gave me a break after I informed them I would keep it for another half day. Local shop keepers... you gotta love 'em.

Driveway before fence...

Driveway before fencingAfter fence...

Driveway after fence installed

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