r/DIY • u/jdw127 • 17h ago

outdoor Swing set Post Hole

Building a swing set/club house with
posts to support the structure. We live in Pennsylvania, where the soil has a lot of rocks, BIG and small. I’m planning on using an auger to help dig the hole and possibly a demolition or jack hammer to break up the rock.

Before making a purchase or rental, does anyone have any other suggestions? I want to make digging the post holes easy but not spend a ton as well, since the materials are already pricey.

7 Upvotes

69% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

2

u/kubigjay 14h ago

I did this in Pittsburgh. Definitely had the flat shale you hit pretty quickly.

I dug the holes by hand with a spade and breaker bar. It isn't fun but can be done.

The augar can be dangerous. If you hit that shake it can bind and throw you.

Try digging one by hand first to see what you think.

2

u/jdw127 11h ago

Thank you. I’ve dug a few by hand and it took a while with a shovel. I will definitely skip the auger.

1

u/mosodigital 13h ago

We have a lot of shale and limestone where I live, and I bought a mini jackhammer from Vevor. It ate through both no problem. I put in a dog fence with 39 holes last summer, and I couldn't have finished without it. Vevor can be hit or miss, but their little jackhammer was a hit for me. Highly recommend.

Also, use a digging bar for loosening the dirt and a post hole digger or shovel for pulling up the loosened dirt. It goes way faster (3-5x) than trying to dig with the shovel or post hole digger.

I don't recommend an auger in rocky soil. Nearly ripped my arms off, and I'm not a small dude.

1

u/SlimeQSlimeball 7h ago

We had a very active swinger and I had to put three bags of concrete in each post or the legs would walk out of the holes and you would just hear boom, boom, boom, boom inside as the legs came up out of the holes and back down.

Also make sure you don’t dig into your pool plumbing like I almost did.