Don’t Forget to Flatten and Pack Your Deck Footing Holes
Scrape the bottom flat and tamp or vacuum out the loose soil.
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.
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