I’ve got a guy building us a deck. Today he set the posts in concrete but when he poured the concrete in the hole he did not fill up the hole. The hole could have used seven more inches of concrete. I asked about this and his response was he would pour more concrete in the hole tomorrow. Opinions on this matter please. Thank you.

Hopefully you get some solid answers.

Shouldn’t be a problem. I recommend taking the concrete up a couple inches above the final grade level. The concrete should slope away from the post, too. If going to receive direct rain I’d flash over the joint.

not an expert but on stuff like that I like set the post on a cured concrete footing vs pour wet concrete around the post. If I feel I need to concrete the post in I use dry mix and pack it in to whatever height I feel necessary. His answer is not one I like. So I would not be thrilled. But again, I am not an expert.

It depends how deep into the ground the posts are. If the posts are very deep, then yes I've seen many guys do it in 2 stages so that it cures better. If it's too deep it and poured all in one shot, sometimes the bottom won't cure.....the bottom part is generally the part that does the most work.

The bottom will cure wether it is wet or dry... even a slight amount of moisture and the concrete will be 'set' in 28days.... 75% of its set strength happens in the first 24 hours....

what would have been 'better is if some gravel had been put in the hole before the post was set in... but in reality it probably won't matter in our life times. As mentioned... bring the concrete up above grade and slope away from post.

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Originally posted by techguy:
I’ve got a guy building us a deck. Today he set the posts in concrete but when he poured the concrete in the hole he did not fill up the hole. The hole could have used seven more inches of concrete. I asked about this and his response was he would pour more concrete in the hole tomorrow. Opinions on this matter please. Thank you.

The concrete should all be poured in one shot, such that it is a few inches above the ground, and then the post is secured with a Simpson post base. Either with J bolts set in the concrete or with anchors drilled in the set concrete.

Posts should not be set directly in concrete, it is not a lasting detail. Will it last a while? Sure.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
It depends how deep into the ground the posts are. If the posts are very deep, then yes I've seen many guys do it in 2 stages so that it cures better. If it's too deep it and poured all in one shot, sometimes the bottom won't cure.....the bottom part is generally the part that does the most work.

The concrete doesn't "cure better" poured in stages. When you pour concrete on top of cured concrete, you have separate pieces of concrete, and that's not good. The bottom isn't doing "the most work," the whole footing is there to resist both compression and lateral movement.

What Arc says. Also in my area I believe it’s code, since all decks I’ve seen recently built have this, the concrete footing is poured just above grade using a “tube” and a post brace, like Simpson, is placed in wet concrete before curing. Then post is attached to brace/bracket after footing is cured. All wood is above ground to prolong any water contact to prevent rot. I’m in north GA and deck building codes have been up graded several times over the past 20yrs. Mainly due to decks failing and causing serious injuries. This area has a lot of basement builds so most house have some sort of deck off the back. And at least 6x6 post for footings. No more 4x4 post for footings around here.

quote:

Originally posted by techguy:
I’ve got a guy building us a deck. Today he set the posts in concrete but when he poured the concrete in the hole he did not fill up the hole. The hole could have used seven more inches of concrete. I asked about this and his response was he would pour more concrete in the hole tomorrow. Opinions on this matter please. Thank you.

Setting posts in concrete is a loosing game. The post will become water logged, the cement will crack, and the post will breakdown. It may be 7 years, 10 years, or 20 years, but it will happen. I had to replace seven 4x4 fence posts at my last home, and we put the fence in around 2008, so those only lasted nine years.

Also doing two pours just allows one more avenue for water intrusion.

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The concrete should all be poured in one shot, such that it is a few inches above the ground, and then the post is secured with a Simpson post base. Either with J bolts set in the concrete or with anchors drilled in the set concrete.

This. The best way is to use a concrete sleeve set in an augured hole. The wood never touches the ground and will long outlast the deck above.

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Originally posted by gearhounds:

quote:

The concrete should all be poured in one shot, such that it is a few inches above the ground, and then the post is secured with a Simpson post base. Either with J bolts set in the concrete or with anchors drilled in the set concrete.

This. The best way is to use a concrete sleeve set in an augured hole. The wood never touches the ground and will long outlast the deck above.

This is the way it was done when I had a covered deck added to my house.