"Ken Moiarty" wrote in message
...
I'm looking at having to replace the wooden fence enclosing my
backyard. It was built at the same time the house was built (back in the
late eighties/early nineties). Aside from the fact that this fence was
never built very well to begin with, it has rotted to the point to where I
have no choice but to replace it before next winter. Wouldn't be a big
deal except that I will have to install all new posts, which means the
digging of new post holes in ground I painfully only know too well to be
riddled with large "auger-stopping" rocks.
Having used a power auger on more than one occasion to sink holes in
the yard (once so as to sink concrete pier-columns for a deck; plus on
three other miscellaneous 4x4 post-related occasions) I have learned that
for every two holes attempted, one hole will have at least one huge rock
in the way requiring excavation and removal by hand-shovel; a very labor
intensive and time consuming process for just one (out of shape) person
such as myself.
Therefore I'm currently trying to find out if there might not be a less
labor intensive process I could use in dealing with these auger-stopping
rocks? A couple of ideas for example: For use with a demolition or
breaker hammer (jackhammer), might there exist a chisel attachment of
ultra long length (pardon my grammar) such that it could be used to reach
down as much as say three feet below the ground surface in order to be
able to simply break up such rocks as they are encountered while augering
a hole? Or, might there be such a thing as post-hole digging equipment,
which, while reasonably affordable and portable enough to rent, would be
somehow capable of simply cutting through such rocks? (One can see I'm
scrounging for ideas here. g) Any help/advice/info/references-to-such
would be appreciated.

TIA,
Ken

* FYI: The fence _posts_ themselves have to be replaced for two reasons:
1) The builders buried the posts only two feet deep into the (soft, except
during summer) ground, and the result has been that the whole fence has
had a problem remaining upright since before we bought the place. 2) The
builders did not (or so it appears) use rot resistant -e.g.
pressure-treated, etc.- posts and therefore these will only have to be
replaced eventually in any event.
--


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Lotsa rock here too, some over 3 foot sided cubes. Put up a perimeter fence
around the house. Over 400 ft long. Used standard pasture/field fencing
with 3X2 squares. 4X4 ACQ corner and tensioning/bracing posts. Steel
t-posts. Built exclusively to keep the dogs on the property. I dug all the
holes with a rock bar and a diamond tipped masonary drill to help breakup
the bigger rocks for the corner and tensioning/bracing posts. They're all
2.5' in the ground with concrete footings. T-posts, had to drill out some
rock sometimes. Used the heaviest pounding tool for the T-posts. Took over
3 weeks to dig, and set all the posts.

In retrospect, should have hired out the same people that drilled out the
holes for the footings for the piers for the house. They used a commercial
type driller for setting utility poles. Just use a smaller diameter auger
bit.
--
Jonny