Considering putting in a fence . . .

[screamingchild]

Okay, so I finally found 6' fence panels at a reasonable price but now I am re-considering doing it myself (or should I say, forcing my husband to do it). Here is the problem; a 6' wood fence needs to have the posts buried 3', which isn't a terribly big deal BUT I have a pretty strong suspicion that a lot of these posts are going to be directly over ledge. Now I know that the fence companies use a rock splitter and set rebar in concrete when they encounter ledge but I am begining to think that this is going to be just too big a job, which is a darn shame because we just can't afford to pay a fence company to do it for us. Is there some kind of tractor-like machine that we could rent that will just pound out the holes regardless of what is in the way? Or is there some kind of sonar ledge detector that could tell me how far down the ledge is? Should I just forget about the stupid fence altogether?

Thanks! Diana

[Ian Stirling]

You might try renting/buying a manual post-hole digger, and digging a few holes to see if it's possible, or if you should look into some other way.

Hmm. There has to be a market for rapid fencing. Start with a pallet of metal fencepoles at 30000 feet, add a few GPS guidance kits, throw them out the back of the plane, and Voila, instant fence.

[Heathcliff Bambino]

You can use a piece of steel rod as a sort of "rock dipstick" -- something you can push down into the dirt fairly easily to see how far down it will go. A length of welding rod or some such, maybe 3/16th inch diameter. If you need to test down to 3 feet, get a 4 foot piece then you can bend over the top few inches to make a handle.

Of course you should never force your husband to do something, but rather offer suitable incentives.