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I do not want to dig a hole in my yard to install 4x4x12 I am thinking to buy 5 Gallon bucket and put the 4x4 in it and fill to the bucket with concrete cement. Of course I will mix it with water.

I want to mount a bat house on the very top.

Do you think the 4x4 will be stay or the wind will tip it over?

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  • Would like a larger base than what a 5 gallon pail provides for wind resistance. Maybe 3x3 foot base and use pail with bottom cut out so cement bonds to base. Can use guy wires/rope also if you have stuff to tie to, then pail be okay.
    – crip659
    Commented Mar 8, 2021 at 2:02
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    I am skeptical that in the life time of this post no-one will lean on it, or try to clime it, or do some other things one might imagine. If you go with 5 gallon bucket, add a video camera, would get you many views on youtube when it falls over.
    – anm767
    Commented Mar 8, 2021 at 2:47
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    it would work only if you use guy wires
    – jsotola
    Commented Mar 8, 2021 at 4:24

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Fine for wind - bat houses are small and the surface area of the post and house is also small.

You or someone else could push it over though. A single post isn't very strong laterally.

Why not dig the hole, it would be exponentially stronger.

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  • the only reason I thought to use the bucket is to be able to move it around. I do not know where the best spot will be.
    – Mustapha A.R
    Commented Mar 8, 2021 at 13:17
  • @MustaphaA.R determine the best spot then install it. If you need to do some testing, then your bucket idea will work, but use a 16' post now, and once you've determined the best spot, cut the bucket off the end and put it in a permanent hole. Even with only a 12' post, this will be far too rickety for a long-term installation. Even though there's a small surface area on the bat house itself, I'm willing to bet a 30 MPH wind gust would knock the thing over, as would anyone tripping, leaning on it, etc.
    – FreeMan
    Commented Mar 8, 2021 at 13:29
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The five gallon bucket of concrete will not keep a 12 foot tall 4x4 post secure. You would be very surprised what a small amount of effort it would take to simply topple it over. The bucket idea may work to keep a 4 foot post upright most of the time but even that could be pushed over with surprising low effort.

From experience with building fences I can say that digging the hole in the ground is going to be the best choice. For a fence post where the 4x4 posts rise about 5.5 to 6 feet above the ground the holes need to be 2 to 2.5 feet deep to secure the posts firmly. For a post to rise up to 12 feet you will need a hole that is at least 3.5 feet and preferably a bit more in depth to secure a free standing post. That means that if you want to have your bat house up at 12 feet you will need to start with a 16 foot (standard length) 4x4 post.

If your reason for not digging a hole is a really valid one (like there is solid rock 6 inches below the soil line) then one possibility that you could consider is to get four five gallon buckets. Embed the post in one as you proposed in your question and then embed a long sturdy eye bolt into the other three. Place these other three buckets out from the base of the 4x4 post a good distance (suggest about 10 feet away) at 120 degree spacing. Before hoisting the tall post into position install three eye bolts into the post at a height of eight to ten feet from its base and attach some small diameter cable to each of these eye bolts.

After the tall post is erected then string out each of the cables to one of the buckets with the eye bolts and secure the ends of the cables there. Note that you will almost for certain want to secure these cables in a temporary manner to begin with because some iterative fine tuning of the cables will be needed to get them all taut with the tall post properly vertical.

Note that these support cables can represent a hazard to people trying to navigate around them so do take heed of this and take the necessary precautions. Also be aware that with enough force against the tall post it would still be possible to pull one or more of the support buckets of concrete from its position on the ground. For instance it would probably not be a good idea to ever lean a ladder against the post in order to climb up there to install the bat house (do that before hoisting the post into position).

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    While I fully support your idea of guy wires, each of the 3 guy-wire anchor buckets needs to be attached to the central post bucket (or anchored in the ground) in order to keep them from being pulled toward the center when someone leans on the central post. The amount of engineering required to install this post without digging will far exceed the effort of digging. Unless, as you mentioned, there is bedrock 6" below the surface.
    – FreeMan
    Commented Mar 8, 2021 at 13:26

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