HOW TO SET POSTS IN CONCRETE - dig a hole, fix a pole, pour concrete - for beginners

A wire is inserted around the post for concrete reinforcement, while pieces of brick should fix the pole. This is to prevent the ultimate disaster of a pole changing its angle while concrete cures.
Even a small movement of a pole during concrete curing might make it unusable in a structure - with demolition hammer as the only repair strategy, followed by a restart from scratch. Fixing a pole with few pieces of stone might look somewhat unprofessional, but in my view, pieces of stone only reinforce the concrete, so no need to invest time in more complicated but visually more elegant strategies. This work is now three years old with six such poles holding quite a heavy wooden roof. I test it occasionally and it is as stable as on day one. The only improvement I plan to do is to raise the level of waterproof concrete by a few inches above the ground to limit the exposure of a metal rod to soil and water.
For reassurance, the construction is now over two years old and the four poles with the rather heavy construction they support are perfectly stable.

[@oobenoob]

This is mental.

[@MarkoRadulovic]

Its metal !

[@MsNatalie100]

Hi Marco! I like your video. Question: to set 4 posts in concrete like it is shown in your video would be applied to such statement as "to form a foundation/concrete placement"? Thank you!

[@MarkoRadulovic]

To my understanding, a "concrete placement" is a proper base for a house or a higher-spec garage. This does not include posts of this kind, but rather reinforcement steel bars that stick out of a foundation. There you unload at least one truck of concrete over very robust steel reinforcement. This endeavor shown here is by far more modest, I used concrete to set 6 iron posts which carry a light wooden garage construction. As it does not have a foundation, the car is actually parked on a dirt ground - good enough for my cottage. Posts set as in this video could be used for a fence, or really just about any lighter construction, you can think of. If you use heavier posts, dig deeper and use better steel reinforcement, posts could support even heavier structures, but as you noticed, without a concrete placement, you would still have a dirt floor, unless it is raised a bit and made up as a wood floor.

[@seadog9298]

Informative video to be sure but, with all the questions about the use of the rocks and with all your responses about them being used to prop up the pole as the cement dries it begs the question……Why not use rapid set cement like you stated not to in the intro (you never gave a reason)??? I mean even the bags have an illustration on them of a guy setting a fence post! And from what I read you don’t mix it, you pour it in dry and add water.

[@MarkoRadulovic]

Rapid cement or not, some support and reinforcement is always beneficial. No matter how rapid a cement is, it is NEVER INSTANT, and if your pole moves while the cement is hardening than you will have to break the concrete and do everything all over again, that is about 5x more work than neccessary because breaking the concrete is not easy. But if you want to do things exactly as it says on the rapid cement bag, why not go ahead. Furthermore, rapid cement is mainly for poles which carry little weight, in this case the six poles carry a whole garage and that is another reason why using standard cement, extra fixation and reinforcement is advised to avoid trouble.

[@MarkoRadulovic]

If you feel that adding a few pieces of stone or brick to fix the pole is difficult or unacceptable for you, then just do not do it. I think that it fixing a pole in a simple way is easy and it does help

[@msy291]

Can I still get a reply in this video if I ask a simpler manner to use poles for badminton court🙏🏾

[@MarkoRadulovic]

Gladly, well, if you have never done something with cement, this seems complicated but is actually very simple as it is. Concrete is cement, sand and gravel, which you need to mix with water. You can further simplify making concrete or mortar by buying a ready made mixture. Mostly it is sold as MORTAR (without gravel), which is not as strong as concrete but still OK because badminton poles will not carry much weight. So dig a small hole, about 60cm deep, put in a pole and pour a ready mortar mix which you made indo fine paste with added water, as in the video. Some of these mixes can be even poured dry into the hole and water only added later on top. This is simpler as you do not have to do any mixing at all. I like to fix a pole with whatever pieces of stone or bricks you find around, just to make sure that the pole does not change angle while the mortar hardens. Once you learn to work with mortar or concrete, you will feel empowered as this opens endless possibilities to build far more complicated structures such as a shed, garage etc...

[@msy291]

@@MarkoRadulovic okay thanx for the reply 👍🏽

[@MarkoRadulovic]

You could put the iron or wooden pole straight into ground, it should work for a while. Involving cement certainly produces a much longer lasting setup

[@msy291]

@@MarkoRadulovic okay

[@terrim.602]

Speak in your videos so we can watch and not have to read the comments. Lost me on the 2nd screen.

[@MarkoRadulovic]

You can easily pause video or rewind to finish reading if needed. The idea was to make videos far more concise as speaking always involves social blabber like: Hiye, howz you doing, in this video I will tell you about, and the sponsors are.. etc, often by minute 2 the explanation of the topic hasnt even started and in my videos you are already half way through at that time..

[@jonnboimuhfucka]

Whats up with the garbage chunks of rocks thrown in the concrete kind of pointless if you ask me

[@MarkoRadulovic]

Well that is the crucial technique to stabilize a pole in a fixed position. The last thing you want to see next morning is a pole that changed an angle while the concrete hardened

[@jonnboimuhfucka]

@@MarkoRadulovic have u tried using less water in the mix?

[@MarkoRadulovic]

@@jonnboimuhfucka A thicker mix is a good point and would sure decrease the possibility of a pole leaning unexpectedly in any direction. But I want to be 100% sure as even a small movement of a pole might make it unusable in a structure with demolition hammer as the only repair strategy and then a restart from scratch. This procedure might look somewhat unprofessional, but in my view a few pieces of brick or even better stone only reinforces the concrete, so no need to invest time with more complicated but visually more elegant strategies. This work is now three years old with six such poles holding a quite heavy wooden roof. I test it occasionally and it is as stable as on day one. The only improvement I plan to do is to raise a level of waterproof concrete by few inches above ground to limit the exposure of a metal rod to soil and water.

[@michaelquintana678]

Lol i have to throw in bricks an other shit in there??

[@MarkoRadulovic]

Some wire helps to reinforce. Pieces of brick help the pole stand straight until a concrete hardens

[@michaelquintana678]

Ok thank u Marko!

[@neckarsulme]

working too hard with that manual hole digger...rent a gas one cheap

[@MarkoRadulovic]

its all about workout anyway :)

[@coreybodle4809]

Is this serious? C'mon Man! Some of these guus dont have a clue lmao

[@MarkoRadulovic]

How would you do it?

[@MarkoRadulovic]

Well, this is an amateur job to build a light wooden garage which looks great and is very very stable already for 3 years and will stand for a few decades for sure. That proves that there was just about enough clue to do a good job.

[@suetheron4495]

i think it's a realistic way to do it for a non-major project if you can't plumb it any other way.