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[TowerTalk] Looking for Ideas for Preserving Tower Legs

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Looking for Ideas for Preserving Tower Legs
From: k4to@meginc.com (Dave Sublette)
Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2001 18:31:04 -0500
I coat the legs of my towers with roofing compound...black gooey stuff. 
Your idea of treating the legs, then filling the concrete up to above 
grade seems reasonable. I have actually removed a one yard base from the 
ground using railroad jacks. It wasn't too hard.

73,

Dave, K4TO

W9zr@aol.com wrote:

>I am running into a problem with my tower legs starting to rust and I am 
>looking for some ideas.
>
>Background:
>
>When I installed an 80 foot Rohn 45 tower 8 years ago I anticipated moving 
>within 4 or 5 years.  I installed it in 1 yard of concrete and left the top 
>of the concrete 6 inches below grade and filled in dirt on top of the 
>concrete.  I did this so that when I moved I did not have to deal with the 
>buyers probable complaint of a concrete pad in the backyard.  In the past I 
>would just cut off the legs and backfill dirt and nobody knew it was there.   
>I realized then that if I did not move in 5 years I would have to do 
>something to prevent the tower legs from rusting as they would be in contact 
>with the moist soil.  BTW I did use sand and pea gravel at the bottom of the 
>legs for proper intrenal drainage.
>
>8 years have passed and it looks like I am not moving anytime soon.  So much 
>for the best laid plans.  As a result I removed some dirt and closely 
>inspected the tower legs and, while the galvanizing is gone, they appear to 
>be solid but certainly have a fair amount of surface rust as you would expect.
>
>My initial thought was to sand and paint the legs and then pour a concrete 
>cap to a level approx 6 inch above grade.
>
>Another thought was to sand and paint the legs and then coat them with 2 part 
>epoxy.  After that I could wrap a layer of rubber self vulcanizing tape and 
>then vinyl tape similiar to we  do for leak proof coax connections.  With 
>this setup could I just backfill the dirt and forget about the concrete?
>
>This is new territory for me but I bet someone out there in towertalk land 
>has had this problem and come up with a good solution.  I am all ears!!
>
>73 
>
>Randy
>
>
>List Sponsored by AN Wireless:  AN Wireless handles Rohn tower systems,
>Trylon Titan towers, coax, hardline and more. Also check out our self
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>
>-----
>FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
>Submissions:              towertalk@contesting.com
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>
>



List Sponsored by AN Wireless:  AN Wireless handles Rohn tower systems,
Trylon Titan towers, coax, hardline and more. Also check out our self
supporting towers up to 100 feet for under $1500!!  http://www.anwireless.com

-----
FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
Submissions:              towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests:  towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems:                 owner-towertalk@contesting.com


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