Quote:
Originally Posted by pittman
Just wondering if there would be any conceivable problem with having the concrete sitting up against the foundation - for example having some water potentially run down there and freeze - heaving the post away from the house.
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Gotcha. I suppose you could potentially have some issues, depending on several factors I don't know.
1. It could provide an inlet for water, but it's likely that your house utilized weeping tile, and unless your leader empties into it, I doubt a 2' sized concretred hole is going to let enough water in to cause any issues. Also, I know concrete shrinks while curing, but there generally isn't a big enough crack between cured concrete and the ground to allow significant quantities of water in. If your concerned about it, I'd just leave the concrete 6" down, and cap the top with clay.
2. Depending on the depth of the hole, radius of the concrete, and weight of the gate, it could potentially create a lateral pressure point on your wall that it wasn't designed to resist. I think this would generally be negligible, especially if it's near the corner of the house, but could potentially cause some issues I suppose if it was a heavy enough gate.
3. For frost heaving, post generally get jacked in a vertical direction. Again, depending on a number of factors, depth, radius, headed basement, location, snow cover, etc., although unlikely, I suppose it's possible it gets jacked at an angle. The clay cap will help reduce subgrade water though and if you have a heated basement, that will reduce the frost depth. If you feel it's going to be an issue, increased depth will help, as will insulation (although I've never heard of someone insulating fence posts).
Can't really see you having any issues but as fishtank said, a wheel/support at the end of the gate will help eliminate potential sag.