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Rant: Guy asked me to fix his fence but wouldn't let me dig past the frost line
Had a job up near Green Bay last February where the homeowner insisted I just set the posts in gravel on top of the frozen ground. I tried explaining that a 4 foot frost line means that fence is gonna heave by spring but he kept saying his cousin did it that way and it held for 2 years. I ended up walking off the job because I didn't want my name on something that would fail by March. Anyone else run into customers who think they know more about soil conditions than the guy doing the work?
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jessej231mo ago
Holy cow, that is absolutely wild to me! I mean, you literally explained the science of frost heave and he still thought his cousin's hack job from two years ago was a better source than a professional. It's like these folks think soil is just dirt and doesn't move around or expand when it freezes. I'd be pretty frustrated too, walking off a job like that is probably the only way to protect your reputation. Honestly, some people just want to save a buck and don't care if the whole thing falls apart later as long as it looks okay for a few months.
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gavin3651mo agoMost Upvoted
That phrase "just dirt" you mentioned is really the root of it. People don't get that soil is an active system of water, air, and organisms that shifts with seasons. Treating it like dead filler is why those cheap fixes always crack and sink within a year.
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karencampbell1mo ago
Oh man, you're not wrong about that "just dirt" thing. But I gotta gently push back on one little thing you said though. Frost heave isn't just from the soil expanding when it freezes. It's actually more about ice lenses forming underground, like little layers of ice that push up from below as water gets pulled to the freezing zone. That's why even well-drained soil can heave if there's enough moisture deeper down. But you're totally right that treating soil like dead filler is asking for trouble. Those cheap fixes always crack because they ignore the whole living system beneath the surface, and it's tough to convince someone of that when their cousin's work looks fine for a few months.
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