Blame it on too many years of the Beverly Hillbillies!

They were often talking about their "cement pond" in the back yard. Almost every person I know calls the big trucks with the rotating drums on the back "cement trucks" as well.

Right or wrong, the name has stuck.

I assume that technically, you could use cement without the sand/agg and it would still work, right?

And then you can use a "shop vac" to suck up any dust that got spread around. You could wipe up any dust that gets on your face with a kleenex. If you have a partial bag of cement (want me to call it concrete now) you could tape it shut with scotch tape.

If you've got any questions, or want to distribute my advice to others, feel free to Xerox this post.

When you get home, you could make yourself a TV dinner, and enjoy while sitting in your lazyboy.

Cement trucks .... and ponds.... 'nuff said!

Right, who's ever heard of a "concrete truck" or "concrete pond"

Let me clarify, Of course I'm building the foundation with concrete. But, I want to know how much cement to use (I already know how much aggregates) duh!

When gluing two boards together which contact concrete should I use?

Concrete is also "placed" even though most normal folks would say "poured".

Even guys in the trade will look at you funny if you say "placed".

No.

If you only go 3 foot deep, I’d do 30 inches in diameter. If you go 4 or 5 feet deep, I‘d do 24 inches in diameter. The concrete can extend below the bottom of the sleeve, so don’t be thinking that limits your depth. Absolutely, definitely build a rebar cage for it. The diameter of that needs to be 6 inches less than the diameter of the hole. I’d space the hoops near the top at about 6 inches apart and may be 12 inches apart for the last two, give or take. Number three hoops, number four vertical rods, spaced maybe every 4 inches around. Make the sides of the footing vertical, don’t taper them like as shown in the drawing above. Simple math will give you the volume of concrete required.

Thank you. SmileWavy;):D

Forgive me, but wouldn't you want some way to adjust the pole if it gets off vertical? Even one degree of lean would drive me crazy. I'm thinking a 5' long thickwall steel tube buried in concrete, with 6" exposed above ground, holes threaded for beefy adjustment bolts to hold the pole straight.

The flag pole goes in the sleeve and is held in place with sand. It's not dependent on the sleeve being installed perfectly vertical to be plumb itself.

No. Concrete fractures alone the cement line. Fractures terminate when they encounter aggregate. With no aggregate there is nothing to intercept crack propagation.

What kind of fence and what kind of poles?

Is it possible for the pole to get off vertical, then how hard is it to revertical it?

If it’s put in straight and the sand compacted properly, the chances of it moving are pretty low. If it does, you pull it out and install it again.

This is a basic description of the process:

https://www.federalflags.com/pages/how-to-install-a-flagpole

The pole gets centered inside the tube and has centering wedges at the bottom. After that, it is plumbed and centering wedges are placed at the top of the sleeve. Next, sand is packed in around the flag pole and the sand type is crushed vs sand box which means that the sharp corners lock into place and prevent movement. After it is thoroughly packed, there is a cover that goes over the centering tube that prevents water from washing out the sand. It should last for many, many years if not forever. But, if it starts to tilt, we can do over.

Interesting. That makes sense. Thanks.