Just got through digging pier hole number one by hand. It took me about 2 1/2 hours in the 100 + degree temps here in Oklahoma.

I'm digging my four corner pier holes deeper and wider than the other 11 piers. I'm following my countryplans 20 x 30 but I'm adding 3 piers down the middle to match the sides.

I'll basically be following my plans from countryplans. gravel on the bottom, and ready-mix around a 6 x 6 PT post.

Hey, look at this youtube video of my first pier hole. I made it deep enough for the wife to fit into.

Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1O_vasTw2I

that's a big hole Allan!!!!
you have made a lot of progress on your property, Congrats!!!!
I can't wait to see the rest.....

Well done, I am doing something similar for my corners and the mid points of my stem walls. Originally we had talked about going down to bed rock then epoxy rebar into the bed rock but I think I am only going to go down 4-6' and then build cages that will tie to the bar used in the stem wall. I do not look forward to digging those; hopefully I can do it when temps are less than 100. I don't like to be anywhere near a shovel when it's that hot out.

ajbremer:

   For some reason I can no longer see your pictures or avatar . . .    You may want to clear your cache and see if you can still view your own pics.

   No problems with other threads. . .    Just yours.

/.

I can't see the pictures either.

Ok you did it, ya got me    on your 1st video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmM7OvIoNqc  w/the how not to test the electricity 

I can see the pics just fine - everything is looking pretty comfortable.  That is a big hole you dug by hand.

Quote from: Sassy on July 27, 2011, 10:55:12 PM
I can see the pics just fine - everything is looking pretty comfortable.  That is a big hole you dug by hand.

Pics might be in your cache . . .    When you previously had viewed this thread.   (?)

/.

Sorry about my pictures not displaying, my website was down for about a day or so but everything is ok now.

It's been over 100 degrees for weeks now here in mid-Oklahoma. I ended up putting up our canopy shelter and moving it over to each pier hole area and then placed a fan, chair, cold drink, and shovels under it. It worked out pretty good.

I'm digging the 4-corner pier holes about 3 feet deep and at least 24 inches square with no taper to the bottom. They are pretty deep and you can see from the previous youtube video link, on the post above this one, that my wife can fit down the holes.

I had to soak a few holes with water to soften them up for digging. I mainly used an old shovel. The only reason I used the post-hole digger was to get out the dirt when the hole got to deep for the shovel to do it.

I've decided to go with square tubing and angle iron for my piers. I'm following my countryplan 20 x 30 plans but not using the 6 x 6 PT posts and I'm also adding piers down the middle, the same number as on the sides, five. So there'll be 15 piers all together. The 3 on each end are going to be square metal tubing 4" x 4" - 3/16 thick primed. The other 9 piers are going to be 4" x 4" - 3/16 thick galvanized angle iron. I'm also going to coat the ends that are going into the concrete (ready-mix) with rubberized undercoating spray. I was told by a commercial building inspector that it would increase the life of the metal that's touching the concrete by decades. I've been told that the lime in the concrete eats the metal.

Here's a pic of my pier-hole dig area and after that is a pic of the undercoating spray:

I did a youtube video of how I dig my pier-holes with mostly just a shovel.

Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gaoa6RsSVPI

Those are good size holes.  Too late now I guess but I have a couple of long steel digging bars; like a chisel on one end and a mushroom (for tamping) on the other. They work great for breaking/loosening up hard ground.

Like these...

http://www.oshkoshtools.com/products/digging%20Bars/dig_bars.htm

or this...

http://www.tractorsupply.com/axes-mauls/digging-bar-17-lbs-72-in-4412437

I agree with Don.  I never thought to send you a PM or post something here.  I have been so busy at work I can hardly do anything else so it seems.  Bars are the quickest and easiest way to dig a hole.  Work the edges and toward the center and the center will take care of itself when you clean it out.  You did find however the best use for a post hole digger that I have ever found.  That is cleaning out the hole not digging it. 

That said.  You are doing a great job.  That is hard work especially with the weather conditions you guys are experiencing.  Stay hydrated and know when you have reached that point of too hot!  Stop and cool down!  It is dangerous when it is like it is now for you guys down there.  Heat stroke is serious and deadly...     

Monday Morning - August 1st, 2011

I'm basically finished digging my main 4 corner pier-holes. I knew about the long chisel/tapping bar and will be using one pretty soon.

My four corners were going to be the largest holes but now that I'm kind of used to all the digging tricks I might just make all the holes around the same size. There will be 15 piers all together.

Now it's time for me to start really getting into that 3D Home Architect software. What's funny is, I bought that 1st bumper-pull trailer just before I got the great deal on my 1985 Fleetwood PaceArrow Motor Home. I have since gotten rid of the bumper-pull trailer but in one of the cupboards of the trailer was a book: 3D Home Architect User's Guide to deluxe version 4.0. I own the deluxe version 3.0 but I'm hoping that most tutorials and instructions will work as I read the book and do what it says. Makes me wonder if the owner of that old trailer was into countryplans.

Monday Morning - August 8th, 2011

Ok, I've now got my 4 main metal piers set on the corners. They took about 8 to 10 bags of quikrete apiece and each bag cost me $3.60.

I have many pics and videos showing all our work. Now I'm digging the middle piers in between the 30 foot length. Those piers are heavy duty 3" x 1/4" thick metal galvanized tubes. My 4 main tubes are the toughest and largest, I even over did it with the holes and made them extra deep and wide, all by hand, shovel, and post-hole digger. I'm spraying 'special' undercoating spray on all the metal that goes into the ground. O'reilly's had some brands of Rubberized Undercoating Spray but I used some better stuff.

Here are video links of my process on youtube but don't stop there, be sure to check out the pics below also.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhi_lynKK_k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUMR_xbzEYY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MbX6eEsh_U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cgkBvwDyEQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCFjH1Tx3yg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZxVVg9QI3k

Ok, here are some pics:

Those look pretty sturdy - bet your wheelbarrow will never look the same    Lots of hard work doing all that by hand.

Tuesday Morning: August 23rd, 2011

Been digging and setting metal piers daily, only 5 more to set.

Here's a pic of my Google Sketchup drawing showing the piers. My lot looks like I'm building a sky scraper:

Tuesday Morning August 23rd, 2011

I now have pier hole number 11 half dug, only 5 more metal piers to set!

I uploaded about 5 new videos to youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jeNWLow_J4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTJ2BwLQrPc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAFDcOY9lVs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttgljpOM8kM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RggTFQr0mv4

Here's a few more pics:

Getting ready to pour pier 10


10 Pier Holes from the back view


Cats are inspecting my job on pier 10


Here's a pic of the first Angle Iron Pier

Wednesday Morning, August 24th, 2011

More Pics of Progress:

Here's Pier #11 right after I sprayed it with the undercoating:



Here's the self-drilling/tapping screws that will screw the 2x12's into the iron:



Here's the 'stringed-up' exact center of the house where pier 11 is:




And here is a good view of all 11 piers, only 4 more to go!

How high up the piers will the structure be??

The bottom of the 2x12 joist will be around the 42" to 47" mark, I want it high.

Quote from: ajbremer on August 24, 2011, 09:41:41 AM
The bottom of the 2x12 joist will be around the 42" to 47" mark, I want it high.

Flooding?  Room with a view?  If Lord comes I'm already half way there!

That is high!  Plans for enclosing the area between the piers and under the main floor?  Bracing method. I could wait and see but I'm curious about this.

Wednesday Night - August 24th, 2011

Hi Don,

Ya, that is kind of high. The lowest floor joist to ground dimension will be 37" and the highest will be around 47". My lot goes downhill about a foot per 20 foot. I've had some thoughts about how I'll close it in but nothing for sure yet. I'll definitely take suggestions.

I like the idea of all the room under the house to store stuff and I also plan to bolt some metal walls to enclose an area under the house for a storm shelter and we'll enter it within the house. As far as bracing, I'm not worried about these metal piers needing to be braced. Yes, I could go ahead and brace them but the strength of these piers, how deep they are in the ground, and how much concrete I used, I believe that it's way stronger than it'll ever need to be. I also figured that if the house below can be ok without bracing then I have nothing to worry about.

The pics have been so large I haven't been following this thread so I'm not really up on what sizes, etc you are using. I notice you are saying you'll screw the 2x12's to the iron. I'm hoping these are only to hold them in place but that the wood will be sitting on a welded on angle or plate. Hanging on bolts or screws really weakens the members and promotes splitting. Wood design standards limit the distance between fasteners in that configuration to 5" apart, we've found that spacing a fastener high and low on a wide board causes splitting as the wood changes moisture content.

With steel posts, welding some bracing or creating a moment resisting frame would be quite easy. I don't believe anyone would run into that treehouse in a storm. A neat place to watch the scenery for sure but that will be a short lived structure. When the hundreds of feet of roots that braced the trees to the soil begin to rot the bracing will be gone and like any other dead tree, they'll tip over.

FYI, by large image I believe Don_P is referring to the file size more than the actual physical dimensions. File size can be reduced while maintaining a large physical size image by saving as a JPG with more compression / lesser quality. When viewed on a monitor screen image quality, and file size, can be greatly reduced with minimal image degradation. When a thread has several images with file sizes in the 500+ KB range it takes a very long time to load over a slower connection.


I also had concerns regarding the mention of those fasteners being used to support the structure as in being used to secure the 2x to the steel in load carrying. Another is the height. Now I am not a "steel guy" nor am I an engineer, but I get to wondering every time I see piers/posts with more or as much sticking out of the ground as there is in the ground. These piers are not only supporting the building vertically, but they are what will be holding the structure in place when the wind comes along striking the long wall at 90 mph. Like I said, I'm not an engineer, but I wonder.  G/L