What is the best way to install yard props?

[JonD]

I have some candy cane props along my driveway.  I have been taking EMT 1/2 conduit and driving them in the ground about a 1 ft.  I place a couple of magnetic levels at a 45 degree angle and use my hammer drill to pound them in the ground.  Each stake has a blue piece of tape at the bottom to know when to stop hammering.  They go in quick and pretty level.  From there I zip tie the candy cane to the stake.  It works pretty well and they have held up in derecho winds. Downside is I have to pound in a couple of stainless tent stakes along the coro to keep the wind from blowing them out of position, the EMT in the ground fills with dirt and is messy to store, and it is kind of a pain zipping the coro to the stake.

I was curious if someone had an easier way to set these out and store them after.  I have seen others use conduit hangers, and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions to share?

P.S. Installing stakes and rebar with the hammer drill is pretty handy.  It takes almost no effort to vibrate everything in the ground straight without bending things.  It used to take a long time to pound in wire stakes for the mini-trees.  I used to use a hammer and the stakes would bend all the time.  I would have the take them out, straighten it, and try again.  What used to take hours is now done in 5-10 minutes.

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[blantrip]

I like the idea of the hammer drill. I might get one to try. My area has rocks everywhere so I'm constantly needing to readjust where I'm hammering in my stakes.

I use pieces of rebar. They still get dirt on them but at least not inside the EMR conduit.  And the ridges on the rebar help giving something for the tie wraps to hold on to.

[JonD]

I might get one to try. My area has rocks everywhere so I'm constantly needing to readjust where I'm hammering in my stakes.

I am using a SDS Plus ground rod driver to drive in the stakes.  My mini-trees came with basically really stiff wire to stake them to the ground.  We place them in front of the house on top of river-rock landscaping.  When the stake hits a rock, it will just vibrate the rock out of the way, and keep on going in.  Not all dirt is the same, but the hammer drill has been a huge time saver.

And the ridges on the rebar help giving something for the tie wraps to hold on to.

The rebar ridges would be better than the smooth EMT pipe for sure.  Does the high wind blow yours around?

Iowa is not usually terribly cold, but we do have winter storms with high winds on occasion.  I saw someone use some conduit hangers with some EMT pipe.  They bolted the prop to the conduit hanger, attached the hanger to an EMT pipe, placed a 2ft long rebar in the ground, and then sat the EMT pipe over the rebar.  The EMT was more or less left permanently on the prop.  They said they tapped the EMT pipe in the ground a little bit to keep the wind from blowing it.  It looked like a slick way of doing it, but I was concerned about the prop blowing out of position in a high wind.  The way I have been doing it is not terrible, but always trying to make things easier to set out and store. 

[blantrip]

Mother Nature waits until I put my props up and never fails to have some high wind after their up. I wouldn't say I never have a prop that thinks it's a weather vane and try to rotate but most stay in place.

Easy enough to move it back when the wind dies down.

What attachment do you have on the end of your hammer drill?

[JonD]

Amazon link to driver.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09VB1VSN5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

The props on the EMT does not move too much either.  It takes a high wind to move them and it is not that big of a deal to move back, but placing a garden stake on either side of the coro at the bottom will hold them in place.  I place one of these on each side of the coro and I have not had one move out of place since.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B095XW2RPQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

[algerdes]

We have three main methods.
Our wooden cutouts all have 2x2 wood mounted on the back.  We use metal fence stakes (varying heights) that are driven into the ground and then the cutouts are screwed to the metal stakes via the 2x2.
Our static lighted props use the same fence stakes (appropriate heights) and are zip tied to them.

We have a lot of props that get the rebar in the ground treatment as described above.  EMT pipe is placed over the rebar which are connected to the prop. 

Most all of my pixel props are on stands of one type or another and rebar is driven through holes in the foot of the stand.

We have open fields surrounding the park and the wind coming in off them has taken its toll.  We have learned and now we rarely lose anything to weather.  Now deer ... that is another story.

[JonD]

Nice! I was thinking about making a snowman out of plywood with a waving arm and will keep this in mind. 

On the props that you're placing EMT over rebar how to you keep them from moving in the wind?  Are you using stands for those?  My yard is pretty steep and a flat base would leave all my props tilting backwards quite a bit.

[algerdes]

No matter the anchor method, those props subject to moving in the wind get a second foot.  Sometimes just a small (1 foot above ground) stake.  We rarely have one spin, move, or blow over - and it gets real windy out there.  (So much so that during the last couple of days I have put-off putting up our 8' tall/16' wide matrix. Perhaps tomorrow.)