Post Hole Digging in Barrie

McNic Holes is a Barrie business, not a company that drives up from the GTA when a job comes in. The shop is in Barrie, and most days the truck does not leave the city. That is why we can take a call in the morning and look at a job the same week, and why a homeowner in Allandale and a fence contractor working Holly get the same crew.

After ten years digging here we know which streets are going to fight the auger. Below is what actually matters about putting a hole in the ground in this city.

What Barrie ground does to a post

Barrie is clay, and clay heaves. Through the older parts of the city, Allandale, the east end, the streets off Essa and Anne, the subsoil is heavy clay that holds water. Water that cannot drain freezes, and freezing ground expands and lifts whatever is sitting in it. Come the thaw it lets go again, and not evenly.

That is the whole argument for depth. A post set at two feet in Barrie clay is inside the zone that moves every single winter. A post set at 42 inches is below it, and the ground can heave all it likes around the top of the collar without shifting the post. It is the difference between a fence that is still straight after ten winters and one that is visibly wandering after three.

The newer subdivisions on the south and east edges add a second problem. Back yards on a recent build are mostly fill that was pushed around during construction, not native ground, and fill settles for years. A hole there has to go through the disturbed material and bear on something that has not been touched, which is another reason we do not stop early.

On the up side, Barrie clay augers cleanly once you are into it and it holds a hole open well, so a poured deck pier gets a clean, full diameter cylinder. It is good ground to build on. It is just unforgiving of a shallow hole.

The Barrie fence by-law, before you build

Fence height in Barrie is set by the City’s zoning by-law, not by the province. As a general rule rear and side yard fences are capped around 1.8 metres and front yard fences around 1.2 metres. Corner lots are stricter, because a fence cannot block the sight line at an intersection or a driveway.

Most standard height residential fences do not need a building permit. Pool enclosures do, and they have their own height, gate and self latching rules that are about safety rather than looks.

We will tell you what we see on your property, but the City has the final say, so confirm your height and any setback with them before we set the line. A fence built 200mm too tall is a rebuild, not an adjustment.

What we get called for in Barrie

• Replacement post lines in the older neighbourhoods. Twenty year old fence, boards still sound, posts rotted at grade. We pull the old ones, dig fresh and reset. Usually far cheaper than a full fence.
• First fences on new subdivision lots. Bare graded yard, three neighbours all fencing the same summer. We do a lot of these back to back on the same street.
• Contractor post work. Fence companies and builders who want the holes dug and set so their crew can go straight to boards. This is a big share of what we do and it is why we run 7:00 am to 9:00 pm, every day.
• Deck and shed piers. Walkout lots on the slopes down toward Kempenfelt Bay mean raised decks, and raised decks mean piers to 48 inches. See deck piers and footings.