Putting up a pole

[rusty ol ranger]

Im putting up a 14ft pole at the end of my driveway with a bright ass light on it.

Since i park stuff back there i dont want said pole coming down...and i always 2nd guess myself on this stuff.

But is 3ft deep deep enough? (So 3 ft deep, 11feet above ground, the light weighs nothing, and im using a roughly 8 inch diameter pole) Would you reccommend concrete too?

Thanks.

 

[Uncle Gump]

8 inch pole seems like over kill...

But I know whatever I used I would over bore the hole and use a couple bags of quickcrete.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

8 inch pole seems like over kill...

But I know whatever I used I would over bore the hole and use a couple bags of quickcrete.

Im using the 8 inch because i have it laying around Its an old creasote treated pole so it should outlive me. Its probably already 40+ yrs old lol. Your standard 4x4 would work fine for it lol...but free is good.

I kinda figured i should concrete it just was mostly curious if it was nessacary.

 

[Blmpkn]

I'd be comfortable with 3' as long as it's well set in some concrete

 

[sgtsandman]

My 20’ flag pole base is buried about 2’ down with about 6” of gravel underneath and cement flush to the ground. It has handled pretty much everything Mother Nature can throw at it for about 15 years with two flags on it.

If that has held up, your light pole should be fine.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Wrap something reflective around the pole about 3’ off the ground too if vehicles are going to be anywhere near it. Just so it doesn’t end up in the shadow of the light and someone finds it with a vehicle

 

[Roert42]

I think general rule of thumb for fence post is 1/3 the length should be in the ground. So 4 1/2’.

With the larger pole I would err of the side of caution and put more under ground. So you don’t have issues from the sheer weight of the pole.
Plus that way, later, when someone goes to hang a pulley off the side for pulling heavy stuff out of a truck it’s less likely to fall over.

 

[Ranger850]

+1^

 

[scotts90ranger]

When I built my pole barn I had to put up 14 6x6 posts, what the plans called for was like 4" of concrete at the bottom of the 24" diameter hole with 4' of post underground (you'd probably be fine with 3) then either concrete backfill or I chose gravel. If gravel tamp every 8" of fill, this makes for a very solid pole. If you did concrete on the top bit that wouldn't hurt either...

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Do you have cold winter? What's your frost line? Hole should be dug to below frost line so freezing doesnt push it up.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Wrap something reflective around the pole about 3’ off the ground too if vehicles are going to be anywhere near it. Just so it doesn’t end up in the shadow of the light and someone finds it with a vehicle

Thats a damn good idea since i back trailers in there and its kinda tight.

Do you have cold winter? What's your frost line? Hole should be dug to below frost line so freezing doesnt push it up.

I live in michigan so....yes. Im not sure where the frost line really is....but ive never heard of that happening and no idea it was a thing.

 

[Uncle Gump]

36 inches is depth fir water lines. I think the frost line is 18 inches. At least that's what I remember.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

My 20’ flag pole base is buried about 2’ down with about 6” of gravel underneath and cement flush to the ground. It has handled pretty much everything Mother Nature can throw at it for about 15 years with two flags on it.

If that has held up, your light pole should be fine.

+1. Gravel and 'crete.

wedging in some chunks of steel ideally rebar won't hurt either.

 

[RonD]

+1 on the frost line, it is a thing

Northern Michigan
"The frost depth for this area, and most of the state of Michigan, is 42". Footings are required to be a minimum of 42" deep., measured from the finish grade to the bottom of the footing."

So I would plan on going a bit deeper

Concrete is used for ballast, also to fine tune the pole's "plumb" until it dries, have some way to hold the pole straight until concrete dries, 24hours

Its good to put a few lag bolts into the side of the pole, below grade, sticking out an inch or so, so the concrete can "grip" the round pole
Use gravel at the bottom of the hole, a few inches(for drainage), then put the pole in the hole and add another few inches of gravel around the pole
Then the concrete, if you can, build form a few inches above grade, so concrete covers the pole above ground level, helps prevent pole rotting at ground level

Round pole doesn't have much wind load, but what ever you attach to the top usually does, so keep that in mind

 

[bobbywalter]

5 feet happens often even that far south.