The bottom of deck footing holes need to be flat and solid. Flat is pretty easy — just scrape the bottom level. Making sure that the bottom is compacted solid takes an extra step. The problem is the action of digging a footing hole, whether by hand or power auger, leaves loose earth in the bottom. If the footing hole is shallow, you can usually dig out the loose earth. But when the frost line is deep and the hole is narrow, it’s hard to collect and lift out the loose earth.
One solution is to tamp down the loose earth. A piece of 2×4 or 4×4 makes a good tamper. The small cross-section concentrates the force to pack the soil. But if the hole was widened at the bottom (for example, to use the garbage bag spread footing trick), then packing the soil around the perimeter is a problem. Even though you may be able to angle the tamping timber in the hole to pack the edges, you end up rounding the edges at the same time so the bottom is no longer flat.
Another solution to deal with the loose earth in the bottom of the hole is to suck it out with a construction vacuum. I fit a length of 1-1/2 in. or 2 in. PVC to the end of the vac hose to reach the bottom of the footing hole. A vacuum is also a good way to excavate the last few inches of a deep footing.
Fine Homebuilding Recommended Products
Fine Homebuilding receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.
Standard Marking Chalk
We like white chalk because it’s non-permanent and wears off easily — this is especially helpful when marks are exposed and need to disappear.
Demo has never been easier with the deck demon. The tool keeps the worker in an upright position and uses leverage to remove decking from framing, a must have tool for demo.
This is a dialog window which overlays the main content of the page. The modal window is a 'site map' of the most critical areas of the site. Pressing the Escape (ESC) button will close the modal and bring you back to where you were on the page.
We use cookies, pixels, script and other tracking technologies to analyze and improve our service, to improve and personalize content, and for advertising to you.
We also share information about your use of our site with third-party social media, advertising and analytics partners.
You can view our Privacy Policy
here and our Terms of Use here.