Grunt Work

Each pier required digging a 2- or 3-foot deep hole.  Two days of hacking out rocks and roots, that is, since this is New England, not the beautiful stone-free lawn shown in the how-to book.  Then 8" cardboard tubes were set on gravel, leveled, and surrounded with backfill.  There are 400 (dry!) pounds of concrete in those four piers, believe it or not.