Precast Concrete Deck Pier Video

Precast Concrete Deck Pier

Hello, I'm Tim Carter from AsktheBuilder.com. I want to show you a concrete deck or porch pier. See the little concrete pad sticking up from the ground? That is the concrete deck pier with a treated-lumber deck post resting on to of it in a special support bracket.

But look at this. You won't believe this. Most of that deck pier is hidden under ground. This is the actual deck pier! The only part that sticks above ground is the top 1 or 2 inches. This precast concrete deck pier is nearly 5 feet tall. The reason that it is 5 feet tall is because in New Hampshire the frost level is 4 feet down. So you have to make sure that the bottom of the pier is at least 4 feet down. This will keep the frost from pushing it up out of the ground.

Here is an interesting thing about these precast concrete piers, there are pros and cons. The actual pier in 2010 dollars only costs a little over $100 and there is a $30 delivery charge. If you try to price out what you would spend in concrete and labor to make your own, you would be shocked if you could do it for that amount of money.

Now the only problem is that this particular precast pier weights about 2,000 pounds. Therefore you would need a crane or a backhoe to install them. That is the offset to the precast concrete piers. But if you have these pieces of equipment already on the jobsite, consider using one of these precast concrete deck piers.