So what you're gonna need
to be able to do this is you're gonna need some concrete. Let's see here I have one,
two, three, four bags. I got four bags. I'm planning on using at least three. Of course you need the start of the show which is the fence post. You need a shovel and a digging bar. Lastly, you're gonna want a wheelbarrow. And then you're gonna want to go ahead and start digging a hole. Notice I have a spade shovel, so you're not gonna
wanna use a flat shovel or square shovel, 'cause you're gonna use
the spade to be able to dig into the ground. (shovel rattling) And actually we don't have
to handle our dirt twice. (wheelbarrow clunking) We're going to go ahead
and shovel from the hole into the wheelbarrow. (wheelbarrow clunking) You want a cylinder, is what you want. What you don't want is you
don't want a cone hole. And what I mean by a cone hole is think of an ice cream cone. You don't want that. You want an ice flat bottom. You don't have any ice
cream to put in the hole. So it's not very fair if you
have an ice cream cone hole and no ice cream to put in it. (shovel rattling) You don't want the ice cream cone hole because in the cold elements,
such as like here in Wyoming when the ground freezes, you're gonna give the ice
cream cone-shaped concrete areas to push up out of the
ground, called frost heaving. (shovel thudding) I'm gonna go 32 inches deep. Why do you need to go that deep? (wind whooshing) We are actually going below frost line. Frost line is about 24. (shovel clunking) And then number two, there's
gonna be a lot of wind. Imagine if we were creating
a privacy fence here, that's a lot of wind resistance on this. So if you just go like
a foot in the ground, your fence is gonna blow over. This is probably about the worst part, digging a hole's not very much fun. One thing to remember is, the more effort that you put in, it is the
longer it's gonna last. (rod clunking) (upbeat music) (shovel scraping)
(upbeat music) (shovel clunking) (Dan exhales deeply) There's other ways to dig
holes besides the shovel and a bar. It's called a walk behind skid-steer and a sit in skid-steer. They rent them. (upbeat music) Equipment rental stores. All right, it's time to check our depth. (tape measure rattling) I'm actually at 10 feet. (upbeat music) (tape measure rattling) No, don't do that. (tape measure rattling) 32, perfect. We're actually gonna leave about a shovel and a half and we're gonna
use that to cover it back up. So that that way after
I plant grass seed here the grass will grow up right
next to the fence post. (wheelbarrow rattling) (wheelbarrow clanking) I just wanna try and get all that dirt out as much as possible. (shovel scrapping) (shovel rattling) So we're gonna go ahead
and start with three bags. And if we have to use the
fourth, that's just fine. But we're planning on using about three. (paper bag rustling) I am using Quikrete, the 60 pound bags. (paper bag rustling) So three 60 pound bags, that means that I'm gonna
have 180 pounds of concrete. Don't cheap out on the concrete. It's the foundation of your fence post. If you just go with like,
one bag's gonna hold it. No, you're wrong. You need more than that. Now, this is dry concrete. No, I'm not gonna throw
it in the hole dry, but you can, it's called dry packing. We did a whole video on this too. So if you're like, "Oh
man, that doesn't work." Actually check out this video over here. When you're done with this
one, check out that one maybe the results will
find you astonished. Spoiler alert, we also did
foam in that video too. (wind whooshing) All right, so what I did here, because I don't have a garden
hose or a faucet handy, I just went ahead and filled up a five gallon bucket of water. It's about three quarters away full. And I'm gonna put about half
of that in there to start with. (wind whooshing)
(water sloshing) (bucket clunking) Okay, I did like a little
bit more than half. (wind whooshing)
(shovel rattling) There in is a certain texture. There's a certain consistency. (shovel rattling) I'll try to point it
out as I can show you. Obviously, if you can
still see gray, dry powder, keep on going. (shovel scraping) So if we can get the whole
wheelbarrow to look like that that's really what we're going for. (shovel scraping) (shovel rattling) All my moisture's pretty much gone. It's all up in the concrete. (wind whooshing) So I'm gonna throw in some more water. (water sloshing) Not too much because we're almost there. (bucket clunking) When it looks like soup, yeah, you wanna just stop adding water just a few minutes before that. So if you end up making it
too runny which you can do, is you can break into that fourth bag throw in some more concrete to dry it up. Or you could go in the house, you could make yourself a sandwich. Then you can come back mix it up again without adding anymore concrete. (shovel rattling) That's about what we're
looking for right there. We're gonna pretend
like we're setting this for a six foot tall cedar fence. As we set the fence post six
inches under the six foot mark and the pickets will be six
inches taller than the post. So that means that 6 minus 72
is 66, 66 is our grade mark. (tape measure rattling) So the grade mark marks
the amount of posts that needs to go in the ground or the amount of posts
that's gonna need to be out of the ground. (post clunking) So yeah, so here's my grade mark. (wind whooshing) (post clunking) So our hole is too deep. Don't fret, friend. So what we're gonna do is
we're actually gonna go ahead and throw a little bit of
concrete in there to get started. (post clunking) And we're gonna push our
post into that concrete. So we're gonna... Our post will be solidly
cased in concrete. (wind whooshing) (Dan exhaling deeply) (concrete thudding) (post scrapping) We have our post sunk into our
concrete just a little bit. Now we're gonna go ahead and
just pour concrete around it. (shovel scrapping) (concrete rattling) (shovel scraping)
(wind whooshing) (concrete rattling) Notice how the post is in
the center of the hole, and the concrete goes all
the way around the post. That is one thing that
you want to try to do with setting a post, just make sure the concrete
goes all the way around. So now I'm just shaking
it just a little bit to get that concrete to settle in there. It was a little dry. I could have added a
little bit more water. For me, it was just fine. Maybe you might want it
just a little bit wetter. I left four inches between top of concrete and top of ground. So what we're gonna go ahead and do now is take our dirt that we left, (shovel rattling) just it right over the concrete. (shovel rattling) If you get a lot of wind where you live the dirt's actually gonna help you. So what it's gonna do
is it's gonna help suck the moisture outta that concrete and pull it out faster. (wind whooshing) So that this post isn't gonna
blow around in the wind. Now I know what you're thinking, when are you gonna tell us about bracing? When are you gonna tell us how
to put those fancy outriggers on and where should they go
to be able to brace that post? You just put your pieces
of wood back away. You don't need 'em. It's a wasted step. (shovel rattling) As we're doing this video, just so you know, we have
about 20 mile per hour winds, which maybe you can hear
it in the microphone. We're really hoping that you can't. Can you just see how that
post is just trying to blow over that way? (wind whooshing) You should probably put
an outrigger on there or a leg so it can't fall. (wind whooshing) You don't need it. I promise you. (post clanking) If you're at all concerned that your post is gonna be too wobbly and it's gonna get blown
around in the wind, what you can do is you can take your foot, pack that dirt into that
hole onto that concrete. A little bit of compaction on the top which is gonna hold that post in place. But really honestly, you
have nothing to worry about. What if the post is crooked? As you can see, our post
needs to go that way. (wood clunking) And it needs to go that way. So I'm gonna pull, I'm gonna put my hand on this corner. I'm gonna bring it back this direction because I'll be bringing
it that way and that way all at the same time. And just tug on it hard. (wind whooshing) (post clunking) Since this is not man-made, one thing that you want to
make sure you're gonna do if you're gonna set a wood post. Two sides, you need to pick two sides like this one and this one
or this one and this one. Those are your two leveling
sides and that's it. You don't go around all four sides because it's a wood product. Wood is not perfect. When the post says it's
level on this side, (wood clunking) this side reads different. So if you keep bouncing back and if you don't keep
measuring off the same side, you're just gonna to keep pushing that post all the way around. Make sure to only pick two sides. Now, let's check on our grade mark. (metal tool clunking) (metal tool thudding) Uh-oh, I don't see it. Don't worry. Don't fret, friend. (Dan panting) (Dan groaning) (Dan panting) Okay, (panting) I know
we just put it in there. So this is why I tell you don't
don't worry about the wind. How much of a time I'm
having getting this thing up is crazy. Oh, my hand. (groans) Oh, okay. (panting) We're gonna look for a
little bit more of a gap. She wants about an inch
between top of ground and bottom of fence. (Dan panting)
(post scraping) (Dan groaning) Okay, (panting) there we go. Now, she's happy. So this is the cedar post. (wind whooshing) Why? (wind whooshing) Well, because it's a cedar fence. Can't you see the rest of it? If you're gonna be setting a
wood post for a cedar fence here's the two things you
should be looking for. You should either be looking
for a pressure treated post or a cedar post. Bugs don't like cedar. We showed you guys how to
set a four by four cedar post because it's what a lot of
you guys are working with. Now, we actually never set these. What's better than cedar? One of these, a galvanized
steel Postmaster post. Far more superior, and this
is all we ever work with when we're dealing with cedar fence. We're gonna talk about
why these Postmaster posts are so superior and why
that's the pro-choice. And why it's only thing
we only use when it comes to cedar fence. In this video right here. We are Wyoming's fence company and we hope you have a good dang day. (logo whooshing)
