Footers

If and when the frozen tundra here in SE Pa. ever thaws I will build a small deck on the back of my house. Sub-zero temps make it almost impossible to dig holes for footers. Anyway, I have a question about making the holes for the footers when the time comes. I am planning to dig 6 of them 3 feet deep and 12" in diameter. I am not sure what is the proper method for doing them. Do I drop in about 6" of cement in the hole then put the 6 x 6 post on top of that when dry, or do I drop in cement and put the post into the wet cement and fill around it? Also, I have dug some holes for another project that I won't finish and when I got down to 3 feet deep I hit a solid piece of rock. I also dug some other holes (with a rented augur) at different places from the first hole and about 20 feet away and the same thing happened where I could go no farther than 3 feet deep. If that is some sort of rock shelf can I use that as the footer base? I'm sure as anything not going to be able to dig through it whatever it is. Thanks.



Rich

Footers