When I first designed the mast to hold up the ham radio antenna, I felt that three feet below the ground encased in concrete would be sufficient. The engineer, however, came back and said the hole should be four feet deep with 24″ of concrete around the 4×4’s four feet deep (or just about one yard of concrete).
Several weeks ago the contractor who built my house had a track hoe working on a house down the street and he obligingly (and at no cost!!) dug me a three foot by three foot by three foot hole. I was amazed at the number and size of rocks that came up out of that hole. We have very rocky soil here in Tooele, thanks to ancient Lake Bonneville.
This morning I started digging and prying to get another foot or so down. After two hours, I think I’ve gotten four or five inches down. And this 73.9534 year old man is wiped out (another birthday Real Soon Now).
So, I called a handyman listed in the newspaper classifieds (remember those?). He can’t come over until Saturday, but thought he might be able to find someone who could come over on Wednesday. I think I’ll have him help with the whole project including mixing and pouring the concrete and backfilling the hole. Supervisor sounds much better than worker at this point!