Tips on installing post in concrete

[J Hill Designs]

Think I will look for a company to do the holes as I have about 30 of them to do... Thanks

yeah. 30? sub it.

or, rent a bobcat with an auger attachment - make some money and have some fun

 

[RiXaX]

You can buy a cement blade for a skill saw. Mark off a square slightly larger than the hole your post hole digger (clam shell) will make. Use a cement drill and make holes in the corners and the skill saw to make the perimeter cuts and a cross cuts diagonally. Hit it with a sledge hammer and knock out the cement. Dig the hole, set the post, pour in some quick crete and add some water and it should be easy to tamp the surface to bring up enough moisture to achieve a clean finish that blends in nicely.

 

[Gino]

A very good friend of mine is part owners of a fencing company. He has a special drill which can drill a 2.5", 3", 4" and 6" hole. It's the neatest thing. He drilled through the cement for each hole in a few minutes a hole. He also has an auger on the front of one of his trucks and an even larger one on the back of another one. We had 30 some 4' x 10' double sided signs to put up and he drilled out each hole in less than 10 minutes a hole. We had all the holes dug in a day. It took two crews coming up behind to set the signs that and the next day. Black top is easy to cut through.

 

[signage]

...or sharp shooter, tile spade, hot shot, Bill Dookie, the list goes on...

There are a ton of "correct" names for it.

Moze show me one google search that will bring up that (track/drain spade) with your so called correct names! Those may be what you or your Friends call it but it is not the correct/industry name for the tool!

 

[tsgstl]

sharp shooter is the only thing I have ever heard it called

http://www.benmeadows.com/the-monta...61700&ef_id=3qxNm0IsZywAAE@-:20121205160655:s

 

[Moze]

Moze show me one google search that will bring up that (track/drain spade) with your so called correct names! Those may be what you or your Friends call it but it is not the correct/industry name for the tool!

Just one?

Amazon - Sharp shooter

Amazon - tile spade

Sharp shooter shovel

Bill Dookie shovel

Tile spade

18 names for one shovel

Edit: Ironically, the one that doesn't show up (that I've seen) is the name you said is "correct"...track spade.

 

[signage]

Moze those shovels were originally made for cleaning out the tracks of tanks and bulldozers! Then they found other uses for them and they became available at more common stores as drain/trench spades!

When I did a search for a sharp shooter I found nothing, so your original post should have said sharp shooter shovel! That would have explained it, just doing a search for sharp shooter came up with not tools other than an assassin!

 

[tsgstl]

This is precisely how the term "calling a spade a spade" came to be

 

[Pat Whatley]

Think I will look for a company to do the holes as I have about 30 of them to do... Thanks

Even with the right equipment cutting that many holes is a job and you never know if you're gonna run into rebar, or buried utilitites, or a slab that just happens to crack where you drilled it. Let somebody with experience do it and let them deal with the problems. You just mark it up and make a profit.

 

[Moze]

Hey, I'm not the arguing type and I believe you! I've just always seen them sold and named by the manufacturers as sharp shooters so that's what I call them. My dad (ex-military) calls them Bill Dookie's because they were used for digging trenches for "dookie".

 

[Hicalibersigns]

Funny. Your region comes into play too. I remember once when I was a kid about 14 or so, my dad sent me to the local lumber yard to pick up a box of fence staples. I walked in and asked the old timer carpenters sitting about for a box of fence staples. They all exchanged puzzled looks with each other. I explained, "You know the U shaped things that you attach fence wire to a post with." To which they all replied "OOOOOH, you mean steeples. Ben, get this young feller a box of steeples."

If I go to my local Home Depot and ask for a sharp shooter I know what I will get. If I ask for a track spade I'm going to get a puzzled look. While it may be the technically correct name, it's not what anybody around here calls it. Most folks in the US refer to a small body of water like you might find on a farm or ranch a pond. Around these parts it is known as a tank. When in Rome.....

 

[Moze]

Rome or Rhome?

 

[The1Railroader]

Since I didn't see anyone mention it, watch where you dig! Sprinkler lines, water lines, underground electric.... I have found a few... they don't bury them as deep as you think they should... it cost nothing to have the utilities do a search for you.... I use them all the time, and they are fast about it too.... I use them all over the MetroPlex.... Use a circular saw, and cut as wide as the blade will let you, then get a post hole digger at Home Depot, and dig away.... anywhere from 16" down will be fine for a 4x4 sign.... and I pour in the concrete dry, and let the ground moisture set it, because when I go back to remove it, with a few hard pushes, it will break loose in the concrete and you can reuse the poles, or sometimes I bump it with my rear bumper, or give a tug with the toe line to loosen it!
If you really want to eliminate all the hassles, build a skid sign! Weight it with a few bags of sand, and your outta there! I'l give you any info I can! Competition is a beautiful thing!