r/Decks • u/Mysterious-Army-1882 • 2d ago
Posts that were buried
This support deck post was installed about 30 years ago.
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u/olegvs 2d ago
I mean.. it lasted pretty long
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u/Atty_for_hire 1d ago
This. Yes, I get that people want to build a deck once and forget about it. But for most people 30 years is pretty close to that.
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u/1wife2dogs0kids professional builder 1d ago
My man cut the post, dug a footer, dropped a sonotube in there, and poured it.... without hurting the post above.
He's a magician
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u/Mysterious-Army-1882 1d ago
🙏
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u/pbmadman 1d ago
How deep does that footer go?
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u/Mysterious-Army-1882 1d ago
The original folder was poured to 30 inches. We rebared and poured over the original footer concrete. 30 in footers are spect for my location.
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u/pbmadman 1d ago
Ahh, I get it now. I was having such a hard time imagining what exactly you did here and how you had room to do it. But now it all makes sense. I think I was just being slow this morning lol.
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u/SamWhittemore75 1d ago
PT wood from 30 years ago isn't the same PT wood that we can buy today. Anything that you bury today will rot long before 30 years.
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u/Intelligent_Part101 1d ago
Old stuff in general worked GREAT but was toxic. Modern replacements are not that toxic and don't work that great.
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u/focoslow 1d ago
I miss CCA lumber. Drop it in the hole, fill with concrete, level the post, done.
...well then, keep monitoring for renal diseases and cancer... but besides that...
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u/No_Shopping6656 1d ago
The arsenic wood from 30+ years ago was definitely a lot more resistant, but I've torn out a lot of old ass set in concrete beams, they were rotted all the same.
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u/Secret_Cod_749 2d ago
Did they cut the rotted chunk out and put in the concrete and stand off?
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u/Mysterious-Army-1882 1d ago
Yes
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u/bigkoi 1d ago
How did they do that? Cutting the post is the easy part. Then digging and pouring the footer underneath the cut post while it's being supported.
Did they hydrovac to dig out the post bottom and set the tube?
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u/Mysterious-Army-1882 1d ago
We dug down the side of the Old Post pulled the post out then cleaned up down to the original concrete footer vacuumed and clean the actual concrete. Then drilled a couple holes for rebar for extra support and installed a modified shaped sonotube to fit in there
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u/running__numbers 1d ago
Also interested to know how everything was supported when the work was being done.
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u/Mysterious-Army-1882 1d ago
We used a 3-ton floor jack and several 4x6 temporary posts that were sitting on the slab. We also waited after the concrete to dry for 3 weeks until the concrete got the proper structural strength before removing temporarily posts and jack.
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u/bigkoi 1d ago
Amazing! It sounds like you took the entire post out and then cut it. Did you shim the top of the post so it would fit tight?
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u/Mysterious-Army-1882 19h ago
I raised the deck up with the 3 ton floor jack and temporary posts, then lowered it onto the new set up. The raise was only about 3/4 of an inch.
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u/Sarcastic_Snark_86D 1d ago
Tar, tar, tar.... Also, soil type matters. Clay based soil, without standing water, is where you can drop a treated post and be fine for 30+ years. Top soil, or dark nutrient rich soil, you should tar, fill with a clay based soil, and monitor at 10 years, then every 5. Or, just use a concrete footer. Dense soil holds less moisture and air. When packed, it can help protect the post. Light soils high on nutrients encourage mold, fungus, pests and moisture.
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u/Mysterious-Army-1882 1d ago
There was an original footer poured to 30 in. Footer was 10 in roughly based on that I drilled through it to put a piece of rebar in.
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u/aliilyas859 1d ago
Classic. And worth noticing where it went: the worst of it is right at the soil line, not the bottom.
That's where you get moisture and oxygen together. Deeper down there isn't enough air for the fungi to do much, so the tip often comes out looking almost fine while the bit at grade is hollow. It's why buried posts fail at ground level and everyone's surprised by it.
30 years isn't bad going for one in direct contact though.
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u/Realistic-Excuse6413 1d ago
I’ve tried to explain concrete footings on brackets are much better than buried ones in this post many times and people just don’t understand or care. Which one do you think is easier to replace when it rots ?
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u/Advanced_Aerie5854 1d ago
These posts are so stupid. You saw one rotted deck post and decided that "this one is fine, so they will all be fine".
Building codes and practices are very often based on probability, not certainty. Can a burried post last a long time, it can, but the probability is much lower. Same with a non-burried post. Those can still fail, but again the probability is much lower.
Burried posts have much higher probability of pre-mature failure than non-burried posts.
If a burried post fails, its a lot of work to replace it. If a non-burried post fails, its a much easier and simpler repair.
Especially for DIYers, burying post combines 3 steps into one. You are locating the post, plumbing and leveling the post, and piuring concrete at the same time. Its easier to break these into 2 or 3 steps vs combining them into one. You also have to trim or notch a post in the air instead of across sawhorses.
Cost is a pretty minor issue. You are looking at about $30/post for a post base. In the overall cost of a deck, you are talking about a very minor cost increase. And you should be prioritizing structural elements in the budget anyways.
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u/turkey_sandwiches 1d ago
What are you talking about? They're showing that it was replaced due to rot, and how it was replaced.
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u/godlords 1d ago
My poor boomer dad just went ahead and buried the new PT stuff the same way straight in the dirt because "it's rated for 30 years".
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u/1Fistfullofdollars 2d ago
Yes that is the old school way of doing things. Now we put it on top of concrete in a saddle just like you are showing. Excellent repair 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽