Pole Barn post hole fill material

[3rdgendslmech]

Haven't gotten an exact delivery date for my 24x32 barn yet but its ordered and in the works! Should be here by Easter maybe. Got all my CAD drawings today to take to the permit office

What did you guys use to fill in the holes after you set your posts and everything was trued, strapped and banded? I asked the barn supplier and he said sand/gravel mix or just gravel compacted in, anything that will drain well basically. I asked "not concrete?" and he said no due to the fact that concrete retains moisture and would rot the posts out eventually.

 

[tjdux]

No perma columns? On the farm we usually backfill with what we remove but gravel for drainage is probably much better.

Signiture; Check out my garage progress http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=352703

 

[3rdgendslmech]

No perma columns? On the farm we usually backfill with what we remove but gravel for drainage is probably much better.

Yeah I looked into those tjdux. I kind of have mixed feelings about them. I feel like if the post is buried 3 feet in the ground then you have your base and 4 inches of concrete or so it isn't going anywhere. Something about a post that's anchored above grade by 12 inches of steel on 2 sides doesn't look all that sturdy to me. I'm sure they work great for what they are, not knocking it at all.

I recently replaced a few rotted off fence posts around my property, pretty sure they were 30+ years old and they were concreted in the ground and sure as **** a few of them were rotted through into the concrete core.

 

[mrobins297aaa]

mine got backfilled with the soil that came out of the hole

 

[cattoon]

Mine were back filled with crusher run, same as the back fill to grade for the concrete. Tamped well.

 

[matt_i]

I feel like if the post is buried 3 feet in the ground then you have your base and 4 inches of concrete or so it isn't going anywhere. Something about a post that's anchored above grade by 12 inches of steel on 2 sides doesn't look all that sturdy to me. I'm sure they work great for what they are, not knocking it at all.

On the permacolumn website they show the assembly being tested in bending in sort of a lab setup and claim they have achieved same bending strength as the wood itself. I didn't seek any more technical information than that but I don't think its just a design where they conveniently overlook the strength of the connection to tout the benefits of the rest of it.

If I built (or build) a post frame barn someday, I would use them.