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?

2 comments

2 Comments

skylercooper4d 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.

hayden5874d ago

Nah, that frozen crust is nature's warning sign. If it looks solid but feels hollow, you should've known something was off.