I installed about a dozen 6' vinyl solid panel fencing last year on Cape Cod, which has sandy soil being on the coast. I cemented most of them (almost all) using tubes that were 3 1/2 to 4' deep.
Over winter we had some serious wind so now a fair amount of panels have moved. Most people say not that noticeable but driving me crazy so I'd like try to correct.
I know thus won't be easy but in my eyes worth it. I was planning of pouring around tubes there now making a larger base and the few that I didn't cement obviously cement. Fence is 5' high solid with last foot lattice.
Has anyone run into this and know of a solution that could help. I am expecting high winds again in future as in looking at other fences they are also wavy.
One note...if you live in a freezing climate adding concrete to a rough hole gives the ground something to grab and push up from the frost. That's one of the reasons why the sonotube is used...it's smooth surface allows the ground to heave without grabbing it.
I've seen fences that compensate for windy conditions by installing pickets between rails on a 45° angle to allow air to pass. To make it not so mono plain jane, in each section the pickets are turned 45° in the opposite direction.
Forgot about this post and if anyone cares here is an update. I dug out the holes that I did not cement the first time, installed 12" sono tubes down past 4' mark then filled with cement. Bought some good loam and packed it around the tube when filling in. We had another windy winter (one storm knocked a tree over into my fence of course...luckily an easy enough fix) but I am happy to report that my fence is rock solid and straight as an arrow!
Glad it worked out. If it becomes an ongoing issue, you might have to do like Senior said and modify your fence to present less of a sail rather than trying to stay one step ahead of a less-than-stable foundation.
If it is really dry beach sand, concrete without sonotubes might have its moisture wicked away before it has a chance to cure properly.
I know thus won't be easy but in my eyes worth it. I was planning of pouring around tubes there now making a larger base and the few that I didn't cement obviously cement. Fence is 5' high solid with last foot lattice.
Ayuh,.... If I understand ya correctly, ya need ballast for the fence posts, due to unstable soils,....
That said, ya might need 2' or larger sono-tubes to hold the fence up-right in the high wind loads,...
Maybe even 3' tubes,..
It's gonna come down to the Weight of the concrete ballast, rather than how deep ya set 'em, because of the unstable sand,....
I ain't a mathamagician, nor an engineer,....
All I know is ya need enough weight to hold the square footage of the fence up-right, in the highest gale force winds that can be expected,....
I would guess that refill wasn't compact enough. If wind loads are high, I would've just fill the hole with concrete instead of using the tubes and fill around them with dirt. I would guess you can just push/pull the posts with a car or lever/winch. Rocking the posts may work as well.
Ok so how is this different than filling tube hole with concrete then filling around them with dirt? Are you assuming that the hole would have larger diameter than tube?
Yup I was watching sway back and forth this winter, can honestly say surprised still standing. Rest of street fences are worse off guesssing their post weren't cemented.
Personaly, I think digging around the sono tubes and filling with 1inch crushed stone will increase the area that the post is pushing against. The larger the hole you dig around the post, the more resistant to the wind force will be. Make sure and tamp the stone as you go.
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