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In this video I want to give you a few tips for setting those posts that will
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form the walls of the smokehouse. Now what you see going on here is the
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construction of a pole barn, one wall of the pole barn, so it's a lot bigger than
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a smokehouse, but the techniques for setting the posts are similar. So these
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posts extend down about four feet or so, and they were set into holes that were
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larger, somewhat larger than needed to be for the size of posts. But the thing to
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understand here is the bracing. So we have the diagonal bracing that holds the
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posts straight up and down in this direction, and then we also have a
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temporary piece of wood fastened on the bottom that ensures that the posts are
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spaced evenly from one to the other. The diagonal braces go on either side, and by
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connecting the posts together with a horizontal piece here and here, you
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basically make it one big continuous hole. So it's not going to want to come
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back and forth. Once you've plumbed one straight up and down, they will all be
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plumb because they will all be the right distance apart. And you can see here
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looking on the side, look at this gap here and here and here and here. There's
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a slight difference, maybe these two posts are slightly farther apart than
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they should be because the gap is wider there, but you can see that they're quite parallel. And it's important to have this setup created before you fill in the
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soil around the posts. So you want everything to be plumb and square and
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straight and properly spaced, and then you start filling in the holes. And it's
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not just enough to shovel dirt in because that dirt's going to be far from
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compressed, so you'll need to pack it down around the posts. I like to use the
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handle end of a sledgehammer, so you hold the head of it in your hand and then you
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poke down with the butt of the handle every six inches or so of fresh soil
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that you put in, and that helps to firm it up. You're also going to want to put a
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little bit more than the usual amount of soil around the posts because even if
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you're pounding the soil in, there's still going to be some settling. But this
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is basically how the process works. You've got the braces and the diagonal
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pieces, and that holds everything plumb so that you can fill it in and get a
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nice even sort of result. Now as I mentioned before, as with all pole
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buildings, the poles are longer than they need to be. They have to be because
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there's only one way to get them in the same plane and level, get the top of them
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in the same plane and level, and that's to do your cutting to overall height
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after the fact. You choose one post and then you basically extend a level point
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all the way around to all of them and then cut to that spot
