Even novices can hang door with basic skills, tools

Tim Carter Installing a pre-hung door requires attention to detail. the screw holes of the top hinge. This screw needs to penetrate through the door jamb and embed itself into the rough lumber of the wall. This screw ensures the door will not droop over time, causing it to rub against the jamb.

Q: What can you share about installing fence posts? I'm confused by my online research. Quite a few websites talk about putting concrete around each fence post. Is this a good idea?

A: In my opinion, the advice offered by those

promoting concrete is ill-advised. I prefer to look at the way ranchers and farmers install fence posts as my north star. If they do use concrete, it's often only at corner posts and around gate posts in a fence line.

If you have strong soil, the compacted soil will do a remarkable job of supporting a fence post. As you install the soil around the post, just add four inches of soil at a time and compact it using a twoby-four as a tamping tool.

You can use crushed gravel around fence posts, too. It's important to realize the gravel should have an assortment of sizes, including fines. Fines are sand-sized crushed rock and the resulting dust from the crushing process. This fine material helps interlock the larger pieces of angular gravel with one another.

Crushed gravel, once it's compacted and damp, is nearly as strong as concrete. The advantage over concrete is that if you have to remove the fence post, you can remove the gravel with far less effort than if you had to break apart the concrete around a fence post.

The depth of fence posts is important. Shallow fence posts create a fence that tips over with ease.

I've had the best luck installing fence posts about 2 feet deep. This works well for a standard 4- to 6-foot-tall fence.

And be sure to call 811 before you dig.