My uncle told me to always set posts in the rain, and I finally tried it on a job in Portland last month.

He's been putting up fences for 40 years and always said the rain packs the dirt tighter around the post, making it stronger. I thought it sounded like an old wives' tale, honestly. We had a big privacy fence job with 40 cedar posts, and a steady drizzle started right as we were about to set the first one. Instead of waiting, we just went for it. Mixed the concrete like normal and dropped the posts in. The mud was a pain, but the ground was so soft it made digging and tamping way easier. A week later, I came back to check and those posts felt rock solid, like they were part of the earth. Has anyone else tried this, or was I just lucky with the soil type?

3 comments

3 Comments

umaanderson2mo ago

Wait, did you use concrete in the holes with the posts? That changes the whole thing. My uncle always said the rain trick only works if you're setting posts directly in dirt, no concrete at all. The water helps the soil lock together like clay. If you used concrete, the rain just made the ground softer to dig, but the concrete is what's holding it tight now.

nancy3512mo ago

That's a good point about the concrete. I remember reading an old farm manual that said the same thing. It claimed pouring water into a post hole without concrete just packs the dirt better, like making mud. But if you add concrete mix, the water starts the curing process. So the rain might have helped set the concrete faster, but it's the concrete doing the holding.

robert_smith361mo ago

Respectfully, I see it a bit different than both you and @nancy351 on this one. The rain doesn't just help pack dirt or cure concrete faster. When you pour water into a post hole with concrete, it actually helps the concrete get into all the little gaps around the post and dirt. That makes the bond way stronger than just dumping dry mix in there and hoping it works out. The ground being softer to dig is a bonus, but the rain really helps the concrete flow and settle right where it needs to be. So yeah, you're right that the concrete is doing the holding, but the rain still matters for how well it holds.