I bought two lamp posts at Lowes and I want to install them in our
back yard flower garden. The lamp posts are about 6 feet tall and
made of some sort of very light metal. I'd estimate they weigh no
more than 20 or 30 pounds each - maybe even less. The bases of them
are about a foot in diameter with three semetrically placed bolt holes
for mounting. The ground where I want to put them is mulch covered
soil.

I was thinking about maybe buying a wooden post that was wide enough
in diameter to bolt the lamp post directly into the wooden post and
cutting off about 2 or 3 feet of it and using post hole diggers to dig
a hole such that the wooden post is flush with the ground, then
bolting the lamp post directly into the wooden post.

That was just one thought I had. I guess concrete is another idea,
but how do I do that? How deep do I dig the hole for the concrete?
Do I dig it deep and narrow like a post hole or wide and relatively
shallow? And do I make it cubical or bowl shaped? And do I need to
line it with something or just poor the concrete right in? And what
is the best way to ensure that the concrete is level before letting it
dry?

I'm really clueless as to the right way to do this job. I can tell
you that power isn't going to be a problem, it's already run and
terminated very near the location. I just don't know how to get the
lamp posts to stand up, permanently, in the dirt.

Obviously I'm not very knowledgable about matters of home
improvement. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

You should have received mounting bolts with the posts. These bolts are
about a foot long, threaded on one end and bent at a right angle at the
other. There should also have been a template for the bolt mounting
positions. You would run a PVC conduit with your cable in it, to the center
of a pit, the PVC should have a 90 degree elbow facing up, so the cable is
not in the concrete, only the PVC. Fill the pit with concrete flush with the
ground surface, and push the mounting bolts into the concrete, leaving about
two inches sticking out. Be sure the bolts are in the exact pattern of the
template and stay that way until the concrete sets. Once dry, slip post over
PVC allowing cable to be threaded through post and out the top. Bolt post to
threaded studs using washers to level




"Kayne" wrote in message
oups.com...
I bought two lamp posts at Lowes and I want to install them in our
back yard flower garden. The lamp posts are about 6 feet tall and
made of some sort of very light metal. I'd estimate they weigh no
more than 20 or 30 pounds each - maybe even less. The bases of them
are about a foot in diameter with three semetrically placed bolt holes
for mounting. The ground where I want to put them is mulch covered
soil.

I was thinking about maybe buying a wooden post that was wide enough
in diameter to bolt the lamp post directly into the wooden post and
cutting off about 2 or 3 feet of it and using post hole diggers to dig
a hole such that the wooden post is flush with the ground, then
bolting the lamp post directly into the wooden post.

That was just one thought I had. I guess concrete is another idea,
but how do I do that? How deep do I dig the hole for the concrete?
Do I dig it deep and narrow like a post hole or wide and relatively
shallow? And do I make it cubical or bowl shaped? And do I need to
line it with something or just poor the concrete right in? And what
is the best way to ensure that the concrete is level before letting it
dry?

I'm really clueless as to the right way to do this job. I can tell
you that power isn't going to be a problem, it's already run and
terminated very near the location. I just don't know how to get the
lamp posts to stand up, permanently, in the dirt.

Obviously I'm not very knowledgable about matters of home
improvement. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

On Jul 6, 6:02 am, "RBM" rbm2(remove wrote:
You should have received mounting bolts with the posts. These bolts are
about a foot long, threaded on one end and bent at a right angle at the
other. There should also have been a template for the bolt mounting
positions. You would run a PVC conduit with your cable in it, to the center
of a pit, the PVC should have a 90 degree elbow facing up, so the cable is
not in the concrete, only the PVC. Fill the pit with concrete flush with the
ground surface, and push the mounting bolts into the concrete, leaving about
two inches sticking out. Be sure the bolts are in the exact pattern of the
template and stay that way until the concrete sets. Once dry, slip post over
PVC allowing cable to be threaded through post and out the top. Bolt post to
threaded studs using washers to level

"Kayne" wrote in message

oups.com...



I bought two lamp posts at Lowes and I want to install them in our
back yard flower garden. The lamp posts are about 6 feet tall and
made of some sort of very light metal. I'd estimate they weigh no
more than 20 or 30 pounds each - maybe even less. The bases of them
are about a foot in diameter with three semetrically placed bolt holes
for mounting. The ground where I want to put them is mulch covered
soil.

I was thinking about maybe buying a wooden post that was wide enough
in diameter to bolt the lamp post directly into the wooden post and
cutting off about 2 or 3 feet of it and using post hole diggers to dig
a hole such that the wooden post is flush with the ground, then
bolting the lamp post directly into the wooden post.

That was just one thought I had. I guess concrete is another idea,
but how do I do that? How deep do I dig the hole for the concrete?
Do I dig it deep and narrow like a post hole or wide and relatively
shallow? And do I make it cubical or bowl shaped? And do I need to
line it with something or just poor the concrete right in? And what
is the best way to ensure that the concrete is level before letting it
dry?

I'm really clueless as to the right way to do this job. I can tell
you that power isn't going to be a problem, it's already run and
terminated very near the location. I just don't know how to get the
lamp posts to stand up, permanently, in the dirt.

Obviously I'm not very knowledgable about matters of home
improvement. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thank you for the advice. I will follow it. How should I dig the
hole for the concrete? Should it be a narrow and deep hole? What
dimensions should I dig the hole?

I don't think it needs to be more than 18 inches deep and large enough that
the mounting bolts are not closer than about 2 inches from the edge



"Kayne" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jul 6, 6:02 am, "RBM" rbm2(remove wrote:
You should have received mounting bolts with the posts. These bolts are
about a foot long, threaded on one end and bent at a right angle at the
other. There should also have been a template for the bolt mounting
positions. You would run a PVC conduit with your cable in it, to the
center
of a pit, the PVC should have a 90 degree elbow facing up, so the cable
is
not in the concrete, only the PVC. Fill the pit with concrete flush with
the
ground surface, and push the mounting bolts into the concrete, leaving
about
two inches sticking out. Be sure the bolts are in the exact pattern of
the
template and stay that way until the concrete sets. Once dry, slip post
over
PVC allowing cable to be threaded through post and out the top. Bolt post
to
threaded studs using washers to level

"Kayne" wrote in message

oups.com...



I bought two lamp posts at Lowes and I want to install them in our
back yard flower garden. The lamp posts are about 6 feet tall and
made of some sort of very light metal. I'd estimate they weigh no
more than 20 or 30 pounds each - maybe even less. The bases of them
are about a foot in diameter with three semetrically placed bolt holes
for mounting. The ground where I want to put them is mulch covered
soil.

I was thinking about maybe buying a wooden post that was wide enough
in diameter to bolt the lamp post directly into the wooden post and
cutting off about 2 or 3 feet of it and using post hole diggers to dig
a hole such that the wooden post is flush with the ground, then
bolting the lamp post directly into the wooden post.

That was just one thought I had. I guess concrete is another idea,
but how do I do that? How deep do I dig the hole for the concrete?
Do I dig it deep and narrow like a post hole or wide and relatively
shallow? And do I make it cubical or bowl shaped? And do I need to
line it with something or just poor the concrete right in? And what
is the best way to ensure that the concrete is level before letting it
dry?

I'm really clueless as to the right way to do this job. I can tell
you that power isn't going to be a problem, it's already run and
terminated very near the location. I just don't know how to get the
lamp posts to stand up, permanently, in the dirt.

Obviously I'm not very knowledgable about matters of home
improvement. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thank you for the advice. I will follow it. How should I dig the
hole for the concrete? Should it be a narrow and deep hole? What
dimensions should I dig the hole?

On Jul 6, 7:19 pm, "RBM" rbm2(remove wrote:
I don't think it needs to be more than 18 inches deep and large enough that
the mounting bolts are not closer than about 2 inches from the edge

"Kayne" wrote in message

oups.com...



On Jul 6, 6:02 am, "RBM" rbm2(remove wrote:
You should have received mounting bolts with the posts. These bolts are
about a foot long, threaded on one end and bent at a right angle at the
other. There should also have been a template for the bolt mounting
positions. You would run a PVC conduit with your cable in it, to the
center
of a pit, the PVC should have a 90 degree elbow facing up, so the cable
is
not in the concrete, only the PVC. Fill the pit with concrete flush with
the
ground surface, and push the mounting bolts into the concrete, leaving
about
two inches sticking out. Be sure the bolts are in the exact pattern of
the
template and stay that way until the concrete sets. Once dry, slip post
over
PVC allowing cable to be threaded through post and out the top. Bolt post
to
threaded studs using washers to level

"Kayne" wrote in message

groups.com...

I bought two lamp posts at Lowes and I want to install them in our
back yard flower garden. The lamp posts are about 6 feet tall and
made of some sort of very light metal. I'd estimate they weigh no
more than 20 or 30 pounds each - maybe even less. The bases of them
are about a foot in diameter with three semetrically placed bolt holes
for mounting. The ground where I want to put them is mulch covered
soil.

I was thinking about maybe buying a wooden post that was wide enough
in diameter to bolt the lamp post directly into the wooden post and
cutting off about 2 or 3 feet of it and using post hole diggers to dig
a hole such that the wooden post is flush with the ground, then
bolting the lamp post directly into the wooden post.

That was just one thought I had. I guess concrete is another idea,
but how do I do that? How deep do I dig the hole for the concrete?
Do I dig it deep and narrow like a post hole or wide and relatively
shallow? And do I make it cubical or bowl shaped? And do I need to
line it with something or just poor the concrete right in? And what
is the best way to ensure that the concrete is level before letting it
dry?

I'm really clueless as to the right way to do this job. I can tell
you that power isn't going to be a problem, it's already run and
terminated very near the location. I just don't know how to get the
lamp posts to stand up, permanently, in the dirt.

Obviously I'm not very knowledgable about matters of home
improvement. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thank you for the advice. I will follow it. How should I dig the
hole for the concrete? Should it be a narrow and deep hole? What
dimensions should I dig the hole?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Make sure you do not NICK the insulation on the wire. If you do and
the wire gets wet when it rains, it will trip the ground fault
interrupter.

Mark

On Fri, 06 Jul 2007 03:51:41 -0000, Kayne
wrote:

I bought two lamp posts at Lowes and I want to install them in our
back yard flower garden. The lamp posts are about 6 feet tall and
made of some sort of very light metal. I'd estimate they weigh no
more than 20 or 30 pounds each - maybe even less. The bases of them
are about a foot in diameter with three semetrically placed bolt holes
for mounting. The ground where I want to put them is mulch covered
soil.

I was thinking about maybe buying a wooden post that was wide enough
in diameter to bolt the lamp post directly into the wooden post and
cutting off about 2 or 3 feet of it and using post hole diggers to dig
a hole such that the wooden post is flush with the ground, then
bolting the lamp post directly into the wooden post.

That was just one thought I had. I guess concrete is another idea,
but how do I do that? How deep do I dig the hole for the concrete?
Do I dig it deep and narrow like a post hole or wide and relatively
shallow? And do I make it cubical or bowl shaped? And do I need to
line it with something or just poor the concrete right in? And what
is the best way to ensure that the concrete is level before letting it
dry?

I'm really clueless as to the right way to do this job. I can tell
you that power isn't going to be a problem, it's already run and
terminated very near the location. I just don't know how to get the
lamp posts to stand up, permanently, in the dirt.

Obviously I'm not very knowledgable about matters of home
improvement. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Did you happen to read the instructions?
I would think some suggestions would come with the lamps.

On Jul 6, 9:33 pm, Terry wrote:
On Fri, 06 Jul 2007 03:51:41 -0000, Kayne
wrote:





I bought two lamp posts at Lowes and I want to install them in our
back yard flower garden. The lamp posts are about 6 feet tall and
made of some sort of very light metal. I'd estimate they weigh no
more than 20 or 30 pounds each - maybe even less. The bases of them
are about a foot in diameter with three semetrically placed bolt holes
for mounting. The ground where I want to put them is mulch covered
soil.

I was thinking about maybe buying a wooden post that was wide enough
in diameter to bolt the lamp post directly into the wooden post and
cutting off about 2 or 3 feet of it and using post hole diggers to dig
a hole such that the wooden post is flush with the ground, then
bolting the lamp post directly into the wooden post.

That was just one thought I had. I guess concrete is another idea,
but how do I do that? How deep do I dig the hole for the concrete?
Do I dig it deep and narrow like a post hole or wide and relatively
shallow? And do I make it cubical or bowl shaped? And do I need to
line it with something or just poor the concrete right in? And what
is the best way to ensure that the concrete is level before letting it
dry?

I'm really clueless as to the right way to do this job. I can tell
you that power isn't going to be a problem, it's already run and
terminated very near the location. I just don't know how to get the
lamp posts to stand up, permanently, in the dirt.

Obviously I'm not very knowledgable about matters of home
improvement. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Did you happen to read the instructions?
I would think some suggestions would come with the lamps.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Suggestions do come for mounting the lamp into various surfaces, none
of which are dirt. So I need to get one of those surfaces into the
dirt. The concensus seems to be concrete.

Kayne writes:

Suggestions do come for mounting the lamp into various surfaces, none
of which are dirt. So I need to get one of those surfaces into the
dirt. The concensus seems to be concrete.

I would have made a comment but I'm confused about what type of lamp
you have. The ones I'm familiar with are 3 or 4 inch tubes meant
to be buried 2 or 3 feet down.

For that type of lamp you have 2 choices, just put it in the bare dirt
or dig a hole about 6 inches across and pour in concrete.

I'm 30 years in the same house and I've replaced the lamp post twice.
The first one was in concrete. It was a royal pain to get out.

Since then I've just stuck them in the dirt.
A whole lot easier to get out that way.

I've had them lean slightly after long winter.
As long as the soil is saturated, you just push it back upright.

For lamps, I don't think concrete is the right choice, just
stick it in the ground.

On Jul 7, 6:07 pm, Dan Espen wrote:
Kayne writes:
Suggestions do come for mounting the lamp into various surfaces, none
of which are dirt. So I need to get one of those surfaces into the
dirt. The concensus seems to be concrete.

I would have made a comment but I'm confused about what type of lamp
you have. The ones I'm familiar with are 3 or 4 inch tubes meant
to be buried 2 or 3 feet down.

For that type of lamp you have 2 choices, just put it in the bare dirt
or dig a hole about 6 inches across and pour in concrete.

I'm 30 years in the same house and I've replaced the lamp post twice.
The first one was in concrete. It was a royal pain to get out.

Since then I've just stuck them in the dirt.
A whole lot easier to get out that way.

I've had them lean slightly after long winter.
As long as the soil is saturated, you just push it back upright.

For lamps, I don't think concrete is the right choice, just
stick it in the ground.

Thanks for all the advice. Dan, I don't think the lamp post is meant
to be buried directly into the dirt, because it has three bolt holes
at the bottom. It does have a little leaflet that, I suppose, is
meant to pass as instructions, but they were obviously intended for
someone with at least an inkling of what they were doing, because they
didn't mean a whole lot to me until I read RBM's post. The equipment
that comes with the lamp is pretty much what he describes... three
bolts with 90 degree elbows near their end and a template. The
instructions show a cutaway view of what looks to be a slab of
concrete with a PVC pipe sticking through it and the bolts sticking
out of the top of it. I think RBM pretty much described in words what
the picture intends for me to do, so I think that is the advice I will
follow.

Thanks again all. Wish me luck