Hey Guys,
Perhaps I should ask the most obvious question especially of those
of you who put up towers for a living.
When have you EVER seen a tower foundation FAIL? I mean deteriorate
to the point it wouldn't work as a tower base anymore.
I have asked this question to a few friends locally who should be in
the know and they all said the same thing. If the foundation/base was the
correct size to work as a tower base in the first place, they have NEVER
seen a base/foundation failure.
Now we are not talking about the guy who pours a slab 6 inches thick
and about 2 foot square over a piece of cut off 25G that is buried in the
ground 3 feet to give the illusion of a real base. It works but doesn't
meet the specs of the manufacturer either.
Granted the soil in Arizona is a whole lot dryer and better drained
than the soil in other parts of the country and we don't need to deal with
frost but those are separate issues to what we are talking about.
My own idea is that if I use Stainless steel rod stock or bolts and
wire them to the cage so as to keep the ends of the rebar at least 3 inches
from the bottom and side walls, even using long bolts, how much could it
cost? Worse case would be say 4 bolts at the bottom and 4 at the top and if
they were $5 each we are only talking $40 total worse case.
Heck at the surplus metals place in Phoenix I can get bent used SS
rods in various diameters for scrap prices. Now you have no rebar contact
and the material that is making contact is rust and corrosion proof even in
salty, wet soils.
Just a thought. Seemed simple enough to me.
Michael Baker K7DD
k7ddmjb@qwest.net
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