Visited a job site in Phoenix and saw the worst fence anchoring I've ever seen

I took a trip down to Phoenix last month to help a buddy with his crew on a big commercial project. The whole back stretch of their fence was anchored into this soft, sandy soil with standard 18 inch spikes. Meanwhile the wind out there is no joke, I saw gusts hit around 30 mph while we were working. Those posts were already wobbling after just two weeks of being up. I told my buddy he needs to switch to auger-style anchors with concrete collars for that type of ground. He pushed back saying it would cost too much time and money. But hey, you gotta weigh the cost of redoing the whole thing next season, right? Has anyone else run into this kind of soil problem in the southwest?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_henry26d ago

lol I used to think standard spikes were fine for everything, but after seeing how fast that sandy soil gives up in the wind, you've totally changed my mind on that.

verap5226d ago

Wait, are we talking about the same sand here though? The loose stuff near the dunes will rip out anything, but the packed stuff you find near water holds spikes pretty solid in my experience.