hillpc wrote:
I'm making a home tennis court out of an asphalt paved area. I've
already bought the net and posts. The specified concrete footing for
each tennis net post is a 30" square at the bottom, tapering up over a
height of 42" into an 18" diameter circle at the top. A drawing is at
http://sportsbuilders.org/page.php?id=96&from[]=11&from[]=12&from[]=13&.
Could I use 3/4" plywood to make a form strong enough to contain this
much concrete without blowing out or breaking? I think the bigger job
may actually be cutting out a big enough square out of the asphalt
(32"?) so I can then rent a 30" auger to dig 42" deep, cut the corners
out to a square with a shovel, and then drop the empty form in, and
somehow hold it down while pouring the roughly ton of concrete into
each one. After stripping the form, backfill with dirt and repair the
asphalt. Any suggestions for me? I'm thinking readymix concrete for
the little over 1 cubic yard I need to avoid all that mixing, and it's
probably cheaper than buying eighty 80" bags of concrete mix.

Go to local concrete supply place- they have premade plastic forms that
look like an upside-down cone.Dig the hole, put the form in, stick a
little rebar in, fill with concrete, insert post base, done. The form
stays in the hole. Lots less work than building a form, and with the
price of plywood these days, probably about as cheap. Still gotta patch
the hole, though.

I'm no tennis expert, but isn't most parking-grade asphalt a lousy court
surface? Not flat, not smooth, etc. The balls will bounce funny, etc. Or
are you going to put a sand bed and astro-turf/rubber mat surface above it?

--
aem sends...