Loading…
10
Rant: The time a 4-foot frost heave almost took out a whole cedar section
I was setting posts for a privacy fence in Grand Rapids last February, thinking the ground was plenty frozen. I set a 6x6 cedar post in what I thought was solid earth, only to have a massive frost heave push it up a full 4 inches overnight after a sudden warm spell. I had to pull the whole section, dig down past the frost line, and reset it with extra gravel for drainage. Has anyone else in a cold climate had to deal with a surprise heave that bad?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
the_charles3mo ago
Call me crazy but I've never had frost heave mess with a fence that bad, and I've been setting posts in Michigan winters for years. You probably just hit a wet spot or didn't tamp the gravel tight enough the first time.
3
skylercooper6mo ago
Man, that's brutal. Everyone talks about frost heaves messing with roads, but they never mention what it does to fences. The real kicker is that the ground can look and feel totally solid, but it's just a frozen crust hiding a wet, shifting mess underneath. You did the right thing going deeper with gravel, but man, what a nasty surprise to find in the morning. That sudden thaw is like the ground playing a dirty trick on you.
1
hayden5876mo ago
Nah, that frozen crust is nature's warning sign. If it looks solid but feels hollow, you should've known something was off.
8