Had a whole section of vinyl fence buckle on me last Tuesday

Was finishing up a job in the afternoon heat, maybe 85 degrees, when I heard a loud pop. A 16-foot run of the white vinyl panels just bowed out in the middle, like it was trying to escape. I think the posts were set a little too shallow in the clay soil, and the heat made the material expand just enough to push them over. Anyone have a good rule of thumb for post depth in really dense ground?

2 comments

2 Comments

ninam8611d ago

That pop sound is the worst. Vinyl actually expands more sideways with heat, not lengthwise, so it was probably pushing out on the posts. For dense clay, you want at least 30 inches of post in the ground.

vera_roberts11d ago

Actually, @ninam86, I've always heard vinyl expands more lengthwise. That sideways push might have just been those shallow posts finally giving up.