It's the middle of summer, and probably
the last thing on your mind is freezing
weather. But as you build those
decks and porches, sinking pressuretreated
posts or sonotubes into the
ground, you'd better think about next
winter — and what frost might do.
Frost heaving is extremely difficult to
control and also generally misunderstood.
Those of us in the northern tier
of the U.S. know the demonstrations of
frost all too well: The earth bulges and
carries buildings and roads with it. The
bulges are uneven, lifting one or two
posts on the porch, a single corner of a
building, a patch of roadway, or a small
section of an exposed slab. The results
of frost