emery_lopez•8d agoTop Commenter

My neighbor called my diy deck railing a safety hazard so I had to redo everything

I built a cedar railing last summer and my neighbor who builds houses pointed out my posts were only 18 inches deep in the ground. He said Edmonton frost would pop them right out in 2 years. Anyone else had to tear down something they already finished because someone showed you it was done wrong?

3 comments

3 Comments

robin_roberts848d ago

18 inches in Edmonton soil might as well be planting a fence post in a flower pot. I've seen frost heave pull out a 4x4 that was buried 3 feet deep up in Fort McMurray. Guess your neighbor saved you from learning that lesson the hard way when your railing ended up leaning like the Tower of Pisa next spring.

the_avery8d ago

Up in Whitehorse I went with 4 feet of concrete around a full steel I-beam for my deck railing and it still shifted a quarter inch after the first winter. The ground up north just moves different, you need to pour below the frost line and sleeve the post so the concrete can float a bit. Your neighbor's advice about going deeper probably saved you a headache that 18 inches would have caused for sure.

lane.eric4d ago

Man I don't know. Quarter inch after a whole winter? That's basically nothing. Wood shifts more than that with one rainy afternoon. People act like the ground is trying to swallow their deck whole. 18 inches is fine for most stuff. You're not building a skyscraper.