I'm in the process of digging holes for concrete piers (for a small deck – nothing fancy) and on my last hole I came across what appears to be an underground railroad tie (or some other huge piece of wood with a sticky tar on it).
Here's a picture:
I tried to just avoid the wood by moving the hole down a bit but then it becomes misaligned with the rest of the holes (which in turn messes up my plans for the deck foundation).
I don't relish the idea of having to re-dig 8 other holes just to workaround this. Is there an easy way to cut into this piece of wood? It's not associated with any large structure so cutting a piece out of it won't cause any structural issues in the surrounding area.
I tried using a simple chisel and that yielded little results. I'm thinking perhaps a sawzall? Or chainsaw? Cutting in vertical lines… then chiseling that off?
Best Answer
I've used a sawzall type reciprocating saw with the 14" long demolition style blades for similar type wood removal in the ground.
Be prepared to replace the blade a few times as cutting into dirt can mess up the teeth after a while.
With the saw like this you should be able to cut completely through the old timber without having to do any chiseling in the hole. Just enlarge your hole enough to give access to permit cutting the wood back far enough so that it does not interfere with your pier form.